AUCA Main Page         Eng    Рус   

MAIN > CONTINUING EDUCATION > COURSES > FOR STUDENTS

FOR STUDENTS

Preparation for GRE

Back to the list of courses

 Registration                    Ask your question 

  The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States, in other English-speaking countries and for English-taught graduate and business programs world-wide. The exam aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based, computer adaptive exam administered by selected qualified testing centers; however, paper-based exams are offered in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available.

"Preparation for GRE" course covers all three sections of the test and prepares for successful passing of the test. 

 INSTRUCTOR: ALEX CIGALE

 MS Ed in English - CUNY, Lehman College, MFA in Creative Writing - The University of Michigan

INTRODUCTION:

STRUCTURE OF THE TEST:

2 ANALYTICAL WRITING SECTIONS (30 min/)
2 VERBAL REASONING SECTIONS (25q/35 min)

2 QUANTATATIVE REASONING SECTIONS

(25 questions each, 40 min per section)

SCORING AND SIGNIFICANCE (130-170, 200-800)

ORDER OF DIFFICULTY, PACING (the MIDDLE)

CHOOSING QUESTIONS TO SKIP (TIME)

GUESSING (ODDS AGAINST THE HOUSE)

SOME MULTIPLE CHOICES HAVE 1 ANSWER,  SOME 1 or COMBINATION OF ANSWERS

NO PENALTY FOR GUESSING (ANSWER ALL)

FINISH PAGE THEN BUBBLE ANSWER SHEET

A TEST OF LOGIC & REASONING:
SIMILAR or OPPOSITE

POSITIVE or NEGATIVE (+/-)
RELEVANT or IRRELEVANT

GENERAL vs. SPECIFIC

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION, TRIAL & ERROR
CATEGORIZATION, CAUSE & EFFECT
ANALOGY & COMPARISON

ORDER & SEQUENCE, CHRONOLOGY

INFERENCES & CONCLUSION

ESTIMATION (little more/less than)

MATH REVIEW AND PRACTICE:

ARITHMETIC:

THE NUMBER LINE and ABSOLUTE VALUE
DECIMAL SYSTEM (x10/10) and POWERS OF 10

INCLUSIVENESS (fence problem) & RANGE

INTEGERS, PRIME NUMBERS, ODD, EVEN

PEMDAS (Order of Operations)

WORKING WITH FRACTIONS
CONVERSION between FRACTIONS, DEC. & %

RULES OF DIVISIBILITY (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8)

FACTORING & PRIME FACTORS

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

WORKING w/ EXPONENTS & RADICALS

EXPANDING, PERFECT SQUARES
REMAINDERS/PATTERN PROBLEMS

DIFFICULT PERCENT PROBLEMS (x/100)

Successive % increases and decreases (discounts)
RATIO BOX & PROPORTIONS

WEIGHED AVERAGES (Mean, Median, Mode)
CONVERSION FACTORS (mins/sec, ft/in, etc.)

PERMUTATIONS & COMBINATIONS

QUESTIONS REQUIRING GRID-IN ANSWER

GEOMETRY:

DONUT PROBLEM, CIRCLES: rule of 360

CIRCUMFERENCE=πD & AREA=πr²

LINES (Intersecting) & ANGLES

TRIANGLES: equilateral, isosceles, & similar

PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM, hypotenuse 

Special triangles: Triplets; 45, 45, 90; 30, 60, 90

QUADRILATERALS: Area s², lwh; PERI/meter.

TRAPEZOIDS: Prove 180 (n-2)
VOLUMES: CUBE (s³), CYLINDER, CONE

CO-ORDINATE GEOMETRY (Descartes)

Axes, Quadrants, Slope, Intersects

SHADED AREAS (ESTIMATION)

ALGEBRA:

PLUGGING IN (different #: +/-, odd/even, 1/0) BACKSOLVING (CHECK C instead of solving)

TRANSLATING EQUATIONS and RULES

SOLVING INEQUALITIES

DIRECT & INVERSE PROPORTIONS

WORD PROBLEMS: WORK & RATE

SIMULTANEOUS EQUATIONS
QUADRATIC EQUATIONS & FOILING

(F.O.I.L.: FIRST, OUTSIDE, INSIDE, LAST)

(x+y) (x+y) = x²+2xy+y²;(x-y) (x-y) = x²-2xy+y²

(x+y) (x-y) = x²-y²

FUNCTION PROBLEMS & TRIGONOMETRY

DATA ANALYSIS:

FREQUENCEY DISTIBUTION
BAR GRAPHS & PIE CHARTS

HISTOGRAMS, SCATTER-, & TIME PLOTS

STATISTICAL METHODS:

PERCENTILE, QUARTILE, DEVIATIONS
SETS, VENN DIAGRAMS, COMBINATIONS

PROBABILITY & DISTRIBUTION

VERBAL REASONING SECTION: Structure

1. READING COMPREHNSION

2. TEXT COMPLETIONS

3. SENTENCE COMPLETIONS (Equivalence)

E/TYM/OLOGY: Intro to Study of Vocabulary

(atom, epitome, appendectomy, entomology)

A. PREFIXES

1. QUANTITY (0, 1, a lot, a little)

2. QUALITY (Good or Bad, +/-)

3. DIRECTION (in Space or Time)

B. ROOTS (COGNATES)

TYM/TOM, CIS/CID, SEC/SEG - to CUT (kill)

CED/CES, GRESS/GRAD, VEN/VENT - to GO

VIS/VID, SPEC - to SEE; AUD/PHON - to HEAR

C. SUFFIXES (PARTS OF SPEECH)

D. HOMONYMS: (Here/Hear, Their/There)

(minute/minute; duplicate/duplicate)

(pronunciation guide: long vs. short "a" and "i")

E. ALTERNATIVE DEFINITIONS

GRAMMAR REVIEW:

PREPOSITIONS (of, by, for, about, etc)
PRONOUNS: Reference and Case

GROUP NOUNS (team, family, vodka & tonic)

SUBJECT/OBJECT/POSSESIVE

SUBJECTS/VERB AGREEMENT

VERB TENSE (past perfect & imperfect, has/had)

MODIFIERS: Adjectives and Adverbs

COMPARATIVES & SUPERLATIVES (er/est)

AMONG/BETWEEN, MORE/MOST

NUMBER or AMOUNT (less vs. fewer)
PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION, dangling participle
REDUNDANCY, CONCISION

ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL, SHORTEST is BEST

NO DOUBLING of VERB/SUBJECT/NEGATIVE
IDIOM & USAGE (either/or, as much as, etc.)
CLAUSES and RULES for COMMA USE

Serial, Prepositional, Appositional

USE of CONJUNCTIONS & TRANSITIONS

OTHER PUNCTUATION (:, ;, -)

REMEMBER: 1/5 of SC have NO ERROR

VERBAL REASONING: Review & Practic

SENTENCE AND PARAGRAPH COMPLETIONS

1. DO ALL THESE FIRST! (TAKE LESS TIME)
2. FILL IN YOUR OWN WORD, FIND SYN.
3. CONNOTATION: PUT +/- IN BLANK(s)
4. FIND/UNDERLINE CONTEXTUAL CLUE
5. CIRCLE INDICATIVEWORDS (but, etc.)
6. DETERMINE RELATIONSHIPBETWEEN BLANKS (SIMILAR/OPPOSITE)
7. ONE BLANK AT A TIME (usually the 2^ndfirst)
8. READ "ALOUD" WITH ANSWER CHOICES
9. P.O.E. ELIM. SIMPLE ASSOCIATIONS

STRATEGY ON READING PASSAGES

TYPES OF PASSAGES:

HUMANITIES: Arts, Architecture, Literature

SCIENCES: Geology, Space, Meteorology, Biology

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Economics, Politics, History

NOTE: 1 of these an ETHNIC PASSAGE (EASY)

(African-American scientist, Asian-American artist)

DIVIDE INTO 3 SEPARATE TASKS:

PREREAD QUESTIONS, Rd. PASSAGE, Rd. ANS.

SPEND TIME ON QUESTIONS not PASSAGES

DO GENERAL QUESTIONS FIRST

MAIN IDEA, MAIN IDEA, MAIN IDEA!!!

STRENGTHENING/WEAKENING CONCLUSion

MAKING INFERENCES, INDUCTIVE REASON.

PURPOSE, STRUCTURE, SUPPORTING EVID.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ARE IN LINE ORDER

SCAN VISUALLY FOR DETAILED INFO

Capitals (names), dates, quotations, italics, dashes, commas (lists,) indicative/transitional words

PARAPHRASE vs. OUT-OF-CONTEXT

ABSOLUTE vs. CONDITIONAL (must vs. may)

NOT/EXCEPT means WRONG answer is right

ANALYTICAL WRITING SECTION:

www.ets.org/gre/revised/awtopics Issue, Argument

STAY ON TOPIC AND ON TASK

PLAN & OUTLINE PARAGRAPHS

INDENT ALL PARAGRAPHS

BE CLEAR, CONCISE, FORCEFUL

STYLE COUNTS: AVOID WORDINESS

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

USE ACTIVE VERBS, BONUS for VOCAB.

VARY SENTENCE STRUCTURE

USE TRANSITIONAL SENTENCES
LIST SUPPORTING EVIDENCE, EXAMPLES

SUMMARIZE/PARAPHRASE/DEFINE TERMS

FORMULATING KEY QUESTIONS

SUPPORTING OPINION WITH EVIDENCE

MAY INCLUDE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

TEST HYPOTHESIS, THESIS RESTATEMENT

LOGICAL ORGANIZ., DEFINE KEY TERMS

CAUSE & EFFECT, ANALOGY, STATISTICS

MAKING WARRANTED INFERENCES

TRUTH VALUE vs. VALIDITY

IDENTIFYING ASSUMPTIONS

STRENGTHEN & WEAKEN ARGUMENT

PROPOSING ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS

WRITE CONCLUSION, NOT A SUMMARY

MAKE BROADER CONNECTION

OFFER A SOLUTION, REFINE YOUR THESIS

ADDRESS OBJECTIONS TO THESIS

LEAVE TIME TO EDIT AND REWRITE

NOTICE ORGANIZATIONAL WEAKNESSES IMRPOVE for LOGICAL SENTENCE ORDER

CORRECT FOR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

DANGLING MODIFIERS, PARALLELISM, etc.

© 2006-2011 AUCA

Member of AAICU

American University of Central Asia
205 Abdymomunov St.
Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic 720040

Tel.: (+ 996 312) 66 11 15
Fax: (+ 996 312) 66 32 01