Week 1, Day 1: Introduction to the GRE
Agenda:
Introductions
Syllabus
Lab
Projects & Assignments
The GRE
Exam
Diagnostic
Test
Review
Name,
Country of Origin, Languages, Field of Study, Degrees, Hobbies, Plans
Ex: I’m Dr.
Jennifer Lynn Hudgens. I was born in the U.S., in the state of Louisiana. I
speak English as my first language, and Latin, Spanish, German, and French as
my other languages. I have studied Philosophy, Feminism, and Race Theory among
many other things, but I have a PhD in Philosophy, a graduate certificate in
Gender and Women’s Studies, and a TESOL certificate as well. My hobbies include
writing fiction and poetry, painting, knitting, and singing. I plan to continue
teaching at AEI while I also do administrative work for Academic Affairs. (you
might specify whether you plan to take the GRE or GMAT and what schools you
intend to attend)
(go to
document)
Note my
contact information, the one holiday we have this session, and the lab project
and assignment schedules.
(review on
syllabus)
Note that
students are required to clock in for these additional hours as part of the
class to be completed without the instructor. However, we can review any
questions you wish during class time.
The GRE has
three primary measures.
Analytical
Writing
2 essays -
30 minutes each
Focus on
the skill of directly responding to the presented tasks
Math
(Quantitative Reasoning)
2 sections
of 20 questions each - 35 minutes each
Focus on
basic math concepts & skills
Verbal
2 sections
of 20 questions each - 30 minutes each
Focus on
reading & reasoning skills
(no other
official sections)
1 minute
break between all sections except for a 10 minute break after section 3
Labeled
research section possible; unlabeled experimental section possible
•
Onscreen
calculator during Quantitative sections (reduces emphasis on computation,
increases emphasis on logic)
•
You
can change/edit/review answers, i.e. “Mark & Review” feature
•
Visit
ets.org/gre for news
•
Visit
“Bulletins & Forms” section
•
Official
information in the ETS guide
•
Review
question types, answer types, scoring, and skills.
•
An “endurance”
test where you are tested for hours.
•
Incorrect
answers do NOT subtract but do not add to scores either.
•
It
is best to answer every question – at least guess!
•
Once
a section is completed, you may not go back through it.
•
Scratch
paper/noteboards are provided, and you can always request more. Use them on all
sections!
•
Verbal
& Quantitative sections are adaptive; the raw score ≈ number of correct
answers; scaled scores are generated by equating questions with difficulty
levels and on comparison with the scores of other test-takers in your cohort.
•
Scores
are reported within 10-15 days after test date. See each exam’s details to see
more about how score reports work.
History of
Standardized Testing:
Standardized
tests are loosely based on the IQ tests developed initially to determine the
difference between officers and infantry in the military. Questions that were
“easy” should have been answerable by everyone; questions that were “difficult”
should have been answerable only by the very intelligent. These produce a bell
curve of scores, and the “average” does not “change.”
However,
where IQ tests are supposed to measure innate abilities, standardized tests for
university programs are supposed to measure acquired skills. In reality,
these tests measure one skill: your ability to take a standardized test.
Schools use
test results to distinguish between applicants with similar GPAs. A high GPA
tends to indicate a hard worker, while a high test score tends to indicate
someone with a lot of skills necessary for the school programs. In addition to
the scaled score, you also have a percentile ranking, which further
differentiates between high-scoring tests.
Do not
merely aim for your “best”! This is not a good goal. Good goals are SMART:
specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based. In other words,
aim to raise your current score by a certain number of points within a specific
amount of time, or to increase the number of correct answers you have within
the 8-week session we have.
The test
makers: ETS =
Educational Testing Service
The test
customers: Admissions
departments and mailing lists!
The test
writers & graders:
Computers and graduate students
To prepare
for standardized tests:
•
Have
a strategic plan
•
Practice
regularly, methodically – cramming is worse than useless!
•
Take
simulated tests on the computer – use the free downloadable “PowerPrep”
software from the ETS website
•
Pick
the order with the “easy” test first – questions you like, concepts you are
good at, and then do the others later
•
Do
NOT approach like a fact-based test
•
Learn
to think like the test-maker so you can avoid common errors
•
Remember
that the test has to be predictable, otherwise it would not be standardized,
and this means you can improve your test-taking strategies!
•
The
test uses the same principles for every test-taker, and the changes are normed
through exhaustive repetition over random groups of test-takers.
This is an
adaptive test:
•
Questions
will start with medium difficulty level
•
If
you guess repeatedly, your score will drop dramatically
•
Getting
several questions right will increase the difficulty level
•
Getting
several questions wrong will decrease the difficulty level
•
There
is NOT a one-to-one correspondence between right or wrong answers and changes
in difficulty level
•
Do
not waste time trying to figure out the difficulty level of each question
•
Do
NOT worry if the questions suddenly seem easier, you will reach an equilibrium
•
DO
take heart when the questions get more difficult, because this means you are
doing well!
•
Unanswered
questions = WRONG every time
•
Pace
yourself – never take more than 2 minutes for any question, and remember that
all questions are equally important for your score
•
Practice
at a higher difficulty level than you are at currently to improve your overall
level
•
Make
educated guesses through Process of Elimination (PoE) – this will improve your
chances of guessing correctly
•
Every
answer has an equal probability of being the right answer – do NOT just guess C
or the longest answer
•
Always
check your answers before completing a section
•
Verbal
does NOT affect Quantitative nor vice versa
•
DO
NOT CANCEL YOUR SCORES unless you are extremely sick or the building catches
fire
Verbal concepts
included:
•
Analysis
of sentences & paragraphs
•
Deriving
a word’s meaning from context
•
More
emphasis on context and text-based material
•
Detecting
relationships among words
•
Understanding
the logic of sentences & paragraphs
•
Drawing
inferences
•
Recognizing
major, minor, and irrelevant points
•
Summarizing
ideas
•
Understanding
passage structure
•
Recognizing
author tone, purpose, and perspective
•
Logic
& critical thinking
•
Pattern
recognition
Most basic
strategies for all verbal sections:
•
Do
the “easy” parts first
•
Educated
guesses/PoE
•
USE
the scratch paper
•
Double-check
your answers
•
Make
sure you are answering the question they asked!
•
Leave
NO question unanswered
•
Read
ALL answer choices
•
Plug
in the answers to test them
•
Try
to come up with your own answers and test them
• Memorize (turn the memorization sheet into flash cards) word roots and affixes
•
Vocabulary
flash cards are essential
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