STATEMENT OF PURPOSE I

Some essential information about SOP

So what is it? And why is it needed?

SOP “humanizes” your application. Your academic capability and your achievements are mostly known from your GPAs and test scores and projects/publications. But still, how you interpret those achievements is not known to the university without a SOP. Hence SOP puts a “face’ to your application. In my opinion, it is the single most important part of any grad application packet. It is the opportunity for you to argue why is it that you are good fit into the program or why is it the program is a good fit for you. It is also an opportunity to argue why you are better than many other applicants. Remember I have used the word “opportunity”. It very much is an opportunity.

Characteristics of a good SOP:

Be future oriented – talk more about what will be done than what happened in past. While presenting evidences to support your claims is ok, it is not always useful to talk about silly achievements. So it is very important to discuss about your plans, intentions, dreams, next step etc.

Present yourself as a professional – your achievements are important. But not all of them. Only those that are of professional relevance are important. The swimming prize that you won in your high school is definitely not important.

Make specific arguments about your qualifications and abilities

Illustrate your compatibility with the program you are applying to. (needless to say, this means each university deserves a separate SOP and separate homework should be done for writing each of them.)

Understand the Essay question:

Please read what your SOP questions asks you to do. See if there are any word limits. See if there are any specific thing that they want to know. “READ”.
Now read between the lines and try to understand what is it that they want to know about you. And do a good research of their program. Doing this work is SOP half done!

Try to make the following list:

What qualities do they expect-->Poof of you having those qualities

What experience do the seek from the successful applicant -->Proof of you having that experience

What specific ‘skills” do they expect from their applicant-->Proof of you having those skills

Remember, universities do NOT expect you to have ALL of these. Hardly anybody has ALL of them. But the point is, you must try and state what are the things that you have.

Its all about YOU:

Remember, SOP is essentially a document about YOU. Its not about the university or whatever. Its all about YOU. Now what does that mean?

It means that you must explicitly state how you expect to enrich yourself after the grad program at their university, more than how the university will benefit from you. You should try and relate how you have the right skills that they expect and how you could continue your development and how their program could help you realize your plans. You should try and be explicit about specific things that you can contribute and also how their program will enrich you in the long run. You must definitely discuss your career goals and how their program could help realize those.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE II

Drafting considerations:
Try and make a case. This is good for yourself. It will help you realize how good you actually are.

Specifically try and answer these questions:

• When did you get interested in this field? What have you learned about it? Have you contributed anything to it? How much work have you really put in toward this “interest” of yours.


• Have you worked or done something that other students normally don’t do? (Projects, Publications, working, teaching assistance etc).


• What are your career goals? Where do you see yourself after 5 years? Have you done anything toward reaching that coveted destination. If yes, what have you done? Can you articulate about it?

What if the SOP question is not specific? What If the question is like “Provide a personal statement”?
In this case you must try and follow the general pattern:

• Articulate your personal/professional inspiration


• Discuss your relevant experiences/skills


• Articulate a research focus and plan


• Describe long term objectives


• Refer to the specifics in the program that will help you realize the objectives listed in the above question.

How to write each para:
In general it is very useful to have a strong “topic sentence” followed by evidences to support this sentence. This topic sentence should highlight one(some) of your quality (experience, skill) which they seek in their applicant. This sentence should be followed by evidences that substantiate this claim of yours. These are answers to “HOW” you learned them or how you APPLIED them. In most cases this technique works well.

Introduction:
Try to find an angle from which to approach your personal statement or an interesting way to “hook” the reader.
You MUST create a “thesis” statement in the intro paragraph itself. Every other paragraph should then talk about one specific aspect of this thesis statement. The topic sentence should introduce to the reader the broad idea (skill, experience, interest of yours) of the paragraph and other paragraphs should describe HOW you learned the skill, gained the experience, applied that knowledge, pursued your interests.

Conclusion:
You have to flaunt your research about your program of interest in this space. You have to talk about specific research groups/labs/profs and how you fit into their work and why you think you will gain something out of it etc.

Some general advice:
SOP is personal. But the personal part should be connected with your professional pursuits.
- Articulate a focus.
- Articulate long term objectives.
- Be honest about possible liabilities (low GPA, low test scores, lack of publications lack of directly relevant experience)
- Cast these as learning experiences
- Stress other strengths
- Discuss specifics about the program/school
- Reputation of the program/school
- Faculty research
- Projects in research centres/labs
- Address what you can do for them and what they can do for you
- Adapt language from resume/CV (action oriented)
- Use discipline specific language (jargon) with care and use rather sparsely.
- Revise from top down. Focus on large scale organizational issues, paras,sentences, spelling, punctuation etc.

Revision Considerations:
Remember your application reviewers read through several (sometimes hundreds) applications. Do not write in a complicated way that makes it difficult for the reader to understand. Keep things simple. Improve skimmability by having topic sentences and supporting statements as explained earlier. This is very important and its importance cannot be overemphasized.

Improve Coherence:
This means that sentences within a paragraph should be ONE cohesive unit. Use transition techniques between sentences. What are these? Words like “However”, “Therefore”, “in addition”, “On the other hand”.

Another way is to use Pronounds. (“This ___+ etc).
Improve word choice, Avoid empty words, Be concise:
Example words/phrases to avoid (just a few examples):
It is/was -> IS or WAS are weak verbs. AVOID them at all costs. Your sentences should have STRONG ACTION WORDS as verbs.

It seems -. Nobody cares abt what “seems”. In fact it is irritating to read such stuff sometimes.
The fact that – no
Thing – again no
As far as I am concerned – very informal
More or less – lack of confidence
In my opinion – bad word choice

Avoid repetitions like (just a few examples):
End result, revert back, basic essentials, circle around, consensus of opinion, future to come

THE MANTRA OF SOP IS: “ARTICULATE” and “CONNECT”. (Nothing more. Nothing less).
DEFINITE DON’TS:
DO NOT SEND SAME SOP TO ALL SCHOOLS
DO NOT COPY FROM OTHER GOOD SOPS. ALL GOOD UNIVS USE “TURNITIN” TO DO A GOOD CHECK OF THIS KIND OF STUFF. IF THEY FIND OUT, FORGET GETTING ADMITS IN ANY SCHOOL.
DO NOT WRITE UNNECESSARY DETAILS JUST TO FILL UP SPACE. KEEP IT CONCISE WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
DO NOT OVERSHOOT SPACE LIMITATION.

References/Acknowledgements:
1)Writing Personal statements (Grad writing workshop, Penn State University)
2)Schall J “Style for students”, Eden Prairie
3)Stelzer (1989), “How to write a winning personal statement for graduate and professional school”, Princeton: Peterson’s guides

ALL YOU NEED TO READ

Motivational Story :

Bob Richards, the former pole-vault champion, shares a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart.

Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. But being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere.

At all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played. This teenager lived alone with his father, and the two of them had a very special relationship. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game.

This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him but also made it very clear that he did not have to play football if he didn't want to. But the young man loved football and decided to hang in there. He was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior.



All through high school he never missed a practice or a game but remained a bench-warmer all four years. His faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him.When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a walk-on. Everyone was sure he could never make the cut, but he did. The coach admitted that he kept him on the roster because he always puts his heart and soul to every practice, and at the same time, provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badly needed.

The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared the son's excitement and received season tickets for all the college games.

This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but he never got to play in a game. It was the end of his senior football season, and as he trotted onto the practice field shortly before the big playoff game, the coach met him with a telegram.

The young man read the telegram and he became deathly silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today"? The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday."

Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful team-mate back so soon. "Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today," said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close playoff game. But the young man persisted, and finally, feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. "All right," he said. "22 You can go in."

Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, he passed, blocked, and tackled like a star. His team began to triumph. The score was soon tied.

In the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown.



The fans broke loose. His team-mates hoisted him onto their shoulders. Such cheering you never heard.

Finally, after the stands had emptied and the team had showered and left the locker room, the coach noticed that this young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, "Kid, I can't believe it. You were fantastic! Tell me, what got into you? How did you do it?" The young man looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?"

The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it."

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.

A L L T H E B E S T

Wallpaper-II

Cool wallpapers for you to use as desktop item

Wallpaper-I

Cool wallpapers for you to use as desktop items

May 16 Thread

We thank Hima (Name changed) for dropping this valuable information, to share with others.We have solved few of the questions n left a few for you to solve, drop your answers here , so that others can check with you.

Antonyms which appeared in his/her test are

1.succinct – concise, to the point, laconic, terse, pithy.
2.Effervesce – give off bubbles of gas, be lively
3.Askew – out of line, crooked, awry, off center

Quants

1.Quantitative Comparison
i)Number of seconds in 2 weeks
ii)Number of minutes in 90 days

Solution
The Number of seconds in 2 weeks is 1209600 (60*60*24*7*2)
And the number of minutes in 90 days is 129600(60*24*90)
We can save time time by simply comparing the two.
Solution is A


2.Jill's weekly income was 130% of Bill's weekly income.
Bill's weekly income is how much percentage of jill's weekly income?

Solution
Such problems are available in R.S Agarwal.
If Jill’s weekly income was 30% (If Jill earns 13$ n Bill earns 10$ then Jill earns 30% more than Bill i.e. Jill earns 130% of Bill's earning) more than Bill then Bill is less than Jill by [30/(100+30)*100]% , this gives how much lesser Bill earns than Jill, subtract this from 130% n that gives answer.(This is my guess, if some one could come with more better solution ,we will put it here)


3.how many digits will be there in the expanded form of 0123456 * 10^93

Solution
When u multiply it with 10^93, u will have 99 digits (non inclusive of 0)


4. Quantitative Comparison
2(3x-y)-(5-2y)=0
i)x ii)y


5.what is the sum of all the roots of
x^4 - 5x^2+4


6. Area of a trapezium is 48.Its heght is 6 inches and one of the side is 10in what is the length of other side

What's GRE?

GRE® General Test Overview

What Is It?
The GRE® General Test measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study.

Verbal Reasoning — The skills measured include the test taker's ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it analyze relationships among component parts of sentences recognize relationships between words and concepts

Quantitative Reasoning — The skills measured include the test taker's ability to understand basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis reason quantitatively solve problems in a quantitative setting

Analytical Writing — The skills measured include the test taker's ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively examine claims and accompanying evidence support ideas with relevant reasons and examples sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion control the elements of standard written English

Who Takes It and Why?
Prospective graduate applicants take the General Test. GRE® test scores are used by admissions or fellowship panels to supplement undergraduate records and other qualifications for graduate study. The scores provide common measures for comparing the qualifications of applicants and aid in evaluating grades and recommendations.

Where Do People Take It?
The General Test is offered year-round at computer-based test centers in the U.S., Canada, and many other countries. It is offered at paper-based test centers in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available. See which format is available in your area.

Who Accepts It?
Any accredited graduate, business or professional school, or any department or division within a school, may require or recommend that its applicants take the General Test, a Subject Test, or both. If approved by the GRE® Board, a non-accredited institution can also receive test takers' scores.

Computer-Based General Test Content and Structure
The computer-based General Test is composed of Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing sections. In addition, one unidentified unscored section may be included, and this section can appear in any position in the test after the Analytical Writing Section. Questions in the unscored section are being tested for possible use in future tests, and answers will not count toward your scores.

Total testing time is up to three hours, not including the research section. The directions at the beginning of each section specify the total number of questions in the section and the time allowed for the section.

The Analytical Writing section is always first. For the Issue task, two topics will be presented and you will choose one. The Argument task does not present a choice of topics; instead, one topic will be presented.

The Verbal and Quantitative sections may appear in any order, including an unidentified unscored section. Treat each section presented during your test as if it counts.

Typical Computer-Based GRE® General Test

Section----------------- Number of Questions ----- Time
Analytical Writing------ 1 Issue Task* ------------- 45 minutes
Analytical Writing------ 1 Argument Task* -------- 30 minutes
Verbal------------------ 30 ------------------------ 30 minutes
Quantitative------------ 28 ------------------------ 45 minutes
Unscored**------------- Varies -------------------- Varies
Research***------------ Varies -------------------- Varies

* For the Issue task, two essay topics are presented and you choose one. The Argument task does not present a choice of topics; instead one topic is presented.

** An unidentified unscored section may be included and may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section. It is not counted as part of your score.

*** An identified research section that is not scored may be included, and it is always at the end of the test.

Courtesy:ETS

Disclaimer

The owner of this blog has taken due care and caution in the compilation of data as this has been obtained from various sources which it considers reliable. However, the owner of the blog does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and especially states that neither the blog or the owner has no financial liability whatsoever.

The blog only offers a method for helping GRE aspirants in their study. Readers are advised to use this blog only as an associated element of study in addition to traditional methods of prepartion for the GRE.

Any error or mistake in the content can be notified at :
insidegre-owner@googlegroups.com

About Us

Hi ,
This Blog is plainly intended on helping GRE Aspirants, to ease their study and help them score more.

Our Motto
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.

Contact Us

Hi
You can contact us at : insidegre-owner@googlegroups.com
Thank You

HOW TO PREPARE FOR GRE

Spare time to read this . It Helps.
QUANTS:

It is a "tactical blunder" to aim at anything lesser than 800 in Quant. So aim at 800.This is because, Quant is the section where you can max your score. Aim at 800 and get it. Since you are an engineer, you are at a certain advantage. you can easily do quants .Only non-math students find it hard .You can easily get 800.And dont let overconfidence set in. Do barron tactics for 3 or 4 days.dont prepare all day for quant.And in the 30 minutes you prepare,concentrate well. tats enough.

After doing barron tactics,solve bigbook 1 section everyday.(it takes 30 minutes).then correct it. Analyse your performance after some time (Like if you do the test in the morning,you do analysis of performance evening and vice versa).See where you have committed mistakes. This way,it will take 54 days to complete quant in big book. Dont spend many hours continuously. you have to do "some" quant daily for abt 2 months.

This will make you well versed in quant within 2 months.And dont stop here.See what is the best tactic for a problem. Work real systematically. This way, within 80 or 90 days, you shld complete it with a LOT of confidence. Now, go to the real tests. Take Kaplan CD, tactics he suggests, see if there is anything you did not know. Likewise do princeton. And dont spend too much time on these. You are good enough now. So spend more time on verbal. That does not
mean "stop Quant". Revise quickly everyday. After 90 days, dont spend more than 30 minutes everyday. After 120 days, start with Kaplan section tests. Do 1 each day. Then take break for 1 week. Do the tests again,as usual.On the day of the exam,concentrate on the question.read it properly. just think. and then click. This will make sure you get 800 in Quant.(I hope it makes sure!)


VERBAL:THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THEM ALL.

Now abt verbal. Look, verbal deserves some good preparation. It is "supposed" to be difficult, and not invincible. Given that u work consistently,you can conquer it. Anybody can, for sure. AND yes, you need to be disciplined in ur effort. --very disciplined. to put it in a single word, you shud try and be the word "discipline" itself.-- It demands nothing else from u. What I will suggest is that u begin with "Norman Lewis".If you have any questions in ur mind like "Shud I learn these useless words,especially because they are not going to come there in the exam??", remove any such doubts.

I agree that you are preparing for an exam.And that does not mean,"you shud learn only what comes in the exam".You can never afford to miss any word. NEVER. Not one word shud be missed. So all books are important.

Develop a love for words.

Only then you can be successful with Verbal.For this you need to develop a keen love for words. What I am saying is that you learn words to learn them. if you begin to develop a love for words,it will ultimately fetch u not only marks, and also a sense of well being, of having been enriched and improved. You will be totally different. You will improve on all counts. Marks is just one of them. Think of the multiple benefits u receive if you work this way. So please understand that you need to develop a deep love for words. You cannot afford to hate them. Its far too costly. Read a LOT. See whats the new word in each page. search. Find out. "Think".

So, begin with norman lewis. Do 1 section(or 2 at the most) everyday(It will take you 10 to 15 minutes per section).Do the tests given in it seriously. Meanwhile, begin to work with Barron. Do not Cram 100 of odd unconnected words everyday. It wont help. You will remember nothing.
Read each word. Look at its meaning as it is given in the dictionary (Webster is preferable)

Do some "thinking" about each word you learn. look at the example usage (sentence) as it is given in Barron. Read the dictionary usage. Think what that sentence could "exactly" mean. After this, think of a situation in ur life where u can use the word. Frame a meaningful sentence. It will be especially good,if you can frame a sentence that has some special meaning(and appeal) to you alone. maybe not that much to others. You may ask,"Why this way?" This is because,you are trying here to associate something that is part of your life(and uniquely yours!) with a new word.And,from now on,whenever you see that word,you must remember that situation in ur real life.This will remind you of "that" sentence, which you first formed. After that sentence,you will ultimately remember the meaning.

By now,you must be conscious of having really learnt something new. You must be able to "feel" your knowledge increasing as you continue your work. This way, try and form your own sentence for every word you learn. Write it down in a notebook. If not,maintain a text file, where you type in your sentence. You read this file now and then, even if you are doing it frivolously.To do this for every wordlist,it may cost you more than 4 or 5 hours. Allot a definite time of the day each day. Learn not more than 30 words everyday.

REVISION:ITS IMPORTANCE...

Disciplined revision is more important than learning itself. So revise each wordlist on the following days.......

revision 1: After 1 hour.
revision 2: The Next day.
revision 3: Exactly after 1 week.
revision 4: Exactly after 1 month.

I know it is very difficult to follow the above Procedure especially in the beginning. And once you are used to it, it must feel ok.

HOW TO REVISE???

Well there are many ways. Use the one that suits you. One is to go thru the barron again. Other is to see the sentences you prepared. Third is to take a test in the word list.

WHAT ELSE SHUD I DO???

Please remember here Barron is not "Exhaustive". You have to collect Non Barron Words from many sources. These sources include mainly the bigbook, Voca s/w, American Edu aids book, GM Voc tests, "GRE6000-the chinese list" etc(there are many more).The words in the chinese list are especially weird. You have to follow the same procedure as Barron for these Non Barron words as well.

THE FINAL STEP....

Finally, you shud try and learn how to associate words with each other. This will help you remember both the words. For example,think of the word "Curmudgeon", then you must remember a related word,which is "Stingy",then "Skinflint", then, "codger", then, Parsimonious" then, "Niggardly" then, "Tightfisted", then ,"Tightwad" then,"Thrifty" then,"Frugal" and then.."Husbandry. This is damned useful. This is because, each of the words differ lightly in meaning(Note here that "stingy" has a negative connotation while "frugal" has a positive connotation). And each of the words means almost the same (Yeah.Both "frugal" and "stingy" means not spending much).If you can see in which way they are "same" and in which way they are "different". you have succeeded.

Best Advice:
Work hard. It Really pays off! And Work systematically and intelligently!. Don’t Get carried away by too much hype and rumours. work your own way. you will succeed...

A L L T H E B E S T ! ! !

BARONS 12TH EDITION PDF

Hi,
Download the Barron's 12th edition Pdf here.

Download Link-1

Download Link-2

Download Link-3

Download Link-4

Download Link-5

Download Link-6

Download Link-7