Goodbye Cruel World

This is it. The inevitable. The end.

My GRE test is done and over with. (In fact, I have even sent my applications.) That means there is nothing that I want to publish here anymore. 

So good bye cruel world.

;(

 

Vocab Quizzes

Long word lists with the same letters (abase, abash , aba......) can be such a bore. Vocab quizzes combine the randomness of the test, while maintaining a certain amount of order in your preparation. 

Here are a few good sites that I came across:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/vocabmania.htm

http://www.english-test.net/gre/

http://www.soundkeepers.com/GRE/

Today's Match The Following

muster
coagulate
bedaub
denigrate
inveigle

besmear
clot
rally
persuade
defame


muster - To call (troops) together, as for inspection.
Synonyms: muster up, rally, summon, come up
Usage: It was the strongest fortress France possessed, and if the king had better sense, he would have sent all the ships he could muster to protect it.

coagulate - To cause transformation of (a liquid or sol, for example) into or as if into a soft, semisolid, or solid mass.
Synonyms: clot
Usage: The medical students watched blood coagulate as part of their lesson in clotting reactions.

bedaub - To smear; soil.
Synonyms: besmear
Usage: The natives were discernible, not merely to the eye but to the nostrils, by the awful odors of the rancid grease with which they bedaub their bodies.

denigrate - To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; belittle.
Synonyms: defame, derogate, disparage
Usage: He helped you a great deal on this project; don't take all the credit and denigrate his influence.

inveigle - To win over by coaxing, flattery, or artful talk.
Synonyms: cajole, coax, sweet-talk, wheedle, persuade
Usage: Unless he can inveigle someone to buy his old car, he won't have enough money for new one.

Top 50 Engineering Schools (US)

Post GRE Activities: Top 50 Engineering Schools ( US )

You'll find this blog filled with other such useful lists. Check it out.

GRE Tips from a Guy with score - 1600

GRE: A Concept Based Approach
=============================

A.K.A

Cracking the GRE
================

A.K.A

How to crack the GRE in 30 days
===============================

By: Aditya G. Parameswaran
(who, weirdly enough, managed to get a 1600 on the 8th of August, 2005.)

Until the pattern of GRE changes (which I suppose will happen sometime in
2006), the following fundae should be reasonably accurate.

Disclaimer: The author takes no responsibility WHATSOEVER for the (poor) GRE score
the reader may achieve, but would be glad to take credit for anybody who benefits
from the ideas in this document. (especially in the form of a top GRE score).
Infact, it is mandatory to attribute any good score (even if it is not due to
this document) to the author.

Edit: 18/02
-----------
For the benefit of the guys who arent well versed with the IITian jargon (and there
seem to be quite a few of them checking out this site recently), here is a
quick glossary:

funda, plural fundae : ideas, concepts, paradigms (derived from fundamentals)
junta       : people in general (derived from the hindi word for people)
infi        : infinite, a large number

Stuff to get(You wont need more than this..)

1. kaplan (version 6.0)
2. princeton (stuff that has proper tests - new version)
3. 800 tests
4. powerprep (get the latest version from the gre site)
5. essay list from gre site
6. math prep fundae from gre site
7. wordweb - dictionary
8. cambridge tests

Books

1. barrons
2. any essay book which does gre essays
3. if you have time, you may try kaplan or princeton books, but i didnt
have time to do them
4. big book

Fundae

(the time written in brackets is from an optimal schedule, NOT my actual schedule depending on
the time you have, you may want to move this around)

Step 1. Go through words in barrons - 50 lists - mark out words you dont know (5-10 days)
Get some familiarity with the words that you dont know at all, read the sentences and
try to understand them. at times when i wasnt clear with the meaning, i used
www.thefreedictionary.com for additional meanings and sentences.
Also read the fundae on GRE given at the start of barrons so that you dont have any
misconceptions

Step 2. Once a familiarity is achieved with most words start mugging just the words that
you dont know and at the same time start with tests. (8-15 days)

kaplans tests are good at this stage to frighten you (:-)). according to most ppl,
kaplans scores are a strict lower bound on what you may get in the actual test.

big book tests are also very good because they are from the actual gre guys
and would necessarily test the same vocab. keep doing this - there are infi tests
in this book and they wont run out. but make sure that in paper tests you
follow the same attempt once and ditch funda rather than moving around arbitly
in the paper. also paper tests have a different number of questions than the
online test, so make sure you know that and time yourself accordingly.

Step 3. General testing stage (15-30 days)
keep doing tests in this stage, my rule was attempt one math every two verbals
do a few full time tests as well.

if you are done with kaplan, you may want to try princeton, pretty easy stuff
not really at teh level of gre, but practice nonetheless.

you could do 800 tests too, the tests arent great, but its online.
i think cambridge tests are good, but i didnt have the latest cd.

the words that you find are not even there in barrons, write them separately somewhere
for last minute revision.

you should do the tests in barrons as well, they are pretty decent.

Step 4. One week before the exam stage (7 days)
you MUST do powerprep. it gives you an exact feel of the online gre exam
and is really good. do the practice exercises in it as well.

continue with the testing process, and revise the words from barrons. (if you had
the time and the enthu to make flash cards, revise them now)

read the fundae in barrons for both math and verbal to make sure that you know
everything.

also spend some time reading sample essays and discussing them with ppl / showing
your essays to ppl and making them evaluate, stuff like that.

Step 5. The day

Chill and attempt questions sensibly.

In verbal, try and finish up the antonyms, anal and sent. comp. quickly enough
so that you can give more time to the comprehension sections. Maybe you can try
this in practice tests: try and quickly review your answer before jumping to the
next question, it helps to reduce careless errors.

In math, i tried to review each answer in the first 15 questions, as a result i
was nearly out of time at the end. be warned, for some reason, the math in
the actual gre is far tougher than any of the ones uve faced so far, but still
easy enough if done properly.

Essays, follow the schedule that uve developed while writing practice essays.
use similar techniques and stuff. for some reason readers in US prefer some
kind of unconventionality, and you may want to try something different, but not
too different. For the argument section there are usually 3 odd flaws, put one
flaw per para and elaborate.

NOTE 1: (Added on 17-12-05)

The order of the sections in the exam can vary. But for sure, you will get the
writing sections up first. Then you may get either verbal or quant: be
prepared to attack whatever comes. After these sections you may get another
verbal or quant or a known "experimental" section which they declare in
advance (which is usually a second essay). If you know FOR SURE that its an
experimental section (they told you so), you could ditch it halfway and go
ahead and get your scores   Even if you have slight doubts, attempt it properly.

For some reason, whether you get a second verbal/quant or an experimental
section depends on the following: (these are purely based on observation on a
relatively small number of test cases - so it could be wrong!)

1. Season: If you are giving the gre in july-august, for some odd reason, the
chances of you getting an experimental are much much higer because
for some reason, the number of applicants in that period are a lot
more and they dont want to take too much pain.

2. Score:  This is again based on observation on 5-6 guys who gave the GRE in
the month of jan-feb. Guys who got <> 1500 got an experimental essay.

Btw, I got an experimental essay, but even though I knew it was experimental,
I sat for 20 odd minutes and gave it a good shot.

Bottom Line: Dont think too much, give it your best shot.

Also on the exam day:

You would need the following (if i have forgotten something - pls correct me)
- passport
- ID Card (with photo ID) or drivers license with photo
(Your name must match in all of these items)

If you are carrying a jacket, either keep it on all the time or take it off
after your “tutorial” phase and keep it in your locker; they will pain you
if you try taking it off/putting it on in the middle of the exam. I heard from
a guy at the centre that he was giving the GRE again for this very reason; the
administrators pained him because he kept the jacket on the chair or
something, and they didnt like it - so they disturbed him in the middle of a
passage. Poor guy cancelled his scores due to that! Its not too cold inside, but
I preferred keeping it on all the time. (and this was in august)

Another relatively minor point but a friend got quite disturbed by this: keep
the paper that they provide not on your lap, but on the desk - sometimes if
they suspect of any weird form of cheating, they will be closely watching you
and will not hesitate to disturb you in the middle of the exam.

Watches, calculators, writing material are not allowed, might as well keep it
inside the bag right away.

This I have to add because I got feedback that junta are still confused about
the pattern of the GRE: Please get the LATEST edition of Barrons (it doesn’t
cost too much - just around 250 Rs. and read the fundae in it. They are
correct.

NOTE 2: (Added on 23-12-05)

Words which were not in barrons

Be prepared to find words which were not in barrons and those which you may
never have seen before in your gre; even in the first 10 questions! One would
tacitly assume that since the first 10 questions are “supposed” to be easy,
they definitely have to be easy - but this is not the case. There is a certain
randomness in the system which even allows it to throw really hard or really
easy questions at you. You would be surprised - I found a word “commingle”
which I had seen once in some test before (and vaguely knew the meaning) in
my 4th question and got some ridiculously easy questions towards the end (due
to which I was able to comfortably finish on time). Three of us who gave the
test at nearly the same time found atleast one word which we hadn’t seen
before in barrons. (for example, “exemplar” - guessable though, like commingle)

Also be prepared to encounter meaning of words which are different from those
in barrons. Have an open mind to all possible interpretations.

I feel that once you have done Barrons and know nearly all the words - with
perhaps not able to recall meaning of say around 50-100 odd words without
context and have done sufficient number of tests, you are well set for vocab.
One really cant predict which words they will hit you with; so just hope for
the best!

NOTE 3: (Added on 08-01-06)

Written by B. Aditya Prakash (who got a 1600 on the 2nd of Jan, 2006) after I
asked him to share his ideas for GRE prep. Thanks, BAP!

:WORDS:

20% of 500 > 100% of 100. I had seen this in some GRE book and this
actually typifies the attitude one must have while mugging words from
Barrons. It is more beneficial to recognise vaguely some 500 words rather
than mugg up each and every denotation of 100 words. One must remember
that the words list in Barrons is quite old and so isnt quite fully
indicative of the words ETS can ask. I got some 2-3 completely new words
in the first 6 questions itself. So, do mug words from Barrons but dont
break your head in the last week over trying to remember each and every
secondary, tertiary (and so on) meaning of words. More important during
this period is that you learn and practise recognising different
derivative forms of familiar words, recognising words formed with stems
you have already seen, remembering phrases/contexts in which words are
used and trying to test your intuitive ‘feel’ to completely new words etc.

:PRACTICE:

I found that mostly all the practice tests focus mainly on pure vocab i.e
almost all questions are made tough only by giving you weird words i.e.
once you know the primary meanings of the answer choices almost all the
choices are useless and hence can be eliminated easily. But in the actual
GRE and in the PPREP, the most challenging questions were based on
recognising fine shades of usage of generally known words - so the answer
choices are very close. Most often than not, the hardest analogies are the
ones which involve known words only. As you cant possibly mug up all the
meanings of a word, it is necessary that you know different contexts in
which a word is used in every day english. Knowing the context helps a lot
as it gives pointers to a word’s meaning as well as its usage. So, try and
do this while studying the words itself. Dont be blind to a word’s
connotations and usage. Most of the times, meanings (as given in Barrons)
simply dont give much insight.

:READING COMPREHENSION:

I heard from many people that their primary problem is that they cant
do RC well. As this is the least vocab dependent part, learn to crack it
properly. Improve your reading speed, accuracy and practise properly so
that you dont miss out on any RC question. Time yourself properly and dont
waste so much time on RC that finishing the section itself becomes a
problem.

NOTE 4: Added 12 March, 2006

TOEFL

(I got a score range of 243-300 on the 27th Feb, 06, havent got the essay score yet)

TOEFL is an easier ball game compared to the GRE, and almost everyone who
gets > 1400 in GRE gets an extremely good score in the TOEFL, usually > 290
(not counting the essay section).

All that I did for the TOEFL is to take the two powerprep tests and read the
info given about the exam in the same package, plus I downloaded one sampler.exe
file from the net off the ETS site and did the questions in that as well. (The
listening section, especially)


http://gre-preparation.info/2006/06/a-1600-gre-score-tips-and-tricks/

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/100words/

The editors of the American Heritage^® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know.

"The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."

The following is the entire list of 100 words:

abjure abrogate abstemious acumen antebellum auspicious belie bellicose bowdlerize chicanery chromosome churlish circumlocution circumnavigate deciduous deleterious diffident enervate enfranchise epiphany equinox euro evanescent expurgate facetious fatuous feckless fiduciary filibuster gamete gauche gerrymander hegemony hemoglobin homogeneous hubris hypotenuse impeach incognito incontrovertible inculcate infrastructure interpolate irony jejune kinetic kowtow laissez faire lexicon loquacious

lugubrious metamorphosis mitosis moiety nanotechnology nihilism nomenclature nonsectarian notarize obsequious oligarchy omnipotent orthography oxidize parabola paradigm parameter pecuniary photosynthesis plagiarize plasma polymer precipitous quasar quotidian recapitulate reciprocal reparation respiration sanguine soliloquy subjugate suffragist supercilious tautology taxonomy tectonic tempestuous thermodynamics totalitarian unctuous usurp vacuous vehement vortex winnow wrought xenophobe yeoman ziggurat

'
abjure :
to renounce or deny under oath

belie :

1. to show to be untrue: the facts belied the theory

2. to misrepresent: the score belied the closeness of the match

3. to fail to justify: the promises were soon belied

chicanery :
trickery or deception



decidious :

1. (of a tree) shedding all leaves annually

2. (of antlers or teeth) being shed at the end of a period of growth

enervate :

1. To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: "the luxury which enervates and destroys nations" Henry David Thoreau. See Synonyms at deplete.

2. Medicine To remove a nerve or part of a nerve.

Usage Note: Sometimes people mistakenly use enervate to mean "to invigorate" or "to excite" by assuming that this word is a close cousin of the verb energize. In fact enervate does not come from the same source as energize (Greek energos, "active"). It comes from Latin nervus. Thus enervate means "to cause to become 'out of muscle'," that is, "to weaken or deplete of strength."

facetious :
Playfully jocular; humorous: facetious remarks.


gamete :
a cell that can fuse with another in reproduction, having one set of choromosomes [Greek gametē wife]


hegemony :
the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others;
"the hegemony of a single member state is not incompatible with a genuine confederation"; "to say they have priority is not to say they have complete hegemony"; "the consolidation of the United States' hegemony over a new international economic system"

impeach :
1. a. To make an accusation against.
b. To charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.
2. To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.

jejune :
1. simple and unsophisticated
2. dull and uninteresting [Latin jejunus empty]

Word List 18

eulogy : expression of praise, at someone's funeral
euphemism : mild expression instead of an unpleasant one,
"he passed away" is an euphemsim for "he died"
euphonious : sounding sweet
euthanasia : mercy killing
evanescent : fleeting, vanishing

evince : show clearly
evocative : tending to call up memories/emotions
ewe : female sheep
exacerbate : worsen, embitter
the latest bombing exacerbated England's already existing bitterness
exacting : demanding

exalt : praise
exasperate : annoy, vex
Johnny often exasperates his mother with his pranks
exceptionable : objectionable
excise : cut out; cut away
excoriate : scold with biting harshness; strip away the skin
his mother excoriated him for ruining new clothes; the tight collar excoriated his neck

exculpate : clear from blame
execrable: very bad
the anecdote was in such execrable taste that ..
execrate : curse, express abhorrence for
exegesis : explanation, for biblical passages
exhilarating : refreshing and invigorating

exhortation : urge
exhume : dig out of the ground
exigency : urgent situation pressing needs/demands
The exigencies of war gave impetus o development of code-breaking machines
exiguous : small; minute
existential : pertaining to philosophy of existentialism

exodus : departure
The exodus from the hot stuffy city was noticeable on Friday evening
exonerate : acquit; exculpate
exorcise : drive out evil spirit
expatiate : talk at length
Please submit a brief resume, we shall allow to expatiate later
expatriate : exile
An American expatriate who settled in England

expedient : suitable; practical; politic
A pragmatic politician, she was guided by what was expedient than by what was ethical.
expedite : hasten
expiate : make amends for a sin
expletive : interjection; profane oath
explicate : explain; interpret; clarify

expository : explanatory; serving to explain
expostulate : protest; remonstrance
Despite the teacher's expostulates, the class remained unruly
expropriate : take possession of
he questioned the govt's right to expropriate his lands for a sanctuary
expunge : cancel; remove
expurgate : clean; remove offensive parts of a book

extant : still in existence
though the book is out of print, a few copies are extant
extemporaneous : not planned; impromptu
extenuate : weaken; mitigate
It is easier for us to extenuate our own shortcomings than those of others
extirpate : root out
The Romans attempted to extirpate the Celtic religion
extol : praise

extort : get money by threats; wring from
extraneous : not essential; superfluous
an issue extraneous to the debate, the ballet struck me as extraneous and somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the play
extricate : free; disentangle
extricated herself from an embarrassing situation


extrode : force; push out
exuberance : overflowing abundance; joyful enthusiasm; lavishness; flamboyance
exude : discharge; give forth
We get maple syrup from the sap the trees exude in the spring
exult : rejoice
We exulted when your team won.
facade : front (of a building) ; superficial or false appearance

facet : small plane surface (of a gem) ; a side
facetious : joking (inappropriately) ; humorous
We dont need any facetious, smart-alecky cracks about this project
facile : easily accomplished; ready/fluent; superficial
Words came to him easily, he was a facile speaker
N: facility
facilitate : help bring about; make less difiicult
facsimile : copy

faction : party; clique; dissension
the bickering of the two small factions in the club
factious : inclined to form factions; causing dissensions
Do not confuse factious with fractious(unruly; unmanageable) or with factitious(not natural; bogus)
factotum : handyman; who does all kinds of work

Word List 13

decrepitude : state of collapse by old age/illness
deference : courteous regard for another's wisehes
declivity : downward slope
deciduous : falling off or shed
decollete : low-necked

decry : disparage, express disapproval
defile : pollute; profane
defoliate : burn leaves
deft : skillful; neat
deify : turn into a god, idolize

defrock : strip a priest/minister of church of authority
deign : condescend, stoop
deleterious : harmful
deliriuim : state of confusion; uncontrolled excitement
deluge : flood, overrun

delineate : depict, sketch
delude : deceive
delve : dig, investigate
demagogue : false leader
demeanor : behavior

demoniac : fiendish
demotic : pertaining to the people
demur : object, protest against; hesitate
demure : serious, coy
denigrate : blacken

denizen : resident; regular visitor
denouement : final outcome of a play/literary work
deplore : regret
depose : dethrone
deposition : testimony under oath

depravity : wickedness
deprecated : express disapproval of, belittle
depredation : plundering
derelict : abandoned; negligent
deride : ridicule, make fun of

derisive : ridiculing

Word List 31

missive : letter
mite : small creature; small coin
modicum : limited quantity
modish : fashionable
mogul : powerful person

mollify : soothe
mollycoddle : pamper; indulge excessively
molt : shed feathers
monastic : related to the monks, monastries; free from worldly concerns
moratorium : legal delay of payment

morbid : characteristic of disease
mordant : biting, sarcastic
mores : moral standards, conventions
moribund : dying
morose : sullen, ill-humored

mortician : undertaker
mortify : humiliate; punish the flesh
mote : small speck
motif : theme
motility: ability to move spontaneously

motley : multicolored; mixed
mottled : blotched in coloring; spotted
mountebank : charlatan, boastful pretender
muddle : confuse, mix up
muggy : warm and damp

mulct : defraud a person of something
multifaious : varied, diversified
mundane : everyday; worldly as opposed to spiritual
munificent : generous
mural : wall painting

musty : stale, spoiled by age
mutilate : miam
myopic : near-sighted; lacking foresight
myriad : very large number
nadir : lowest point

narcissist : conceited person

Word List 5

astral : relating to the stars
astringent : contracting ; severe
astute : keen
asunder : into parts; apart
atavism : reversion to earlier type

atone : make amands
atrophy : wasting away
attrition : reduction in number
audacious : bold, daring
augury : omen , prophecy

august : majestic
aureole : halo
auroral : pertaining to the northern lights; dawn
austere : severly simple ; strict
automaton : mechanism that imitates human actions

avarice : greed for wealth
aver : declare confidently
averse : having a strong feeling of opposition
aversion : a feeling of strong dislike
avert : prevent

aviary : enclosure for birds
avocation : minor occupation
avow : declare openly
avuncular : like an uncle
awe : wonder

awl : pointed tool for piercing
awry : not in the intended way
azure : sky blue

bacchanalian : drunken
badger : pester, annoy
badinage : teasing conversation
bait : harass, tease
baleful : threatening, sinister

balk : stop short ; foil
ballast : heavy substance used to add stability (in ships etc)
balmy: mild; fragnant; warm (balmy breeze)
banal : lacking orginality
bandy : discuss lightly; heated exchange of words

baneful : destructive
bantering : good natured ridiculing

Word List 40

requite : repay; revenge
requiem : dirge, mass for the dead
repugnance : loathing
repudiate : disown
reprove : rebuke, voice criticism

reprobation : severe disapproval
reprobate : person hardened in sin; one rejected by God
reproach : express disapproval usually with a feeling of sadness and disappointment
reprise : annual deduction,payment out of a estate; repeat performance
reprisal: retaliation

reprimand : strong rebuke/scolding
reprieve : temporary stay
reprehensible : deserving blame
replete : abundantly supplied
repine : fret/complain

repertoire : list of dramas, operas etc
repast : meal, feast
repartee : clever reply
repository : storehouse
remiss : negligent

reparation : compensation
rent : rip, split
renege : deny, go back on
renegade : traitor
rendition : interpretation of art

rend : split
renumerative : rewarding
remonstrance : protest
remission : moderation of disease symptoms
reminiscence : recollection

remediable : reparable
relent : give in
rejoinder : retort, reply
regimen : plan of therapy
regicide : murder of king/queen

regatta : boat race
regale : entertain
regal : royal
refurbish : renovate
refulgent : shining

refrain : resist ; chorus
refractory : stubborn
refectory : dinning hall
reek : emit odor
redoubtable : formidable

redolent : fragnant

Changes, Changes, Changes!!

Just made a number of changes to the blog.

Added Word of the Day, Match Up, Hangman and Spelling Bee from thefreedictionary.com, a site so much better than the more popular dictionary.com.

Also added a javascript functionality that enables you to search the meanings of any word on thefreedictionary by simply double clicking the selected word.

Try selecting and double clicking loquacious to search for its meaning.

Want more changes? Saw some widgets that I must add to my blog? Leave me a comment.

Hello Cruel World

Hello Cruel World.
:|

Ok, this blog is not meant for you. I reiterate, it is not meant for you.

Unless you:

1. Plan to write GRE soon.
2. Are unsure whether you want to go for graduate studies, but still want to keep your options open and hence want to waste your precious time reading word lists maintained by some unknown guy.
   
3. Have an uncanny love for words.
   

Good that I cleared things in the beginning. Now let us see what this blog shall contain. It shall contain:

1. Words
2. Their Meaning
   
3. More Words
4. Even More Meanings
5. Some Useful Links/Info for your grad school application.
   
6. Followed by More Words
   

Still interested ? Read on.

Else, Good Bye Cruel World.
:P