The buzz is intensifying, more so around the World Wide Web, as the stipulated period for the commencement of new GRE pattern approaches. This is the last month, that is June 2011, in which the GRE candidates can take the exam in the older and perhaps a more familiar pattern, full of analogies, synonyms and antonyms. The new GRE version will not feature random word meaning related questions, and will focus entirely on contextual problem solving.

Here is a quick round up of what’s new in the new GRE revised General Test:

• Lots of reading comprehension and contextual testing

Reading comprehension passages will easily make 80 percent of your GRE verbal section, but these questions can range from a single passage to multiple passages, depending upon which, the number of questions will vary from one to six. The kind of questions will be choosing the right answer choice in the context of the passage. Read more…

Come August and the GRE will be unveiled in its new format involving new kinds of questions, in both the quantitative and verbal sections. Given below are five sample questions on the lines of the GRE verbal reasoning changes as specified on the ETS website. There will be questions, now onwards, that may have two right answers, instead of just one. Today, we put together such a verbal reasoning practice test for you.

DIRECTIONS: In each questions below, two sentences separated by bank spaces are given. These are the first and last sentences there are three others denoted by ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’. You have to find out which one, two or three in proper sequence or none can be inserted between the two sentences to make the paragraph logical and meaningful.

1. Tobacco is one of the few openly opened available commercial products that are virtually unregulated….. Despite this, the pandemic of smoking continues. Read more…

Believe it or not, GRE scores can be one of the real deal makers in case of admission to the best colleges for MS in the US. To get high GRE scores, you must perform well in all the three sections, namely GRE math, GRE verbal and GRE AWA (Analytical writing assessment).

Getting high GRE verbal scores is no easy task, especially if you do not hail from native English speaking country or have not pursued your undergraduate education from university where the official medium of instruction is English.

However, this is no reason to worry because the GRE has been designed for the test takers to solve the questions and not get scared because of them. If you follow a strategic verbal study plan with dedication, you can surely get a high GRE verbal score. Are you curious to know what you have to do to score 700+ in GRE verbal? Read on! Read more…

In previous posts, we discussed the tips, tricks and techniques of solving questions based on GRE assumptions, conclusions and inferences. Here are a few questions that will help you test your GRE preparation level.

For the following questions, each question or pair of questions are based on a particular situation or case. In each case, you need to analyze the situation and based on the reasoning contained in the statements, select the option which is the most appropriate response to the question. Read more…

Fill in the blanks with the correct options that fit the blanks perfectly.

1. Like most ___ hospitals in the country, the district hospital at Balaghat, a small district headquarter town near Jabalpore, India, is ill-equipped to ___ and ___ of patients coming there from villages far and near.

a)      Private, treat, disease

b)      Government, handle, deluge

c)       Charity, admit, group

d)      Big, cure, crowd

2. In what is being considered in ___ circles as a case that will have far-reaching ___, an 11-member bench of the court is hearing the ___ issue of the rights of the minorities to run and administer education institutions in the country.

a)      Political, affects, controversial

b)      Educational, results, important

c)       Social turbulence, communal

d)      Legal, ramifications, contentious Read more…

Alright Folks, time to learn some new GRE vocab words and solve some questions pertaining to the same. This quiz is going to be a little different and different in the sense that you will not be given the traditional (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) options. That wastes a lot of time and space, right?

So, in the beginning of the question set, there will be 15 words mentioned in a row. You may know their meaning or you may not know their meaning. The words will be followed by 10 sentences with blanks where naturally one of the words will fit appropriately. All you have to do is to decide the correct words for each blank in this GRE vocabulary quiz. Read more…

According to the ETS, the revised GRE pattern, which will come in effect from August 2011, will replace analogy based questions with reading comprehension exercises. The main motive behind this move to discourage students from rote learning or cramming up some thousand to two thousand words in the name of building GRE verbal vocabulary. A reading comprehension exercise, along with the verbal reasoning section will require the candidate to exercise his reasoning skills in a better way. Read more…

This is the last post in the series of posts on conditional clauses and conditional sentences. The reason why so much emphasis is being laid upon the knowledge and concept of conditionals is that they are used extensively in the reading comprehension and verbal reasoning sections.

Conditional Clauses with the Past Perfect (unfulfilled conditions in the Past)

These types of conditional clauses contain a condition that was not fulfilled in the past. In such clauses, the past perfect form of the verb is used. The simple past form indicates an unreal or unlikely condition in the present or future point of time. The past perfect shows an unfulfilled condition in the past. Read more…

In the previous post GRE Verbal Ability: Understanding Conditionals (I), we discussed open conditional clauses and sentences. These are of the kind, “if this happens, that will happen” or “unless this happens, that won’t happen”.

Taking the discussion one step ahead, in the current post we will discuss the Hypothetical Condition Clauses. Something that is hypothetical exists in theory only, for example, the Perfect Competition Market in Economics or Equitable Distribution of Income and Resources in the Society.

A Type- II Conditional Clause contains a condition that may be theoretical, combined with improbability or unreality. The condition stated is not likely to be fulfilled. There are called ‘Unreal’ or ‘Hypothetical’ conditional clauses. In such clauses, the simple past form of the verb is used.

Examples:

• If she lost it, I would be very upset.
• If they were here, they would come to our house
• If I were you, I would challenge him
• Even if you were a President, I would not care for you.

Read more…

Knowledge about conditional clauses and their use in sentences comes in handy while solving the sentence completion, sentence correction, reading comprehension and the analytical writing part of the GRE exam.  Basically, conditionals form an important part of the English language and since GRE exam gives so much importance to English and verbal ability, it is important that you know the conditional clauses and their uses in the sentences well. Read more…