Taking the GRE

Updated on: Monday, October 04, 2010

For thousands of students gearing to sit for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), here is a piece of advice. The GRE is not such a difficult examination, say experts. The test takes an aspirant only three to four months of concentrated preparation to get through. And there is no requirement for one to be glued to one’s books — just be practical and smart and know the basics, they add. It is recommended that you stick to the target (read good score), so that it eventually delivers you not just a university seat (in the United States/Europe), but also financially aids you throughout the course. Almost all the top foreign universities, besides a number of renowned B-schools such as Harvard, Wharton, Sloan, Stanford, etc. now consider GRE as a measure of a student’s ability and aptitude.

Developed and conducted by the Education Testing Services group (ETS), the GRE can be taken round the year. The test has been the gold-standard assessment for graduate study for more than 60 years, and is accepted by over 3,200 graduate schools and offered at nearly 700 centres globally. The GRE comprises two types of tests namely: the General Test and Subject Specific Test. The former, which is mandatory, evaluates general aptitude via two multiple-choice sections — quantitative aptitude and verbal ability. A third section, consisting of essay writing is called the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). The verbal section tests the language ability of the candidate (reading skills and vocabulary), while the quantitative section tests one’s knowledge of maths. The AWA section tests one’s prowess in analysing a given situation and presenting complex ideas clearly. GRE scores are valid for five years. For details log onto ets.org/gre/

Watch this space next week as we bring you more GRE sample questions…

Verbal Ability
Directions for questions 1-2: Choose the pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the pair given in capital letters.

1. FAWN: IMPERIOUSNESS:
(A) equivocate: directness (B) elaborate: originality (C) boggle: imagination
(D) manipulate: repression (E) coddle: permissiveness

2. GAUCHE: TACT:
(A) clumsy: awkward (B) gross: fine
(C) corpulent: rude (D) stout: sturdy
(E) outlandish: peculiar

Directions for questions 3-5: Choose the best answer to each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the given reading passage.

Whether the languages of the ancient American people were used for expressing abstract universal concepts can be clearly answered in the case of Nahuatl. Nahuatl, like Greek and German, is a language that allows the formation of extensive compounds. By the combination of radicals or semantic elements, single
compound words can express complex conceptual relations, often of an abstract universal character.
The tlamatinime (“those who know”) were able to use this rich stock of abstract terms to express the nuances of their thought. They also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages. Of these forms the most characteristic in Nahuatl is the juxtaposition of two words that, because they are synonyms, associated terms, or even contraries, complement each other to evoke one single idea. Used as metaphor, the juxtaposed terms connote specific or essential traits of the being they refer to, introducing a mode of poetry as an almost habitual form of expression.

3. The main purpose of the passage is to
(A) delineate the function of the tlamatinime in Nahuatl society
(B) explain the abstract philosophy of the Nahuatl thinkers
(C) argue against a theory of poetic expression by citing evidence about the Nahuatl
(D) explore the rich metaphorical heritage the Nahuatl received from the Toltecs
(E) describe some conceptual and aesthetic resources of the Nahuatl language

4. According to the passage, some abstract universal ideas can be expressed in Nahuatl by
(A) taking away from a word any reference to particular instances
(B) removing a word from its associations with other words
(C) giving a word a new and opposite meaning
(D) putting various meaningful elements together in one word
(E) turning each word of a phrase into a poetic metaphor
5. It can be inferred solely from the information in the passage that
(A) there are many languages that, like Greek or German, allow extensive compounding
(B) all abstract universal ideas are ideas of complex relations
(C) some record or evidence of the thought of the tlamatinime exists
(D) metaphors are always used in Nahuatl to express abstract conceptual relationships
(E) the abstract terms of the Nahuatl language are habitually used in poetry

Directions for questions 6-7: Choose the word/words that best fits/fit the blank(s) to give coherence to the sentence as a whole.

6. Aerial photography has been an (A) ______ tool ever since the discovery that patterns of light and dark green in the first growth of grain often (B) ______ earthworks and roads buried beneath the fields.
Blank (A)
archaeological, astronomical, agricultural
Blank (B)
convey, reflect, betray

7. Nature’s energy efficiency often (A) _____ human technology: despite the intensity of the light fireflies produce, the amount of heat is negligible; only recently have humans developed chemical lightproducing systems whose efficiency (B) ______ the firefly’s system.
Blank (A)
engenders, outstrips, determines
Blank (B)
simulates, rivals, matches

Directions for questions 8-9: Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters.

8. QUOTIDIAN:
(A) unguent (B) surreptitious (C) atypical (D) transcendent (E) combative

9. APOCRYPHAL:
(A) authenticated (B) annotated (C) decoded (D) restored (E) sophisticated

Directions for questions 10-11: Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters.

10. MINATORY:
(A) reassuring (B) blasé (C) aesthetic
(D) choleric (E) frugal

11. LABILE:
(A) intrinsic (B) differential (C) capricious (D) ephemeral (E) staid

ANSWERS
Verbal Ability
1. (A) 2. (B) 3. (E) 4. (D) 5. (C) 6. (A) archaeological, (B) reflect
7. (A) outstrips, (B) rivals
8. (C) 9. (A) 10. (A) 11. (E)

Taking the GRE

More Education news