This is an account written by Hafiz Matti. He chronicles his US graduate admissions, GRE preparation, visa application, and final landing. Article was written on LinkedIn and is only shared here.
Basic Document Requirements for a Postgraduate Study Abroad
It is the dream of most Nigerians to have the best quality education available. Quality education, especially at advanced levels come by a postgraduate study abroad. It is a fact that no Nigerian university is ranked among the first-600 universities in the world, webometrics by basic standards, used to grade world class institutions.
Update: Covenant University is now ranked 400-600 on Times Higher Education ranking
Therefore, a postgraduate study abroad is not out of place. Continue reading “Basic Document Requirements for a Postgraduate Study Abroad”
Sure Tips in Preparation for GRE
The Graduate Record Examination GRE, by ETS is a postgraduate academic test that needs time and perseverance to ace. ETS, the examining body for GRE has some generalized advice here.
While minding individual differences in personal study, style, time availability and comprehension, we bring you sure strategies to make your desired high GRE score.
- Familiarize yourself with GRE pattern of test administration, content, duration of each session and so on. See previous blog post on general info about GRE
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Purchase GRE practice books, CDs and softwares. There are many GRE practice books, in hard cover and electronic formats that are invaluable to a successful GRE. It is important NEVER to rely on one book, as each book has its own short comings. Examples of GRE practice books are, Grubber 2015, Barron’s GRE, Nova GRE Math Bible, Kaplan, Princeton Review and many others.
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Practice Hard: After purchasing at least 5 different GRE books, the real preparation just begun. Review the quantitative, verbal reasoning and analytical writing section of each book. The tougher a particular practice book seems to appear, the better for you.
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Take time to prepare: To ace your GRE, you need to take time off, and sink your head in serious preparations. To be sure, have at least 2 months of GRE practice and tutorials, with about 4 hours daily. Well, this is just recommendation, and not a rule.
WHAT IS GRE?
GRE is an acronym for Graduate Record Examination. It is a well standardized academic test, used as an admission criteria for postgraduate schools. GRE is a requirement for (post) graduate entry, at Masters or Doctoral (Ph.D) study in the U.S, Canada, Europe and is increasingly being adopted in Asia-pacific and Africa, hopefully, in Nigeria soon.
GRE have been rated as one of the most difficult exams in the world, because of the high analytical and critical reasoning skills required by GRE candidate. Graduate record examination questions are not specific to any particular field of study.
GRE exams has three sections on which knowledge and skills tested viz,
1. Analytical writing
2. Quantitative reasoning
3. Verbal reasoning
GRE Analytical writing involves testing candidate ability of original thought. It is an essay writing with 2 sub-sections.
First is the issue based task, where the candidate is given 30 minutes to write confidently on a selected topic. The chosen topic can vary from biotechnology to emerging economy and so on. A guide of possible topics is given ahead.
The second aspect of GRE analytical writing is the argumentative based task. GRE candidates would be given a series of facts on an issue and be asked to critique in an argumentative style. Candidate can take a stand to support or oppose, but the important skills is the logic on display and orderly presentation of points convincingly. It also takes 30 minutes.
GRE analytical writing is graded from zero to six (0-6) with a score gap of 0.5.
Quantitative reasoning, tests the GRE candidate’s skill on numerical computation and manipulation for problem solving. This section has 20 questions, expected to be completed in 35 minutes. The grade range is from 130 – 170.
The verbal reasoning test the candidate’s comprehension, critical analysis and use of vocabulary. 20 questions are to be completed in 30 minutes. The grade range is also from 130 – 170.
There is usually an experimental section that doesn’t add to the total score. This may not be easily identifiable by candidates. GRE uses this for its own research.
Overall, to get admitted to a top/ivy league school, GRE candidates should target a total score of about 320. It’s advantages include;
1. Ease of being admitted fir postgraduate study
2. Earn scare scholarship based on GRE performance.
3. Graduate assistantship job.
Graduate Record Examination have been developed and administered by ETS (Educational Testing Service). Registration for GRE can be done on their website here. For help registering for GRE in Nigeria, drop you comments