A large number of entrance exams are conducted throughout US for admission to different courses. The purpose of each exam is unique and this is largely responsible for determining the format of the test. The GRE is for the purpose of admission to a graduate course and has a set syllabus and format according to the requirements. When a student takes admission in a graduation course he is expected to have a certain level of knowledge and capabilities. The GRE is designed such that students can be tested to know if they are capable enough to undertake a graduation course.
Each subject is studied in a different manner and so different abilities of students are required for different subjects. For example if you are to study mathematics then you have to have a good sense of logic, reasoning, clear concepts in mathematics and problem solving capabilities. On the other hand if you have to study history then you need to have good reading skills, a good retention, good learning abilities and a sound background of historical facts. That is the reason why different subjects are classified under science, commerce and humanities. The GRE questions are designed such that they judge how well a student is prepared to take up different subjects in graduation. In the general test the GRE questions do not relate to any subject; they determine your abilities to communicate in English, reason quantitatively and analyze and interpret ideas. As the name suggests it is a test of general abilities and not subject specific abilities. The GRE questions fall under three categories: verbal section, quantitative section and analytical writing section. The verbal GRE questions are related with the usage of English language, the quantitative GRE questions are related with mathematical reasoning and the analytical writing GRE questions are related with analysis and expression of ideas.
The verbal GRE questions are of four types. These are antonyms, analogies, sentence completion and reading comprehension. The word analogy literally means a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based. You will be given a pair of words which are related in some way. Then you have to choose from five options the one which presents a similar relation between a pair of words. For answering these questions you have to read the given pair and try to determine all the ways in which the two words are related, either in meaning or concept. They could be related in a number of ways and there could be two meanings of a word. Go through the five options given and try to find the pair which is closest to the given pair, and represents a parallel relation. Here more than two options might seem correct but you have to be very discriminative to find the correct answer. The questions based on antonyms are easier to understand. Antonym simply means opposite. A word will be given and you will have to choose, from five options. a word with the opposite meaning. Here too the given word or the words in the five options could have more than one meaning. Hence you have to have a good vocabulary for answering correctly. The words which appear in these questions might sound familiar but there are chances of your not knowing the specific meanings. Here logically guessing the answer is the second best option. In the sentence completion questions incomplete sentences with one or two blanks will be given. The best suited answer has to be found from the five options given. The resulting sentence should be both logically and grammatically correct. Here also one has to understand the meanings of the words given. While one option might seem correct you might miss out the correct answer because of not knowing the meanings of other words. Try to complete the incomplete sentence with your own words and then look for similar words in the options. The complete sentence has to make sense. It cannot be an illogical sentence which conveys no meaning. In reading comprehension questions you will be given a passage followed by some questions. The questions can be direct or indirect. Hence it is not just important to literally understand the passage but also to understand the deeper meanings, hidden implications and the writer�s perspective. Understand the gist of the passage and keep in mind the main points while reading the questions and go back to the passage to answer them. Here too questions based on vocabulary can be asked.
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