Application Requirements
Test scores, application documents, academics and any other things required to apply for admission to an American university.
Recommendation Letters – Part 2: Ingredients of a Good Recommendation Letter
What Recommendation Letters should Cover
Recommendation letters should cover the following points (also see the links to great sample recos at the end of this post):
- How long the recommender has known you and in what capacity (teacher, seminar or project guide, practical supervisor, project leader etc.)
- His or her assessment of your academic performance (relative rank etc.), intellectual abilities, work habits and character
- Your special achievements – especially in projects or in papers presented
- Your communication skills – how well you were able to present your seminars
- Your social skills – ability to work well with others, leadership qualities
- Some background about the recommender – this is useful in the case of professors whose work in a field might be good but little known outside India; things to highlight include area of work, achievements in that area (papers published, awards etc.), prominent places worked in, length of experience and so on
How to Crack the GRE
- Tips from Adheesh Gokhale (GRE Score: 338/340) – working student: Admitted to State University of New York, Stony Brook (fall 2013), Master’s in Computer Science
- Tips from Ashwin Ranna (GRE Score: 337/340): Admitted to Carnegie Mellon (fall 2013), PhD in Environmental Engineering
- Tips from Tanmay Gurjar (GRE Score: 335/340): Admitted to University of Texas, Austin (fall 2013), Master’s in Mechanical Engineering
- Tips from Debanjana Nayak (GRE Score: 330/340) – working student
- Tips from Rasika Joshi (GRE Score: 325/340): Admitted to Wisconsin Madison (fall 2012), MS-PhD (Electrical Engineering)
Preparing for GMAT: Important Links for You
Gathered together here are some useful links that will help you get prepared for that all-important exam!
Reading Comprehension
Data Sufficiency
Read these blogs and never get confused about Data Sufficiency questions on the GMAT again:
- The Importance of DS Questions in GMAT
- A Few Great Tips on How to Solve GMAT DS Questions
- Tackle Options in GMAT DS Questions the Dilip Oak’s Academy Way
Integrated Reassoning
Wondering what Integrated Reasoning is and why it was introduced? Find out with these simple explanations.
Analytical Writing Helps
Problems with writing good essays in English affect almost everyone. Here are some important links on cutting out the mistakes that pull you down.
Solutions to GMAT DS Questions
Solution to Question in ‘Tackle Options in GMAT DS Questions the Oak’s Academy Way’ Blog Post
Question:
Given that a, b, c, d, e are positive integers and that ‘b’ is an odd integer, is the product (a+b)(a+c)(a+d)(a+e) an odd integer?
(1) a is an odd integer
(2) c is an even integer
A Few Great Tips on How to Tackle the GMAT DS Questions
by our Quantitative Reasoning Faculty
In last time’s blog we looked at why DS is so important in GMAT. In this one we’ll take a look at the 3 key things that you need to do in order to tackle this unfamiliar question type. There are:
1. Learn the Options
The first step in learning DS is to get absolutely familiar with the options. Fortunately, in DS, this is easy because the five options are always as follows:
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked
Quantitative Comparison Questions: Doubtful D!
~ by our Maths Faculty
Now, here’s a tip about the weird GRE question type called Quantitative Comparison or simply QC. As we know, in QC questions there are two columns, ‘A’ and ‘B’, containing some quantities. Our job is to evaluate the quantities and compare their magnitudes. In QC questions, the options are always as follows:
(A) Quantity under Column A is GREATER THAN quantity under Column B
(B) Quantity under Column A is LESS THAN quantity under Column B
(C) Quantity under Column A is EQUAL TO quantity under Column B
The Importance of Data Sufficiency Questions in GMAT
~ by our Maths Faculty
My opening GMAT blog post will focus on Data Sufficiency, an important and unique Quantitative Reasoning question type in GMAT. Later on we’ll take up some sample questions to illustrate how to tackle this strange and interesting question type but first we will look at a fundamental point: why is DS important? Well, look at Figure 1 below
Figure 1
What this pie chart tells us is that, out of 37 questions in the GMAT Quantitative Reasoning section, you can expect around 22 to 23 will be of the Problem Solving (PS) type and 14 to 15 of the Data Sufficiency (DS) type.
Did You Know these Facts about GRE Math?
~ By our Quantitative Reasoning Faculty
April is almost over and the countdown to the exam has already begun. You want a good overall score and if you’re an engineer, you are most probably thinking that getting 165 on Quant shouldn’t be too much of a problem (the typical engineer approaches maths questions with a raw “Just bring ‘em on” kind of arrogance and usually gets most questions right). But here’s the problem: sometimes even those with a strong background in maths may not cross the 160 mark – and when that happens, dreams of a score in the 325+ range come crashing down. To prevent that unhappy outcome, here are some basic insights about the way the math works on GRE.
Application Timeline for Fall 2014 – Make Sure You Are on Track | MS in US | Fall 2014
If you are applying for fall 2014 the clock has begun to tick. So, don’t delay. Review this Application Timeline for Fall 2014 immediately and get to work. Here it is:
June-August 2013 – Review you goals for MS education and choose some specific areas in which you would like to specialize.