Text Completion Problems SET 1 - Answers added

TEXT COMPLETION QUESTIONS SET 1

Hi Friends, I have posted information about the revised GRE Verbal section in my previous post, so in this post, i have posted some text completion questions, try to give answer to these Set 1 questions in the comment section and the answer for this Text completion questions will be released in the next week, so stay tuned to check your answer

 

TEXT COMPLETION SET 1

1.)    Although it appeared to be __________ after its stagnation and eventual cancellation in 1989, Doctor Who Returned to BBC in 2005 to become the longest –running science-fiction show in history.

a.)    Moribund

b.)    Ascendant

c.)    Unflagging

d.)    Defunct

e.)    Sated

2.)    The capacity of embryonic stem cells to develop into most types of human tissue makes them of ____________ value for a myriad of medical applications, but the genetic program that underlies this quality is not yet known.

a.)    Immediate

b.)    Negligible

c.)    Monetary

d.)   Intrinsic

e.)    Potential

3.)    Social Critic Neil Postman identified what he saw as a sort of intellectual __________ when he wrote, “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

a.)    Pondering

b.)    Malingering

c.)    Entropy

d.)    Cerebration

e.)    Banishment

4.)    As the effect of foreign competition and a sense of threatened _________ reached each canton, talk of independence grew more common.

a.)    Immunity

b.)    Apotheosis

c.)    Belligerence

d.)    Recidivism

e.)    Autonomy

5.)    By the mid-1700s, when it began a concerted effort to prevent famine and plague, the French government had fully realized that the success of its state building projects ____________ the welfare of its people, particularly the labor-providing lower class.

a.)    Threatened

b.)    Depended on

c.)    Promoted

d.)   Should supercede

e.)    Prevented

6.)    Traditional upper class _________ such as fox hunting and cricket have largely given way to more egalitarian amusements over the course of the last century.

a.)    Stereotypes

b.)    Disportments

c.)    Vocations

d.)    Canards

e.)    Professions

7.)    One particular __________ of many grammarians is the serial comma: whether to use one or not is an issue about which they will quibble at great length and not without some pedantic pleasure.

a.)    Crotchet

b.)    Awl

c.)    Apogee

d.)    Nadir

e.)    Opus

The Answers to the above questions are:

1.)    D.) Defunct

2.)    E.) Potential

3.)    C.) Entropy

4.)    E.) Autonomy

5.)    B.) Depended on

6.)    B.) Disportments

7.)    A.) Crotchet

 

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GRE VERBAL INTRODUCTION

GRE VERBAL INTRODUCTION

Hi Friends, Its been a long time since I've posted some tips and information here, My hard-disk caused me a lot of trouble by causing mechanical failure, resulting in the loss of all my valuable data collected over the years. So i had no material to post in this blog, so it took me a week to bring back to my normal condition, i have collected some information about the GRE verbal and ready to share it with you, so here we go:

GRE VERBAL INTRODUCTION

In revised GRE examination, we have 3 types of verbal reasoning questions, they are:

a.) Reading Comprehension

b.) Text Completion

c.) Sentence Equivalence

Reading Comprehension: 

In Short, Reading Comprehension questions will be your hardest questions because:

a.) It will test the various skills of the student, so it consumes all your valuable time.

b.) The passages are lengthy, some said they got passages of about 60-100 lines and only 4 multiple choice questions will be asked from that.

c.) The passages will not be easy to understand, It makes the students to spend a lot of time in understanding the author's main theme.

d.) The questions are tougher than the passages, almost all the questions will be in-direct questions

e.) So you have to spend most of your time preparing for your reading comprehension, as there will be about 50% of the questions from Reading Comprehension in GRE verbal section (so you can't omit this out!!!!).

In my following posts, i will discuss in-detail about the Reading Comprehension, stay tuned...

Text Completion and Sentence Completion:

In Text Completion, a Paragraph will be given with some blanks (one or more), the answer choices will be given below the paragraph, you have to choose the best answer choice that fits into the paragraph. Initially, You have to read the paragraph and understand the main theme of it, then try to fill out the blank with your own answer and look for the similar word in the answer choice. You could find one answer which suits it best. At times, you may have to do the Process of Elimination(POE) to remove the undesired answers. Anyway you need to be strong with the vocabulary, so practice as many vocabulary as possible.

In sentence completion, You may have to choose 2 answers for the blank, You cannot get the credit until you choose the 2 right answers (If anyone of your answer choice is wrong, you won't get any credit for it)

In my following posts, i will discuss in-detail about the Text completion and sentence equivalence, stay tuned...

GRE Time Table for 2 and 4 Months preparation

So I feel you are at the final stage of GRE exam preparation, its just 2 months to go for the exam, some could have started their preparation 6 months back, so they are well settled to face the Exam. There are also several test takers(like me) prepare in the last 2 or 4 months before the exam. So this post is about the Last minute preparations in GRE.

How could I prepare a proper scheduled time-table for GRE preparation?? This would be a question on the minds of several GRE Test takers like me. So how could tackle this New Revised GRE? What are the things you should keep in mind during your preparation?

The GRE Materials play the key role in your preparation. A good GRE material and right preparation strategy could land you in the safe zone. So what are the materials that are essential in GRE Preparation? So from the reviews of several old GRE aspirants, we found the must-have material for all the GRE test takers, they are:

1. Barron’s New GRE Book and CD
2. Kaplan's New GRE Book and CD
3. Power-Prep II Software (official GRE test software, supplied by ETS)

So now you got the required material, so now we can see about the time-table for the GRE preparation.

a.) 4 month Time table:

So if you have 4 months to go for your GRE Exam, Hers is the Time-table which you could follow to succeed in your GRE exam.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday ------> 1+ 2 hours = 3 Hours

Morning:

• GRE Verbal (Vocabulary, Strategies) = 1 Hour:

Evening:

• GRE Verbal ( Review your work )      = 30 Minutes
• GRE Math                                                     = 30 minutes
• GRE Practice test                                      = 30 minutes
• Test Review                                                 = 30 Minutes

Saturday, Sunday                                                       ------> 5 to 6 hours

b.) 2 month Time table:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday ------> 2+ 3 hours = 5 Hours

Morning:

• GRE Verbal section                                            = 1 Hour
• GRE Quantitative section                                = 1 Hour

Evening:

• GRE Verbal (review work)                             = 1  Hour
• GRE Quantitative section                               = 30 minutes
• GRE Practice test                                               = 1 Hour
• Test Review                                                          = 30 Minutes

Saturday, Sunday                                                       ------> 10 to 12 hours

• 1 full test + Review of test           

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So try to follow the above time table with sincerity and dedication to succeed in your GRE Test. All The Best. 

Its just an example, so each and every one have a different way to prepare for the GRE, they have their own methodology and schedule, so share your time table here in the comment section. So that it may help others to have the idea of GRE preparation. 

How to prepare your own Flash Cards for GRE

 FLASH CARDS FOR GRE

Hi Friends, The most interesting and toughest part in GRE preparation is the Vocabulary part of GRE. It Plays the vital role in every GRE exam, irrespective of the pattern change. Some may be good in the vocabulary from their young age, they thrive to use the different vocabulary in a context and refer meaning of a unknown words then and there. 

While others like me were lazy to do so. The Result of that, we have to work hard to memorize the words now. I believed that we would have to memorize some few hundred words for GRE, but I was hammered, when i saw those 3500 words of Barron book for GRE. 

I felt it is almost impossible for me to memorize all those words in my 2 month time. I found some resources online on the High Frequency GRE words. I thought that It's wise to memorize at-least those High Frequency words thoroughly than being like this. I felt happy to do so. But again something halted my progression. There are about 600-1000 High Frequency words in the GRE. We all know it's not easy to memorize these words in a short period.

As a human, We could normally memorize 10-20 words per day, but your words in memory will start to Fade-out soon. At the end of the 2-3 months you will be upset to know that you have wasted these months by learning nothing. There will be no use of memorizing this way, so i searched for the Ways to memorize these words...

I wanted the most effective way to remember these words and its meaning. So that, I could score more in my GRE verbal Section.......This is where we Use the Flash Cards to memorize those words. You all may doubt, how it works...Please Continue your reading.

HOW THIS FLASH CARD WORKS:

1.) I Believe you all could have seen some flash Cards when you are in the Kindergarten, in which you could have seen the elephant photo and could noticed the name ELEPHANT  above it. 

2.) After seeing that Flash card at regular intervals, the image of the Elephant along with its name could have registered in your Memory. 

3.) Thus this technique of flash card could help you in memorizing of these GRE Words effectively.

4.) These Flash Cards are easy to prepare and i have posted some steps to prepare your Own Flash Card below. So check that and start preparing your GRE Flash Cards.

Things Necessary:

For preparing your Own Flash Cards, you need the following things:

a.)  Some Few Rolls of  chart

b.) 1 pair of scissors

(There are also some cheap ready made plain flash cards available in books stores, which you can buy to save your time of trimming)

 c.) 4-5 colors of markers and pen

 d.) Few Metal rings (or) thread 

 e.) A Punching machine

STEPS TO PREPARE YOUR OWN FLASH CARDS FOR GRE:

STEP 1:

STEP 2:

STEP 3:

                  The Grouping of the words is the best way to memorize the words, i will post about these "word groups" in my posts, so stay tuned for my next post.

 

STEP 4:

STEP 5:

STEP 6:

STEP 7:

That's All My friends Your Flash Cards are ready, So don't be Lazy to prepare your Own Flash Cards. Its really wise to prepare your own flash cards. If you are lazy to prepare your own flash cards (or) If you don't have time to do this, Buy the ready made flash cards from the Barron's or Kaplan 

Buy Barron's GRE Flash Cards

Buy Kaplan's New GRE Flash Cards 

Soon I will be posting about the High Frequency Words of GRE, So stay tuned to this Blog and Learn more about the New GRE.  

IMPORTANT NOTE:  

1.) Thanks to all the readers for making this blog successful, this blog have readers from more than 50 cities of the world. this is my first step to success.

2.) Don't forget to Comment and subscribe to my Posts. Press Ctrl+d to bookmark this blog.

http://gre2012.blogspot.com

 

Analysis of Issue and Argument Essay - updated

Analysis of Issue Essay

I believe all my previous posts could have helped you to get the basic idea about the New GRE, so i started to explain individual topics in the GRE test, so this is the time to analyze about the issue task in the new GRE, what are the essential guidelines to write a good Issue Essay and score great, read this post completely to get the broad idea about the Issue Task.

Guidelines:

1.) This Issue Task will usually have a statement or two, stating about the issue 

2.) It is usually a straight forward question, so no need to get confused. 

3.) After that statement, follow the set of instructions telling you how to address the topic. 

4.) This guidelines could be followed to all the Issue essays irrespective of the topic.

     a.) Please read the instructions carefully to make sure your response fits well into the issue essay and don't differ from the topic. 

     b.) You have to explain your position/side on an issue, since All the issue topics will have two sides. 

     c.) You must justify your opinion of the topic under discussion with adequate reasons and some sets of examples. 

     d.) There is no "correct/wrong" side in the issue task: just decide your position on the topic after consideration of the pros and cons.

     e.) Always try to be 80-90 one-sided in your discussion, don't fluctuate and confuse the examiner. 

     f.) It is wise to spend the first 5 minutes in thinking and planning. Use your scratch paper and try to think of some 3-5 specific examples on the topic and support your point of view.

    g.) Please look at the topic in a holistic way to show that you are aware of the implications of the different positions on the topic.

Format of your essay:

1.) First of all, there is no specific format for this issue essay, But its better to practice writing in your own unique format to attract the examiner. 

2.) Just beware of the time management, keep in mind always, that you have only 30 minutes to plan and write the essay, so don't show your novel writing skills in this issue
essay. Try to be specific to your topic, introduce your creative ideas in presenting the essay. 

4.) Try to have 2-4 examples , explaining 1 example per paragraph, makes it best organized essay, the more number of relative examples would definitely fetch you more marks 

5.) When you are preparing for the Issue Essay, practice to write as many issue essays as possible. It is better to practice the issue topics given in the official GRE site

NOTE: I would attach the issue topics pool from the official website of GRE soon... check my Blog later and download those topics and practice. 

6.) The Best format to follow for the Issue Essay is to start up with the Introduction paragraph stating about the issue and some of your examples(not explanation) , followed with 2-3 paragraphs of explaining your examples (explain only 1 example per paragraph) and finally conclude the issue essay by your points of view firmly stated.

NOTE: please make it organized by adding the best connectors at the start of each paragraph, don't make an abrupt start, it may look weird to the examiner. 

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The following format is the general format for the Issue task, so try to follow this simple format to score more. Usually the 3 part format has the following components to it:

Part I - Introduction: 

a.) Write an introduction explaining in your own words about the given Issue.  

b.) Try to put-forth your points to make it an interesting discussion, and make it clear why the topic is controversial.  

c.) It is wise to end your introduction paragraph by giving your thesis statement (conclusion), try to be specific in your conclusion, don't confuse the examiner.

Part II - The body of the essay 

a.) The Body of the essay should be specific, while the introduction and conclusion part could be general. 

b.) As described earlier, write 2-4 paragraphs to support your position. Each paragraph should explain your point with example and also give relevant reasons to your valuable point.

Note: please describe only 1 example per paragraph, don't have more than 1 example in a paragraph. It makes the paragraph poorly organized.  

c.) Do not try to give your loads of example, instead try to explain the 2-4 examples as elaborate as possible. These examples can be from your own experience or from your reading or knowledge of current affairs, history etc. 

d.) Don't forget to use connecting words and phrases (links) at the beginning of each paragraph to make it perfectly organized and thus the flow between the paragraphs remains in equilibrium. 

e.) Don't try to sound too dogmatic, always try to remain moderate in your speech.  

Note: always try to start with moderate words like "but" or "however" in your sentences.

Part III - Conclusion 

a.) Don't end your essay without giving a conclusive statement, it will be like watching a   thriller movie without the Climax scene. It would look awkward. 

b.) So never end your essay abruptly, try to bring down your previously described examples into the conclusion part and try to give your conclusion.

Note: Don't try to show your vocabulary skill by writing any complex word of unknown meaning. 

c.) Try to avoid repeating what you have said earlier; find something general to say that makes it clear that you have finished your discussion. 

Note: If you have any famous phrases related to the issue topic, add it in this conclusion paragraph. It may look attractive. 

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Analysis of Argument Essay

The Argument Essay is considered to be the most difficult part in GRE for all the test takers, so try to concentrate on this Argument essay. It has to written in some specific format to score great marks. Follow these guidelines and use this format to score great in your argument task:

Guidelines:

1.) This Argument Essay is completely different from what you could have written in your school days. So that is the reason, why it is felt tough by most of the GRE test takers. 

2.) In this Argument essay, you should not be over-reactive by giving your own points, strategies or argue against the author's view. You simply have to discuss whether the evidence provided warrants that conclusion.

3.) Definitely all the arguments given will have flaws. So try to advice the ways to overcome the flaw.

4.) In your initial reading try to find the main conclusion, identify the underlying logic of the argument and identify the major faults. The main categories of assumptions made by the author are:

a.) Causal Assumption

b.) Analogical Assumption

c.) Statistical Assumption

d.) Sampling Assumption

Format of your essay: 

1.) Here again, There is no specific format that the examiners recommend for addressing the Analyze an Argument task. 

2.) Keep in mind that, you have only 30 minutes to plan and write the essay, So its better to work out an approach that perfectly suits you.  

The following format is the basic format that could help the test takers, so try to follow this simple format , to score more marks in the Argument Essay:

Part I - Introduction 

1.) Try the introduction and argument in your own words . 

2.) End your paragraph with a statement such as:  

• However, this conclusion seems unwarranted, or 

• However, the information provided does not justify this conclusion or

• This conclusion is not well supported / fails to convince/ is flawed etc. 

3.) Try to adhere to the instructions given in the statement and try to point out to the flaws moderately, don't ever oppose the author's argument at any condition.

Part II - The body of the essay 

1.) Write 2-4 paragraphs to describe the line of argument according to the specific instructions given. 

2.) In the case in which you are asked to focus on alternative explanations, you can explain what alternative reasons to be considered. 

3.) Sometimes, the question of the argument needs to be addressed to evaluate the argument, so try to be focused on to the misleading figures, wrong analogies, unwarranted statistics and prove your point in the most humble way.

4.) There is not a particular way to workout this argument, So try to practice as many argument essays as possible to get the hold of the format. Try to practice the Argument essay topics available in the official GRE website. 

Note: Soon you can download the official Argument Essay topics from my blog. 

5.) Beware: There are some sample essays provided in the official website ETS, but don't try to copy any words of that in your own Argument essay, if the officials found you have copied the sentence from the sample essays, your score will be deducted.

Part III - What else is needed? 

1.) In the final paragraph, you should able to give a conclusion, not to give a specific conclusion, try to be general and moderate in your approach, So while concluding you try use the words like "may", "might" rather than using "should", "must" words; this way you could prove your genuineness and giving your non-aggressive conclusion. 

2.) It is also better to end the conclusion in doubt, as you may not be against the author's view here in argument essay. 

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That's it, i feel i have delivered all my points to you and it would definitely help all the beginners to understand the basics of the Issue and Argument Task. If you feel i missed a very good point here, please mail me........As we are Human who are prone to do mistakes ....its better to correct it fast......Soon i will be posting the sample issue and argument essays....Stay tuned ......please do subscribe to this Blog to get his valuable information..