₦airaland Forum

I left Osogbo 1 pm yesterday and boarded a bus to Lagos, after spending about 5 hours (most of which I spent furiously reviewing Magoosh 1000 GRE Vocab) on the road We got to oshodi. From Oshodi I found my way to F and G suites at Ilupeju. It is a small hotel with good basic facilities such as constant power, Free WiFi and it is a short walking distance from JKK building. I had already booked online through hotels dot ng and after some delay was showed to my room. I had rounded up my preparation on Wednesday by taking Powerprep II, and I was not really happy with the result.
However, I was determined to use the last two days to rest and conserve both my mental and physical energy. So the only thing I did was review my introduction to the AWA as PER Scholastica16 advice, but I couldn't resist the urge to solve some Quant, so did hard probability on Magoosh and did Kaplan Quant no. 10 online. By 10 pm I was ready to call it a night. I have read in online forums about the importance of good rest prior to the exam.

I woke up around 1 a.m but forced myself to stay in bed. No more reading oooo. Later woke up around 4:30 am to pray. Stayed awake till 6 and prayed morning Salat. After that reviewed some AWA from Manhattan, I was determined to make a good start. By 7 I went back to bed with the AC on( I must rest ni) I set alarm for 9 o'clock to avoid story that touch but I really couldn't get any sleep. After tossing around for 45 minutes, I stood up took my bath and made my way to the test center.

I just finished my GRE, all I can say is Whao, Full report loading.

sholemania:
Hello House,

Can I register my GRE with these ppl? Anybody having experience with them

B.Y Mafit Limited

Here is thier link
http://www.gregmattoeflnigeria.com/gretestdatesinnigeria/index.htm

Yeah, they are legit, I used them for both GRE and TOEFL registration. A number of people on these forum have used their services too.

Guitarlife:
Hello Bro..Thanks so much for the other day. The materials you gave me have been very helpful.

I wish you all the best in your exams and every other aspect of your application.

I hope you have already decided a list of 4 schools that you want your results sent to ?

Then please @all, I am toying with the idea of quiting my job to focus on my application for Ph.D Electrical Engineering in the USA.

I will be looking for funding too and here is my profile.

B.Tech Elect 3.78/5.0
M.Eng Elect 4.1/5.0

How much would you advise i have on savings ?

I mean how much will be considered sufficient to prosecute the applications up to visa application considering I am depending on funding and I havent written the Gre and Toefl yet ?

Do not quit your job please. Since you are applying for fall 2018, You have at least 10 months to prepare you application since most early application starts by October. What you need is a disciplined schedule to study for both the GRE and TOEFL. I know your work can be hectic, But consistent study for 2 hours a day plus weekend would be enough.

You would be surprised how quickly everything adds up.
About 100,000 for GRE and TOEFL , App fee to maybe 4 schools ranging from $60 to $100 each, Transcript fee from Nigeria University (My undergrad school requires 50,000 Naira to send transcripts abroad. One of the reasons I don't apply to schools that require hard copy of official transcript). Sevis fee, visa fee, International passport (If you don't have one yet) and other sundry fees
However, on an encouraging note, even if we take all these expenses to be 400,000 Naira, That is less than a month stipend once someone lands in the U.S. So I would say let's do this. Yes We can.

I plan to send the scores to
1) KAUST
2) University of Toronto, Canada. (They require 80th percentile in both Quant and Verbal). A top school that I really like and it was one of the reasons I decided to write GRE.
3) University of Houston (Deadline is February 1 with guaranteed funding for PhD)
4) I am presently researching a suitable school with late deadline, Though considering University of Maryland, College Park but their application deadline is January 17, and the school seems very competitive and late submission might jeopardize my chances.

tescoman90:
just be yourself
be confident
take it like other exams and have no fear............................best of luck

Thanks. It seems you are in Kwara, Are you in Ilorin specifically? I would likely be in Ilorin over the weekend and I have copious GRE prep materials and Videos if you need them.

fredoricko:
Present Sir
I'm scheduled to take the exam this month. Both GRE n TOEFL ( 10 days interval). About preparation, I have been painstakingly trying to practice at least 2 quant sections daily for the next few days leading to my test. For verbal, I've decided to leave that in God's hands.

Have you taken full length practice test? There are two in the ETS book I posted in the previous page, then another 2 in Powerprep. Manhattan, crunchprep, Kaplan also have free tests. As with verbal, I wouldn't want to destabilize you since your exam is close, but I think it is possible to improve in RC, by following strategies in books. All the answers are present in the passage, one just as to know where to look. Learning some common GRE vocab can really help with Sentence completion and equivalent. Also real GRE sentence completion depends a lot on context and much less so on vocab. You might want to use official materials from ETS and maybe watch Magoosh videos if you have it. Don't just give up on it.

Hi all, anyone in the house giving GRE this January (Like the Indians would say lol). How is prep? I am feeling cautiously optimistic. I just need to make sure I apply all I have learnt during the course of my prep and don't allow any exam jitters to get to me. Can't wait to get it done over with. The last two weeks has been arduous. Any final advice from GRE veterans would be appreciated.

Simon21:
Yes university of houston

I would like to send a PM to you if that is alright?. I need detailed information about the admission process and students life in general.

Simon21:
Yep

Any chance you are at University of Houston?. I would like to apply to the school.

Simon21:
Finally! Happy new year from H-town

H-town as in Houston?

sirRiddy:
Scholastica16 your response is very insightful.
Emailing grad coordinators would help eliminate schools that you
should not waste time and money on. Of all the four schools I sent my scores
to during my GRE in 2014, I only eventually applied to the one I am attending
now. I was very inexperienced and only got better with time.

I got to know that funding chances are low for one, the other one, ASU, just
chop my application fee (90 dollars) and Utah State said they waive only out of state. So it
is pertinent grad coordinators are contacted way ahead of one's GRE like you suggested

In my research group, my
lab head is very inclusive and gives PhD students a lot of free-hand. We have access
to a lot of info like faculty recruiting, grants situation and even students' admission
package since he is in the adcomms. A Nigerian who is applying to my department
was able to get first-hand info on admission requirements because of this privilege.
She had a subpar GRE score, I talked to the grad coordinator and he rarely revealed
to me the minimum cut off of the GRE. She took the test again and made above the
score and hopefully she will be accepted.Funny enough, the requirement on the website
is 297 while the actual requirement averagely is 310. I asked him why they did that.
He said they do not want to scare away exceptional students who do not have the most glamorous
test scores. According to him, requiremnts are requirements. They can
help identify good potential through the admission process but cannot identify for sure who is going
to complete a PhD. Some gifted students just cannot score highly in the GRE but have
really commendable research acumen and experience.

To add to this, contacting current grad students can be a deal breaker too. You might
be lucky to form a rapport with one who is willing to divulge information about
admissions and funding situation in the department. I was able to know about TOEFL
requirements from an alumnus of the department who was a grad student at that time.
Candidates should try to proactive as this is the least one can do to stay competitive. The
Indians and Chinese are not smiling. Many of them can do everything possible including
cheating just to gain competitive edge.
So applicants should go to LinkedIn and find current students in their prospective programs.
One can type "GTA Chemical Engineering Harvard" if you are applying to the Chemical
Engineering program at Harvard for instance.

A really excellent post SirRiddy. We really need to start doing our research and making use of all available resources. It is just that this GRE preparation is taking a lot of my time. Thanks again for this post. Really appreciate your effort to continue to give back to others. I hope to emulate you when I get to the U.S. I would always try to lift up others too.

Hello all. I found this during my prep. I am not sure it is on this site because I couldn't find it in my compendium of materials I collated from this site. It is an official book from ETS that contains two practice tests at the end. In addition to the two test on Powerprep, that makes 4 official practice test from the official test company. I have realized that nothing compares to the question from ETS, all other third party materials are useful, but the optimum benefit would be from practicing real GRE questions. Try to take the tests under examination conditions. Like the maxim say:"Practice is everything. This is often misquoted as Practice makes perfect".
https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/erbuc/files/207_2f8f9f4b-d1b0-40c4-a3e3-0dbeb349472e.pdf

iekene:
In the Spirit of XMAS, i am giving away a premium magoosh account for those who would soon be taking GRE and TOEFL like me ... To enhance our success ... Send me a pm and assure me u wont change the password .. Thats all.. MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL..

Hi, I have sent you a PM. I really need this, my GRE is in a week.

vikings809:
Results out:

V- 154
Q-160
AWA- 4.0

Converted CGPA: 3.34/4.0 (OAU)

Target: Funded Physics & Astronomy Msc/Phd in US.

I'd appreciate any form of advice

Searching for school is part of research,You might as well start research before Grad school. (If you find a suitable school, let me know ) I am sure there are good schools that would accept the GRE score. 314 no be beans.

shakaz:
Please anyone with the magoosh videos link. I have tried all the links posted but none seems to be working. Or if you are in PH and you have the videos we could hook up. Thanks

Search for Magoosh videos on 4shareddotcom. Anytime I try to post the link, I get banned. It is about 1 Gig.

iCool:
Checked and this one still works.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9biiirqkvscmaot/MG%20Prem_2.rar?dl=0

Working link for Magoosh videos

iCool:
Magoosh videos - https://www.dropbox.com/s/gb59spt3p8ze590/MG%20Prm%20Vidz.rar?dl=0

Another link for the videos - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzH3jPJPYLjlRGl6STRmRExLMWs/view



Manhattan 4th edition - https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B6FBl1JdVum6Um4yRTdNN1gxa2c&export=download



Gruber, Nover, Baron, ETS Quant & Verbal Practice booklets - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zmshe3dzsdkzwfe/AADzNPplTrgqrYdS4IfNZ7zZa?dl=0


All links tested and are working. Use either of the first two for the videos (~1gig in size) and 230mb for the Manhattan books.
Good luck to you.

Use the links above, Magoosh videos link doesn't work but others do.

I am sorry if you quoted me and I have not responded, I was banned twice by Nairaland spambot for posting links to GRE study materials that have already been posted on this thread. Something need to be done about that stupid thing.

Scholastica16:
This is stellar however I am surprised you did not hit 30 in the Writing as well. The sample "5" mark essays I saw were not fantastic tbh. I mean, compared with the GRE "6" mark ones.

Happy for you though. I wish ETS TOEFL would even respond to my queries sef.

I thought as much about the writing but I can't complain, can I? Might be something to watch out for so that I can brush up my Writing for GRE AWA.

drhopeful:
Lovely result! Hope you blast the GRE too! Good luck!

Thanks. It is due to your contributions and other wonderful people on this forum. Really stepping up my preparation for GRE, hope to blast it.

Toakins:
Congrats time2smile. Great scores you have there. Please can you share tips on how to prepare for the toefl test and the materials you used. I'll be writing mine in few days time. Thanks.

Thanks. I used notefull video for the speaking section. Go to YouTube and search for notefull toefl videos. Download the official toefl interactive practice from ETS site. https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/prepare. I used my knowledge from GRE reading comprehension for reading, Listening was straightforward because I grew up watching CNN and other TV channels. Make sure to practice by taking the full test from the link above. Good luck, The test is just an examination of your English language skill, the only section that needs special focus is Speaking.

@manwonder, I used MAFIT to register for both TOEFL and GRE and I have not had any serious issues with them. They are legit from all indications and since your issue has been resolved, I think you should give them benefit of the doubt. Every registration they handle cannot be 100% smooth sailing. I saved about 50,000 by registering with them.

The result of the TOEFL I took on 9th of December just came in. I was expecting it to take 13 days so was a bit surprised when I saw the mail. I logged in to my account and pressed view. I was a nervous wreck all the while as I was waiting to for the page to load, not that I needed to be. Here it is: Reading 30, Listening 30, Speaking 24, Writing 27. Total of 111. I am relieved with my score in speaking because some very selective schools request for a minimum of 22 to receive funding through Teaching Assistantship. Now on to the "BABA" called GRE on the 6th.

aanexplus:
Thanks. I had Q157 V149. I will make use of this score like you said. Thanks a lot sir

Yeah, you can still do something with this score. There are a lot of decent schools that accept 300 and above. Although, seeing that you are going for an MSc., getting funding might be difficult. By the way, was the test much more difficult compared to practice test especially Powerprep?

Scholastica16:
Just want to update the house. My AWA came out as 5 today. 93rd percentile. Saying I am excited does not do justice to how I feel. I was expecting the same 4.5 or 4 because I didn't feel I wrote better than my first one.

I looked at CrunchPrep, Barron, ETS, Nova and Princeton for the AWA but this was before my first one. In the second one, I didn't even practice let alone look at any material.

One thing that changed from the last time was the use of transitional or linking words. I noticed that higher scoring essays rarely made use of firstly, secondly etc but instead used Moreover, However, Additionally etc. My recommendation is that for the Issue-based aspect one should stay away from the use of first, second etc.

As per the Argumentative aspect, the mistake many people make is that they could identify the loopholes but not state the implications/assumptions made by the author and the modifications that could be made to plug those loopholes and make the argument more robust.

For example, if you say "first (yea in the argumentative aspect you could use this but avoid it entirely in the issue-based) the author states that X will happen". You have to add- "by stating this he assumes that Y and Z must have happened. This is not always the case as A or B could have been the cause. By doing so, the author unwittingly makes a fallacy of a false correlation. To make his argument more logically sound, he could have added C and D, that way we can know bla bla bla".

Ofcourse, I am not an authority. I am only stating what I did in both essays to have gotten 4.5 and 5. Having a template to work with also helps. I think I dubbed HappyDay's own. Also take note of some always recurring fallacies like hasty generalization, false correlation and the use of polls. In fact, if your argumentative prompt mentions a poll or survey or questionnaire, begin by questioning it. You can never go wrong.

At the end of the day, the topic you see in the both of them should be favourable to you. I pray it is the case for all members of the forum.

Scholastica16 out!

Wow, 93 percentile, that's highly impressive. By the way which schools are you applying to. I could not get a Dec test date for GRE and I am scrambling to find suitable schools that accept applications in January.

Scholastica16:
Funny enough, almost the same fate. Only that I was taking the TOEFL after my first GRE with the second GRE in mind so I was testing a strategy I hoped to use in my second V in the GRE. The strategy was to use keywords to just focus on that part of the passage to locate my answer. TOEFL simplifies the process by at least telling you the paragraph to go to so that was helpful.

My speaking section on the other hand was cray cray. For one, I didn't prepare for it like most of you are describing here. If I am being honest with myself I didn't practice at all. I only did more of Reading and Writing and little Listening. At least 2 times while I was still talking my time elapsed. I would have been worried had I not watched a YouTube video in which one Russian chick was explaining her experience and she said the same happened to her. She even said at some point she spoke too quickly to prevent the time elapsing and when she realised she had so much time on her hands she thought to add a few more things but she froze and yelled "arrgh" in frustration. LOL. Her speaking score came out as 28 with her round score as 117.

The guy by my side on the day of the TOEFL was trying to describe an issue a girl was having in his speaking prompt and he said "she didn't want any wahala". I felt for him. He immediately tried to retract it but the damage had been done I guess. It was amusing. Still is.

LOL, the bolded really got me laughing, that's why I always discourage excessive use of Colloquials and chat language. By the way, I hope ETS releases your TOEFL soonest.

Toakins:
Hi guys,
My Toefl exam is in few weeks time..Please I need materials to study for the test. Thanks in anticipation.

Go to YouTube and search for notefull toefl videos. Download the official toefl interactive practice from ETS site. https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/prepare

drhopeful:
Sorry about the boring passages. Don't worry, you will make it. I remember when I took mine. I came here to flog some people for deceiving me. Lol. Just wondering if you found the speaking section easier than reading.

I was really apprehensive about the speaking section, so it was the one I concentrated on while preparing. I used the notefull videos based on your recommendation and that of others. I gave it a good shot, though still expect to score higher in other sections. I was just taken aback by how advanced those passages were. I pity those Sec school students.

aanexplus:
Evening guys. Please will gre state conversion rate of length, weight and co when given such questions?

I have never come across a question where you have to do difficult conversion of unit. The answers are usually in the unit of the question. Of course, one has to know the basic ones such as 60sec=1min, 60min=1h, cm, m, km. But conversion such as ft to inches, or pounds to kg are usually given. But even those are rare.