View Full Version : GRE Physics Subject Test - Help!!
Lai Zhong Yuan
Apr13-04, 05:54 PM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>[Moderator\'s note: Replies about the General test should probably be\nsent by e-mail; replies about the Physics test can be posted to the\nnewsgroup. -TB]\n\n\nDear All,\n\nHi. I am not quite sure whether this is the appropriate place to post\nthis, but I\'ve tried posting in sci.edu and sci.physics and there were\nno replies, so naturally I assumed that those were the wrong places.\nHowever, I was encouraged by some of the responses to some postings in\nhere, so I hope that finally, this would be the appropriate group.\nActually I have two questions, both about the GRE tests (General and\nPhysics Subject). I am going to take both of them sometime in the near\nfuture, and for the General Test, I am worried about the Analytical\nWriting section. I would particularly like to\nknow what books / magazines / journals should I read to prepare for\nit? This is apart from the usual preparation books from Princeton,\nArco and others. I am thinking of reading Foreign Affairs, and maybe\nTime and Newsweek (to keep abreast of stuff). Any other suggestions?\n\nThe same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you\nhere have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a\ngreat help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions\non which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test? I know\nthey cover a lot of material, but I hope there\'s a better way to\nprepare for it than to dig up all those textbooks. Anyone has any\nsuggestions? Thanks a lot !!\n\nP.S. I really hope this is the appropriate place for such questions /\npostings.\n\nThanks a lot.\n\n\n\nRegards,\nLai Zhong Yuan\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>[Moderator's note: Replies about the General test should probably be
sent by e-mail; replies about the Physics test can be posted to the
newsgroup. -TB]
Dear All,
Hi. I am not quite sure whether this is the appropriate place to post
this, but I've tried posting in sci.edu and sci.physics and there were
no replies, so naturally I assumed that those were the wrong places.
However, I was encouraged by some of the responses to some postings in
here, so I hope that finally, this would be the appropriate group.
Actually I have two questions, both about the GRE tests (General and
Physics Subject). I am going to take both of them sometime in the near
future, and for the General Test, I am worried about the Analytical
Writing section. I would particularly like to
know what books / magazines / journals should I read to prepare for
it? This is apart from the usual preparation books from Princeton,
Arco and others. I am thinking of reading Foreign Affairs, and maybe
Time and Newsweek (to keep abreast of stuff). Any other suggestions?
The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you
here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a
great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions
on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test? I know
they cover a lot of material, but I hope there's a better way to
prepare for it than to dig up all those textbooks. Anyone has any
suggestions? Thanks a lot !!
P.S. I really hope this is the appropriate place for such questions /
postings.
Thanks a lot.
Regards,
Lai Zhong Yuan
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>Hello Lai,\n\nIt is best to go straight to the source. One can find a description of\nthe subject test and a practice physics subject test at\n\nhttp://www.gre.org\n\nYou should also have\n\nGRE: Practicing to Take the Physics Test, ETS\n\nwhich may be out of print. Another book you may find useful is\n\nA Review of Undergraduate Physics, Bayman and Hamermesh\n\nThe test measures your knowledge of undergraduate physics and your\nability to solve problems quickly (one can get very far, without much\ncalculation, by simply weeding out nonsensical answers from those\nprovided, for example). The exam is not trivial---take your\npreparation for it seriously.\n\nRecently I stumbled upon\n\nhttp://www.physicsgre.com\n\nwhich seems to have some good advice and links to useful information\npertaining to the test (this is not an ETS endorsed site, however).\n\nGood luck!\n\nRegards,\nOhne\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>Hello Lai,
It is best to go straight to the source. One can find a description of
the subject test and a practice physics subject test at
http://www.gre.org
You should also have
GRE: Practicing to Take the Physics Test, ETS
which may be out of print. Another book you may find useful is
A Review of Undergraduate Physics, Bayman and Hamermesh
The test measures your knowledge of undergraduate physics and your
ability to solve problems quickly (one can get very far, without much
calculation, by simply weeding out nonsensical answers from those
provided, for example). The exam is not trivial---take your
preparation for it seriously.
Recently I stumbled upon
http://www.physicsgre.com
which seems to have some good advice and links to useful information
pertaining to the test (this is not an ETS endorsed site, however).
Good luck!
Regards,
Ohne
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>abrikosoff@yahoo.com (Lai Zhong Yuan) wrote in message news:<65cd102b.0404110610.7a1a8090@posting.google. com>...\nSNIP\n> The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you\n> here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a\n> great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions\n> on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test? I know\n> they cover a lot of material, but I hope there\'s a better way to\n> prepare for it than to dig up all those textbooks. Anyone has any\n> suggestions? Thanks a lot !!\n>\n> P.S. I really hope this is the appropriate place for such questions /\n> postings.\n>\n> Thanks a lot.\n>\n>\n>\n> Regards,\n> Lai Zhong Yuan\n\n\nI took the physics subject test in November 2002 and I began studying\nfor it that August. I began by rereading all of my freshman textbooks\n( we used Halliday and Resnick) as well as my modern physics book\n(simple quantum mechanics and special relativity from Tipler). Basic\nthermo is important as well. As I was making my way through these\nbooks I worked almost all the odd problems (so that I could check\nmyself with the book\'s answers) except for the hardest problems. You\nonly have 170 minutes to answer 100 questions so it is not very likely\nthat you will be given a very time consuming problem.\n\nI would not reccommend buying any of the physics gre books off the\nshelf except for the one put out by ETS. This book contains\nthree actual practice exams. These exams are the key to your success.\nAfter you have begun preparing you should take one exam to see how\nyou\'re doing. Your first experience with a gre exam will probably be a\nbad one, but it will give\nyou an idea of what subject areas that the exam emphasizes, and which\nareas you need to study. The goal of the test is not to show how much\nphysics you know, it is simply to "do well" on the exam.\n\nThere are a lot of tricks that are useful for answering specific types\nof questions on the test. If you find yourself spending too much time\non a question there is probably a trick to it that your favorite\nphysics professor probably knows. On the test itself you are penalized\nfor getting incorrect answers so you shouldn\'t guess unless you can\nnarrow the choices down. You will do well on the test if you know\nevery detail in your intro text books and know the most important\nmaterial out of your upper level classes (quantum and classical mech,\ne&m, stat mech, thermo). You don\'t get any formula sheets on your exam\nso I reccomend writing down every numbered equation you come across in\nyour earlier text books, even if you don\'t think you\'ll need it, and\nmemorizing them. I had to use one or two seemingly obscure formulas on\nthe actual exam. Just because your professor didn\'t emphasize it in\nyour class doesn\'t mean that it wasn\'t emphasized when the question\nwriters took those classes. As an example, hydrodynamics is not\nusually stressed in undergraduate classes now, but you may see one or\neven two superficial questions on this subject on the gre.\n\nOnce you\'re well on your way into studying you should start taking the\npractice exams one at a time. You should then go through and make sure\nyou can answer all 300 of those questions without even thinking very\nmuch. The tricks it takes to answer those questions are sure to be\nreused on the test you have to take. Not only that but they reuse\nquestions and you may see a few of them on your exam! Try to get a\ngroup of people together and each of you work out those 300 problems\nbackward and forward, and teach each other fast ways to do them. Ask\nyour professors if you are having trouble finding a quick way to do a\nproblem. There will be a few questions on the test that take some time\nbut not a whole lot. Nine times out of ten, if you think "I would need\n15 minutes to answer that one" there is a simple trick waiting to be\nfound. Make sure you at least READ every question on the exam because\nsome questions are much easier than others. I would recommend that if\nyou get stuck go to the very back of the exam and start working\nbackward. Then when you get stuck there go back to the front. Usually\nthe last 5 questions are easier questions about more advanced subjects\nso you can answer them quickly.\n\nUnfortunately the GRE is a necessary evil since most graduate schools\nrequire it. After going through the study procedure I outlined I\nanswered 91 questions on the exam , got 75 correct (missed 16) so\nincluding misses my raw score was 71 (16*0.25=4) and my numerical\nscore was 920. If you get 2/3 of the questions correct I would say you\nare doing very well. With that score I was able to get into all of\nthe graduate schools I applied to (UCSB, UT Austin, Princeton,\nHarvard, and Stanford) although I hope it wasn\'t my Gre score that was\nthe deciding factor! You must also realize, that while perhaps very\nimportant, it is just ONE exam and won\'t stop you from getting into\ngrad school completely. This is all from a student\'s perspective so to\nget the other side you may want to ask someone on the graduate\nadmissions committee in your physics department about the importance\nof the GRE. Good luck!\n-Taylor\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>abrikosoff@yahoo.com (Lai Zhong Yuan) wrote in message news:<65cd102b.0404110610.7a1a8090@posting.google.com>...
SNIP
> The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you
> here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a
> great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions
> on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test? I know
> they cover a lot of material, but I hope there's a better way to
> prepare for it than to dig up all those textbooks. Anyone has any
> suggestions? Thanks a lot !!
>
> P.S. I really hope this is the appropriate place for such questions /
> postings.
>
> Thanks a lot.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Lai Zhong Yuan
I took the physics subject test in November 2002 and I began studying
for it that August. I began by rereading all of my freshman textbooks
( we used Halliday and Resnick) as well as my modern physics book
(simple quantum mechanics and special relativity from Tipler). Basic
thermo is important as well. As I was making my way through these
books I worked almost all the odd problems (so that I could check
myself with the book's answers) except for the hardest problems. You
only have 170 minutes to answer 100 questions so it is not very likely
that you will be given a very time consuming problem.
I would not reccommend buying any of the physics gre books off the
shelf except for the one put out by ETS. This book contains
three actual practice exams. These exams are the key to your success.
After you have begun preparing you should take one exam to see how
you're doing. Your first experience with a gre exam will probably be a
bad one, but it will give
you an idea of what subject areas that the exam emphasizes, and which
areas you need to study. The goal of the test is not to show how much
physics you know, it is simply to "do well" on the exam.
There are a lot of tricks that are useful for answering specific types
of questions on the test. If you find yourself spending too much time
on a question there is probably a trick to it that your favorite
physics professor probably knows. On the test itself you are penalized
for getting incorrect answers so you shouldn't guess unless you can
narrow the choices down. You will do well on the test if you know
every detail in your intro text books and know the most important
material out of your upper level classes (quantum and classical mech,
e&m, stat mech, thermo). You don't get any formula sheets on your exam
so I reccomend writing down every numbered equation you come across in
your earlier text books, even if you don't think you'll need it, and
memorizing them. I had to use one or two seemingly obscure formulas on
the actual exam. Just because your professor didn't emphasize it in
your class doesn't mean that it wasn't emphasized when the question
writers took those classes. As an example, hydrodynamics is not
usually stressed in undergraduate classes now, but you may see one or
even two superficial questions on this subject on the gre.
Once you're well on your way into studying you should start taking the
practice exams one at a time. You should then go through and make sure
you can answer all 300 of those questions without even thinking very
much. The tricks it takes to answer those questions are sure to be
reused on the test you have to take. Not only that but they reuse
questions and you may see a few of them on your exam! Try to get a
group of people together and each of you work out those 300 problems
backward and forward, and teach each other fast ways to do them. Ask
your professors if you are having trouble finding a quick way to do a
problem. There will be a few questions on the test that take some time
but not a whole lot. Nine times out of ten, if you think "I would need
15 minutes to answer that one" there is a simple trick waiting to be
found. Make sure you at least READ every question on the exam because
some questions are much easier than others. I would recommend that if
you get stuck go to the very back of the exam and start working
backward. Then when you get stuck there go back to the front. Usually
the last 5 questions are easier questions about more advanced subjects
so you can answer them quickly.
Unfortunately the GRE is a necessary evil since most graduate schools
require it. After going through the study procedure I outlined I
answered 91 questions on the exam , got 75 correct (missed 16) so
including misses my raw score was 71 (16*0.25=4) and my numerical
score was 920. If you get 2/3 of the questions correct I would say you
are doing very well. With that score I was able to get into all of
the graduate schools I applied to (UCSB, UT Austin, Princeton,
Harvard, and Stanford) although I hope it wasn't my Gre score that was
the deciding factor! You must also realize, that while perhaps very
important, it is just ONE exam and won't stop you from getting into
grad school completely. This is all from a student's perspective so to
get the other side you may want to ask someone on the graduate
admissions committee in your physics department about the importance
of the GRE. Good luck!
-Taylor
Yi-Zen Chu; Yiren Qu
Apr17-04, 05:07 AM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>Lai Zhong Yuan wrote:\n\n> The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you\n> here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a\n> great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions\n> on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test? I know\n> they cover a lot of material, but I hope there\'s a better way to\n> prepare for it than to dig up all those textbooks. Anyone has any\n> suggestions? Thanks a lot !!\n\nDo you have access to a library of some academic institute? I highly\nrecommend that you try getting copies of old physics GREs in the library\nand practice with them. You probably know too that the GRE website\nprovides a sample copy of the physics GRE test.\n\nI took the physics GRE in 2002, and found that it does not test much\nphysics in the sense of understanding. Instead it tests your time\nmanagement skills and your memory. To really work out 100 physics\nproblems in 3 hours is very difficult, if not impossible.\n\na) What you need to do is to learn to eliminate answers (by common\nsense, dimensional analysis, etc.) and see if you can check which of the\nremaining answers are correct instead of working out the answer from\nscratch. For time management purposes you\'d need to know when to skip\nthe question after spending too much time on it - I recall one can skip\nquite a number of questions and still not be penalized, provided one\ngets every other question correct.\n\nb) Only if the above method fails do you try to work it out from the\nformulas you\'ve memorized for the test. If you need to rederive some\nformula you\'ve forgotten you should probably not waste your time and\njust skip the question.\n\nc) That\'s why the memory part comes in: it really does help to try going\nback to your textbooks and memorize formulas so that you\'ll be very\nquick on the test.\n\nd) However, to know what kind of formulas are useful to memorize, it\'d\nbe good to first do a sample GRE that accurately reflects what the real\none would be like - do not do GRE tests by Kaplan, Princeton Review et\nal, IMO.\n\nEven though I\'ve passed through the system already, I wish physics grad\nschools would stop using the GREs - both the physics and general - as\ngauge of the competence of their applicants.\n\nYi-Zen\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>Lai Zhong Yuan wrote:
> The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you
> here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a
> great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions
> on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test? I know
> they cover a lot of material, but I hope there's a better way to
> prepare for it than to dig up all those textbooks. Anyone has any
> suggestions? Thanks a lot !!
Do you have access to a library of some academic institute? I highly
recommend that you try getting copies of old physics GREs in the library
and practice with them. You probably know too that the GRE website
provides a sample copy of the physics GRE test.
I took the physics GRE in 2002, and found that it does not test much
physics in the sense of understanding. Instead it tests your time
management skills and your memory. To really work out 100 physics
problems in 3 hours is very difficult, if not impossible.
a) What you need to do is to learn to eliminate answers (by common
sense, dimensional analysis, etc.) and see if you can check which of the
remaining answers are correct instead of working out the answer from
scratch. For time management purposes you'd need to know when to skip
the question after spending too much time on it - I recall one can skip
quite a number of questions and still not be penalized, provided one
gets every other question correct.
b) Only if the above method fails do you try to work it out from the
formulas you've memorized for the test. If you need to rederive some
formula you've forgotten you should probably not waste your time and
just skip the question.
c) That's why the memory part comes in: it really does help to try going
back to your textbooks and memorize formulas so that you'll be very
quick on the test.
d) However, to know what kind of formulas are useful to memorize, it'd
be good to first do a sample GRE that accurately reflects what the real
one would be like - do not do GRE tests by Kaplan, Princeton Review et
al, IMO.
Even though I've passed through the system already, I wish physics grad
schools would stop using the GREs - both the physics and general - as
gauge of the competence of their applicants.
Yi-Zen
Joseph.D.Warner
Apr20-04, 02:33 AM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>Lai Zhong Yuan wrote:\n> [Moderator\'s note: Replies about the General test should probably be\n> sent by e-mail; replies about the Physics test can be posted to the\n> newsgroup. -TB]\n>\n>\n> Dear All,\n>\n><snip>\n>\n> The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you\n> here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a\n> great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions\n> on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test?\nFirst, off good luck on your upcoming test.\n\nI would say that the General GRE test is what you need to prepare for\nmore than the Physics Part. I am sure it has changed since I took it.\n\nOn the Physics part of the test if you do prepare for it. Hopefully you\nalready know the basic formulas. Don\'t try to memorize a lot of specific\nformulas that you can derive from the basic ones. Learn the procedures\nand concepts to solve the problems (conservation of energy and momemtum\nis big along with some symmetry). You have enough time to do that. As I\nremember from the test there were some questions on the History of\nPhysics. Names and times of who did what and when. That is the area of\nreview I would suggest you do as you probably can do all the problems\nwith your current knowledge.\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>Lai Zhong Yuan wrote:
> [Moderator's note: Replies about the General test should probably be
> sent by e-mail; replies about the Physics test can be posted to the
> newsgroup. -TB]
>
>
> Dear All,
>
><snip>
>
> The same goes for the Physics Subject Test.I think that many of you
> here have gone through this before, and your experiences would be a
> great help to me. Specifically, does anyone here has any suggestions
> on which books to consult to prepare for the GRE Physics Test?
First, off good luck on your upcoming test.
I would say that the General GRE test is what you need to prepare for
more than the Physics Part. I am sure it has changed since I took it.
On the Physics part of the test if you do prepare for it. Hopefully you
already know the basic formulas. Don't try to memorize a lot of specific
formulas that you can derive from the basic ones. Learn the procedures
and concepts to solve the problems (conservation of energy and momemtum
is big along with some symmetry). You have enough time to do that. As I
remember from the test there were some questions on the History of
Physics. Names and times of who did what and when. That is the area of
review I would suggest you do as you probably can do all the problems
with your current knowledge.
ebunn@lfa221051.richmond.edu
Apr21-04, 04:24 PM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>In article <4083E6B9.1070304@grc.nasa.gov>,\nJoseph.D.Warne r <jwarner@grc.nasa.gov> wrote:\n\n>On the Physics part of the test if you do prepare for it. Hopefully you\n>already know the basic formulas. Don\'t try to memorize a lot of specific\n>formulas that you can derive from the basic ones. Learn the procedures\n>and concepts to solve the problems (conservation of energy and momemtum\n>is big along with some symmetry).\n\nThis is of course excellent advice for doing physics. Unfortunately,\nI don\'t think it\'s good advice for the physics GRE. The reason\nis that this\n\n>You have enough time to do that.\n\nis not correct. The physics GRE is a speed test.\n\nAs others have mentioned, one bit of classic GRE strategy is to\neliminate wrong multiple-choice answers rather than solving the\nproblems. In my day, you could often eliminate some of the wrong\nanswers on dimensional grounds -- that is, they didn\'t have the right\nunits. Someone told me recently that that\'s no longer true. Can\nanyone who\'s taken the test recently confirm this?\n\nIn addition to dimensional analysis, considering limiting cases (Does\nthe solution behave correctly when the charge is extremely far away?\nWhen it\'s extremely close?) was another good way to eliminate wrong\nanswers.\n\nAccording to an article in Science in 1996, the physics GRE\nis among the worst of all the GRE subject tests as a predictor\nof success in graduate school. An ETS publication I turned up\ndisputes this, claiming that it does predict success "in the first\nyear" of graduate school, but it doesn\'t give any details. The\nScience article shows a scatter plot of GPA of Harvard physics\ngraduate students vs. Physics GRE score. By eye, the correlation\ndoes look weak. It looks like the correlation is strongest at\nthe very low end: folks with the worst GRE scores had the lowest\nGPAs. But above about the 25th percentile, there doesn\'t look\nlike much correlation at all.\n\nHere\'s the citation for the Science article:\nScience, Nov. 1 1996 issue, vol. 274, pp. 710-712.\n\nAnd here\'s the URL:\nhttp://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/274/5288/710\n\nYou may need to be a subscriber to Science for this link to work; I\'m\nnot sure. Maybe if you\'re not, you can see the summary but not the\nfull text.\n\nOf course, none of this matters much to the poor soul taking the test:\nwhether it\'s a good predictor or not, graduate admissions committees\nuse it.\n\n>As I\n>remember from the test there were some questions on the History of\n>Physics. Names and times of who did what and when. That is the area of\n>review I would suggest you do as you probably can do all the problems\n>with your current knowledge.\n\nI\'m sorry to keep picking on you, but in my opinion this is also not\nthe best advice. There are some questions on this sort of thing,\nbut relatively few, I think. Most of the questions are on standard\nundergraduate physics -- lots of mechanics and E&M in particular.\nKnowing how to do those problems *fast* is far more important than\nremembering which was the Franck-Hertz experiment.\n\nAs others have already said, the best advice is to practice! Get the\navailable past GREs from ETS. The books of practice tests put out by\nother companies can\'t be relied on to be similar to the real test.\nThey might conceivably be good practice anyway, but there\'s no\nsubstitute for knowing what the real test is like. Do the tests. Do\nthem timed.\n\n-Ted\n\n--\n[E-mail me at name@domain.edu, as opposed to name@machine.domain.edu.]\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>In article <4083E6B9.1070304@grc.nasa.gov>,
Joseph.D.Warner <jwarner@grc.nasa.gov> wrote:
>On the Physics part of the test if you do prepare for it. Hopefully you
>already know the basic formulas. Don't try to memorize a lot of specific
>formulas that you can derive from the basic ones. Learn the procedures
>and concepts to solve the problems (conservation of energy and momemtum
>is big along with some symmetry).
This is of course excellent advice for doing physics. Unfortunately,
I don't think it's good advice for the physics GRE. The reason
is that this
>You have enough time to do that.
is not correct. The physics GRE is a speed test.
As others have mentioned, one bit of classic GRE strategy is to
eliminate wrong multiple-choice answers rather than solving the
problems. In my day, you could often eliminate some of the wrong
answers on dimensional grounds -- that is, they didn't have the right
units. Someone told me recently that that's no longer true. Can
anyone who's taken the test recently confirm this?
In addition to dimensional analysis, considering limiting cases (Does
the solution behave correctly when the charge is extremely far away?
When it's extremely close?) was another good way to eliminate wrong
answers.
According to an article in Science in 1996, the physics GRE
is among the worst of all the GRE subject tests as a predictor
of success in graduate school. An ETS publication I turned up
disputes this, claiming that it does predict success "in the first
year" of graduate school, but it doesn't give any details. The
Science article shows a scatter plot of GPA of Harvard physics
graduate students vs. Physics GRE score. By eye, the correlation
does look weak. It looks like the correlation is strongest at
the very low end: folks with the worst GRE scores had the lowest
GPAs. But above about the 25th percentile, there doesn't look
like much correlation at all.
Here's the citation for the Science article:
Science, Nov. 1 1996 issue, vol. 274, pp. 710-712.
And here's the URL:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/274/5288/710
You may need to be a subscriber to Science for this link to work; I'm
not sure. Maybe if you're not, you can see the summary but not the
full text.
Of course, none of this matters much to the poor soul taking the test:
whether it's a good predictor or not, graduate admissions committees
use it.
>As I
>remember from the test there were some questions on the History of
>Physics. Names and times of who did what and when. That is the area of
>review I would suggest you do as you probably can do all the problems
>with your current knowledge.
I'm sorry to keep picking on you, but in my opinion this is also not
the best advice. There are some questions on this sort of thing,
but relatively few, I think. Most of the questions are on standard
undergraduate physics -- lots of mechanics and E&M in particular.
Knowing how to do those problems *fast* is far more important than
remembering which was the Franck-Hertz experiment.
As others have already said, the best advice is to practice! Get the
available past GREs from ETS. The books of practice tests put out by
other companies can't be relied on to be similar to the real test.
They might conceivably be good practice anyway, but there's no
substitute for knowing what the real test is like. Do the tests. Do
them timed.
-Ted
--
[E-mail me at name@domain.edu, as opposed to name@machine.domain.edu.]
Matt Reece
Apr23-04, 04:15 PM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>ebunn@lfa221051.richmond.edu wrote in message news:<c66l9j\\$1hh5\\$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk>...\n>\n > This is of course excellent advice for doing physics. Unfortunately,\n> I don\'t think it\'s good advice for the physics GRE. The reason\n> is that this\n>\n> >You have enough time to do that.\n>\n> is not correct. The physics GRE is a speed test.\n\nAs someone who took the GRE in the fall and did fairly well, I\ncompletely agree. Looking over Halliday & Resnick the night before\nreminded me of some formulas I wouldn\'t have had time to derive.\n\n> In my day, you could often eliminate some of the wrong\n> answers on dimensional grounds -- that is, they didn\'t have the right\n> units. Someone told me recently that that\'s no longer true. Can\n> anyone who\'s taken the test recently confirm this?\n\nThis was still true on many problems.\n\n> In addition to dimensional analysis, considering limiting cases (Does\n> the solution behave correctly when the charge is extremely far away?\n> When it\'s extremely close?) was another good way to eliminate wrong\n> answers.\n\nI agree with this too. Plugging in numbers like 0, 1, and infinity can\ngive you a lot of the answers.\n\n> >As I\n> >remember from the test there were some questions on the History of\n> >Physics. Names and times of who did what and when. That is the area of\n> >review I would suggest you do as you probably can do all the problems\n> >with your current knowledge.\n>\n> I\'m sorry to keep picking on you, but in my opinion this is also not\n> the best advice. There are some questions on this sort of thing,\n> but relatively few, I think.\n\nAgain, I agree. There are a handful of historical questions or\nquestions on topics in particle physics or cosmology, but mostly the\ntest is mechanics, E&M, and quantum mechanics. There is also some\nthermodynamics.\n\nYou can afford to leave a lot of answers blank and still do quite\nwell.\n\nMy advice is this: take one practice test. If you do very well, don\'t\nworry about it much; maybe review Halliday & Resnick for an hour or\ntwo. If you don\'t do well, study more, and then take another practice\ntest, trying to keep in mind strategies like checking the units and\ntaking limits. But the best advice I was given was "Don\'t let studying\nfor the GRE keep you from doing something fun, or something\nintellectual."\n\nGood luck!\n\nMatt Reece\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>ebunn@lfa221051.richmond.edu wrote in message news:<c66l9j$1hh5$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk>...
>
> This is of course excellent advice for doing physics. Unfortunately,
> I don't think it's good advice for the physics GRE. The reason
> is that this
>
> >You have enough time to do that.
>
> is not correct. The physics GRE is a speed test.
As someone who took the GRE in the fall and did fairly well, I
completely agree. Looking over Halliday & Resnick the night before
reminded me of some formulas I wouldn't have had time to derive.
> In my day, you could often eliminate some of the wrong
> answers on dimensional grounds -- that is, they didn't have the right
> units. Someone told me recently that that's no longer true. Can
> anyone who's taken the test recently confirm this?
This was still true on many problems.
> In addition to dimensional analysis, considering limiting cases (Does
> the solution behave correctly when the charge is extremely far away?
> When it's extremely close?) was another good way to eliminate wrong
> answers.
I agree with this too. Plugging in numbers like 0, 1, and infinity can
give you a lot of the answers.
> >As I
> >remember from the test there were some questions on the History of
> >Physics. Names and times of who did what and when. That is the area of
> >review I would suggest you do as you probably can do all the problems
> >with your current knowledge.
>
> I'm sorry to keep picking on you, but in my opinion this is also not
> the best advice. There are some questions on this sort of thing,
> but relatively few, I think.
Again, I agree. There are a handful of historical questions or
questions on topics in particle physics or cosmology, but mostly the
test is mechanics, E&M, and quantum mechanics. There is also some
thermodynamics.
You can afford to leave a lot of answers blank and still do quite
well.
My advice is this: take one practice test. If you do very well, don't
worry about it much; maybe review Halliday & Resnick for an hour or
two. If you don't do well, study more, and then take another practice
test, trying to keep in mind strategies like checking the units and
taking limits. But the best advice I was given was "Don't let studying
for the GRE keep you from doing something fun, or something
intellectual."
Good luck!
Matt Reece
Joseph.D.Warner
Apr24-04, 12:19 PM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>ebunn@lfa221051.richmond.edu wrote:\n> In article <4083E6B9.1070304@grc.nasa.gov>,\n> Joseph.D.Warner <jwarner@grc.nasa.gov> wrote:\n>\n<snip>\n>\n> This is of course excellent advice for doing physics. Unfortunately,\n> I don\'t think it\'s good advice for the physics GRE. The reason\n> is that this\n>>You have enough time to do that.\n\nI meant there may not be enough time to memorize all the formulas during\npreparations.\n\n> is not correct. The physics GRE is a speed test.\n>\n> As others have mentioned, one bit of classic GRE strategy is to\n> eliminate wrong multiple-choice answers rather than solving the\n> problems. In my day, you could often eliminate some of the wrong\n> answers on dimensional grounds -- that is, they didn\'t have the right\n> units. Someone told me recently that that\'s no longer true. Can\n> anyone who\'s taken the test recently confirm this?\n>\n> In addition to dimensional analysis, considering limiting cases (Does\n> the solution behave correctly when the charge is extremely far away?\n> When it\'s extremely close?) was another good way to eliminate wrong\n> answers.\n>\n\n<snip>\n\n>\n<snip>\n>\n> As others have already said, the best advice is to practice! Get the\n> available past GREs from ETS.\n\n<snipping to reduce previouis text to be less than new text>\n\n> Do the tests. Do\n> them timed.\n>\n\nI agree seeing and doing the examples tests will benefit Mr. or Ms.\nYuan. The example tests will provide a good opportunity for Mr. or Ms.\nYuan to see where to concentrate his or her studies.\n\n> -Ted\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>ebunn@lfa221051.richmond.edu wrote:
> In article <4083E6B9.1070304@grc.nasa.gov>,
> Joseph.D.Warner <jwarner@grc.nasa.gov> wrote:
>
<snip>
>
> This is of course excellent advice for doing physics. Unfortunately,
> I don't think it's good advice for the physics GRE. The reason
> is that this
>>You have enough time to do that.
I meant there may not be enough time to memorize all the formulas during
preparations.
> is not correct. The physics GRE is a speed test.
>
> As others have mentioned, one bit of classic GRE strategy is to
> eliminate wrong multiple-choice answers rather than solving the
> problems. In my day, you could often eliminate some of the wrong
> answers on dimensional grounds -- that is, they didn't have the right
> units. Someone told me recently that that's no longer true. Can
> anyone who's taken the test recently confirm this?
>
> In addition to dimensional analysis, considering limiting cases (Does
> the solution behave correctly when the charge is extremely far away?
> When it's extremely close?) was another good way to eliminate wrong
> answers.
>
<snip>
>
<snip>
>
> As others have already said, the best advice is to practice! Get the
> available past GREs from ETS.
<snipping to reduce previouis text to be less than new text>
> Do the tests. Do
> them timed.
>
I agree seeing and doing the examples tests will benefit Mr. or Ms.
Yuan. The example tests will provide a good opportunity for Mr. or Ms.
Yuan to see where to concentrate his or her studies.
> -Ted
Lai Zhong Yuan
Apr27-04, 04:52 AM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>\n\n\n\nHello,\nThanks for the reply. Your discussion of the correlation between the\nGRE scores and the performance of graduate students in their studies\nraises a very interesting question: IS there a way to reliably predict\na graduate student\'s performance? I agree that the GRE doesn\'t really\ntest understanding, as most would agree; it is mainly a test on\ntest-taking strategies (no pun intended) and the ability to answer\nquestions at speed. However, the question remains: Can you predict how\na particular graduate student will fare? Do you look at his undergrad\nresults? Assuming no research output as yet before grad school, how\ncan you know? I hope to get into somewhere to do theoretical condensed\nmatter physics after the GRE, and I would very much like to hear your\nviews on this. Thanks !\n\n\nRegards,\nLai Zhong Yuan\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>Hello,
Thanks for the reply. Your discussion of the correlation between the
GRE scores and the performance of graduate students in their studies
raises a very interesting question: IS there a way to reliably predict
a graduate student's performance? I agree that the GRE doesn't really
test understanding, as most would agree; it is mainly a test on
test-taking strategies (no pun intended) and the ability to answer
questions at speed. However, the question remains: Can you predict how
a particular graduate student will fare? Do you look at his undergrad
results? Assuming no research output as yet before grad school, how
can you know? I hope to get into somewhere to do theoretical condensed
matter physics after the GRE, and I would very much like to hear your
views on this. Thanks !
Regards,
Lai Zhong Yuan
carlip@no-physics-spam.ucdavis.edu
Apr28-04, 02:28 PM
<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>Lai Zhong Yuan <abrikosoff@yahoo.com> wrote:\n\n> Your discussion of the correlation between the\n> GRE scores and the performance of graduate students in their studies\n> raises a very interesting question: IS there a way to reliably predict\n> a graduate student\'s performance?\n\nI don\'t know of a good predictor of *good* performance, but our\nexperience at Davis indicates that a bad quantitative GRE score\n(below 75th-80th percentile) is a good predictor of *poor*\nperformance. The math tested there has to be almost automatic\nif you\'re going to do well as a physics grad student, so a test\nof speed and memorization is not so unreasonable.\n\nBesides the quantitative GRE, we look at grades in physics and\nmath courses (normalized, to the extent we can do so, according\nto the place the courses were taken); recommendation letters\n(a strong recommendation from someone whose research we know\nof, who knows an applicant well and describes strengths and\nweaknesses in some detail, can be a strong indicator); and then\n"extras" like research experience, Physics GRE, any advanced\ncourses, and any publications or similar accomplishments. To\nsome extent, we also look at fields of interest; if someone is\ncommitted to an area that no one in our department does research\nin, we might not admit them.\n\nThe result is not terribly reliable, but it\'s fairly good; a\nfairly large majority of the students we admit wind up getting\ntheir Ph.D.s.\n\nSteve Carlip\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form"> View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>Lai Zhong Yuan <abrikosoff@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Your discussion of the correlation between the
> GRE scores and the performance of graduate students in their studies
> raises a very interesting question: IS there a way to reliably predict
> a graduate student's performance?
I don't know of a good predictor of *good* performance, but our
experience at Davis indicates that a bad quantitative GRE score
(below 75th-80th percentile) is a good predictor of *poor*
performance. The math tested there has to be almost automatic
if you're going to do well as a physics grad student, so a test
of speed and memorization is not so unreasonable.
Besides the quantitative GRE, we look at grades in physics and
math courses (normalized, to the extent we can do so, according
to the place the courses were taken); recommendation letters
(a strong recommendation from someone whose research we know
of, who knows an applicant well and describes strengths and
weaknesses in some detail, can be a strong indicator); and then
"extras" like research experience, Physics GRE, any advanced
courses, and any publications or similar accomplishments. To
some extent, we also look at fields of interest; if someone is
committed to an area that no one in our department does research
in, we might not admit them.
The result is not terribly reliable, but it's fairly good; a
fairly large majority of the students we admit wind up getting
their Ph.D.s.
Steve Carlip
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