GRE

GRE tests students in Math and English. Math is quite easy. Percentages, profit and loss, probability, permutations and combinations etc.

English is the tough thing to crack. Firstly its not our mother tongue so we dont have an intuitive grasp over it.   If you are an avid book reader its definitely an advantage.

How to prepare for the English(Verbal) part ?

There is no fixed method or like the correct method. But you need to do the following things.

1) Obtain the 3500 words and their meanings. You can do this by borrowing from your friends or joining in some coaching institute.

2) Learning the words: Out of the 3500 words there will definitely be a certain number of words which are new and unfamiliar to you. Lets say 2000 words. So you have to learn these 2000 words. Write down all the difficult words and learn their meanings. After you try to learn their meanings you will only remember some 1000 of them. So there are 1000 very difficult words left. This is the tougher part. How would you tackle this ?? I felt that using the words in sentences is a good and easy way to learn. So go to  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ type your words in there and get sentences with the difficult words in them.

*****KEEP A POCKET DICTIONARY NEARBY.  BUY THE BARONS GRE 2012 edition.

For eg:
Lets say you find the word 'ostensible' very difficult. Then what i would do is. I would go to  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ and type 'ostensible'. This will turn up  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ostensible . In it you will find the meaning of the word and the word being used in a sentence.

"Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity."
Now you understand the meaning of the word ostensible right? The sentence helps your memory too.
Now copy it paste in a word document. Repeat the procedure for the 1000 difficult words. Take print outs of the sentences so that you dont have to use the computer too much.

3) Practice tests :

Rule of thumb :
Don't write the Power prep timed practice test that GRE provides until the end. Write it like 5 days before your actual exam. Writing a practice test every day is not helpful. Don't waste your practice tests. Practice tests are merely for self appraisal. If you don't know the meaning of appraisal go to freedictionar.com and learn it. At any point of time if you don't know the meaning of a word write it down somewhere and search for its meaning.

Any questions are welcome.

The cycle of life.

The following were shot over a period of four hours on 15-6-2012 from 1.00 PM to 4:30 PM . Look at the pictures and the story it tells. It might be sad but that's the way life is.  I spent many hours taking photographs of this family. I even wondered if the fledglings will start flying soon . In the evening i was surprised when i saw a large bird beside the nest. On closer inspection i found out that a predator has found their nest and it already had the babies in its beak. I immediately fetched my camera and clicked some pics of the predator. I showed my dad the macabre scene and he shooed the predator away and scolded me for not stopping the hawk. I scouted the area for blood and instead found the second baby alive, on the floor. He/She is on the ground right now, walking around.


Assuming i had the opportunity to save the babies ?? Isn't it interfering with the cycle of life ?? Wont i be messing around with natural selection?? What if the hawk has its own babies in a nest somewhere and it will feed them with the hunt?? Wont i kill the hawks babies in an attempt to save these guys??

By the way its parents are keeping a close watch of it right now. I wonder if it will survive the night. I hope it survives. Will post about it tomorrow.

Fledgelings in the nest 

Parent bird comes to feed them.(both parents feed the young)

Little guys instinctively open their mouths and stretch their necks.

This is how birds feed their young.

Done feeding.

Someone else comes to feed !

Either a kite or a hawk is swallowing one of the little guys.

The other guy falls down from the nest onto the hot cement floor.

Little guy is ALIVE after falling down !

The parents who aren't aware that one of their babies is alive

My dad transfers the little guy onto the lawn. The parents try to attack us and retreat. The parents search for the little guy.

Heres the little guy running around. The parents are keeping a close watch on him/her.

Why haven't you pulled the plug on me ?

The old man walked into the room and greeted his friends . They were all huddled around the table intently gazing at their cards. The old man sat joined in. The tension broke as the game came to an end. There was some loud praising , cursing and abusing each other in the spirit of the game. Then they all settled down for another game. The game went on for sometime and the old man lost some money. Before everybody returning back home the old man said "Next Sunday when you lads play do invite me. Dont forget you bastards !" There was some laughing and many affirmations.

Two days have passed and nothing much happened. On the third day the old man felt very very weak. He is admitted to a hospitable. The old man is a famous doctor. He called the doctor in charge of the emergency ward and said "Im feeling hard to breathe. In a few hours time i will undergo pulmonary failure, i will slip into a coma. Put me on life support for two days and if i dont recover from the coma pull the plug on me. Only two days . . . . ."

His prediction happened to be right. Within a few hours he slipped into a coma. He was put on life support. One day passes , the second day passes. The doctor in charge doesnt want to give up and he continues the life support for the third day. At about 03.00 PM the old man stirs and wakes up from the coma. The nurse immediately fetches the doctor in charge. The old man asked the doctor " Date ?? " . Doctor said its the third day. The old man in a dejected tone "Why dint you pull the plug on me ??" . The doctor is utterly surprised. The doctor asks "Sir, arent you afraid of death?? ". To which the old man replies "There are not many distinctions b/w life and non-life. Life is just a complex contraption." He takes a pause and regains his breath. "Anyway since you are trying to revive me . . . go on . . . . and goodbye". A few hours later he slipped into a coma again. This time his mother was brought to visit him. She was 97 years old. She had no memory of anything. She felt nothing when she saw her son in a vegetative state. However the doctor felt that the old mans eyes widened. He wasnt sure, it was probably his imagination.

As hours passed by the doctor was in a dilemma . What should he do ? Should he pull the plug on him ? He thinks hard. He thinks of all the people who actually have a chance of living if put on life support. He calculates the chances of survival of the old man. He concludes it is nigh impossible for him to recover. Smoking has done irreparable damage to his lungs. With a hardened heart and an emotionless mask over his face he walks upto the old man and does what he was ordered to do. The old man's heart stalls just like an engine with no air supply.

Designed?

The following images that you are going to see are all beautiful. I might have failed to capture the marvels of nature but they are indeed beautiful. So who created these marvels ? Was there a designer ? Yes there is not one but many designers. None of the designers are conscious or living. The designers are non-living i.e dead. Wind , Water , Gravity are the designers.

Seeds being spread by wind

Beautiful patterns generated by wind

Another beautiful pattern caused due to difference in weights of sand and black particles(ore of heavy metals)

Did you observe the rocks facing away from the ocean ??

Here you see the work of waves over thousands of years. The rocks have been withered away on one side.