The AGRE test

         

                                                                            

 The AGRE test

          The AGRE also referred to as the Subject GRE is an important exam for admission into the top 30 colleges in computer science. It is also necessary if you are currently doing a B.E in a subject other than computer science and want to shift your field to computer science. The requirement for this test varies greatly from college to college, so check with your college for the necessity of this test.

The Subject GRE in computer science:

          The computer science test is a 2 hour 50 min test containing 70 questions. The main areas of the test are from programming languages, computer architecture, discrete maths, theory of computation.

          The questions asked will not be specific to any book. Hence this makes preparing for the test a bit tricky. The questions will test a students basic understanding of the fundas of computer science.

          The test is normally taken by almost all students in the month of December of their final year. It costs a hefty $150 for the test.

          The test is scored as follows:

raw score = no of correct ans - (1/4)*no of wrong ans

This raw score is converted to a scale of 910. This is then changed to a percentile score based on a comparison with the last 5 years students.

          My advice to you to tackle the paper is to attempt about 60/more of the questions leaving out only questions that you don't have any clue about.

How do I prepare for the test?

          Start working out the preparatory materials given by ets. Also check out question papers from ARCO's etc. Getting preparatory material for AGRE is difficult, so search for every possible question paper available. GATE papers are of no use, so there's no need to work them out. Read up on questions that you were not able to answer. Being students of Anna university, you already have the necessary books to prepare(mostly international authors).

          The following books have to be atleast glanced at before the exam:

          * Algorithms - Sara Base

          * Computer architecture - morris mano, hennesey and patterson, Hwang (read concepts of parallel processing... it is considered part of computer architecture)

          * Any book on discrete maths

          * Numerical algos - there's something that we were never exposed to as part of the curriculum.

Types of questions:

The mark division among the various topics are available in the powerprep. On a more fundamental level, there are 2 types of questions:

          Ones that check the your knowledge, and ones that see how you are able to apply concepts. The first type, there's nothing that can be done for preparing for them...either you know them or you don't. The second type of questions can be prepared for by working out question papers. This will make you wise to some of the "default" tricks and make you quicker. Speed is something that is very important in this paper.

                                                                            

Where to get additional information

          www.petersons.com

          www.gradschools.com

          www.kaplan.org

          www.ets.org

          www.toefl.org

         

 Financing higher education

          Going abroad without aid is a costly proposition. Typical costs per year of study range from $20,000 to $35,000. The cost depends on the state to which you are applying to(Virginia,Texas being the cheapest and California,NewYork being the costliest).

          Most colleges require you to show a certificate from the bank saying that you have enough money to fund your studies for the first year. Except for a few colleges, you can postpone sending this document till you get aid. Once you do get aid this statement is no longer required.

          Sources of funds are fellowship (the best - no work, good money), teaching assistantship (ok - work and good pay), research assistantship (decent - hard work and ok pay), loan (the worst of course). TA involves either teaching a class or grading papers. If you are lucky you will get to grade papers as it is easier. How difficult an RA is depends on your professor. If they are ok, you would get to learn something. Otherwise, they will get you to do mundane work for them.

          In case the universities ask you to list your priorities, it should be in the following order:

          1. fellowship

          2. TA

          3. RA

What the review committee looks for

          The review committee looks at the following in descending order of priority:

1. CGPA

2. GRE

3. Letters of Recommendation

4. Statement of purpose

5. Papers presented/published (helps if you want an RA)

6. AGRE (The importance of this depends on the college)

7. TOEFL

8. TSE (to be considered for a TA)

9. Extracurricular and cocurricular activities

Things to get ready before taking any tests:

          1. Passport - This takes time to be processed. Make sure you apply for this atleast 2 months before applying for the test. This is an identifying document and you cannot apply for any test without this.

          2. Some form of secondary id : It always helps if you have some secondary id like driver's license, college id etc. This will be useful especially if the passport has a very old photograph of you.