Advanced English Dictionay for S60 platform

I found a lot of english dictionaries for the mobile (no not for typing, but a real dictionary where you can see the meaning etc.), but this one stands heads and shoulders above the competition. Its range of words is vast, and it includes almost all the slang words you can think of.
It has an inbuilt thesaurus (it gives example sentences- there is no specific section for thesaurus.

It is a truly advanced dictionary, and the best for any mobile phone. Every word has the right amount of explanation to help you understand the meaning, and it covers all contexts of the word, with example sentences to elucidate the different meanings.

The trial and full version are part of this file. Just install it into your phone, and then click "register & info" in the main menu and click register.
Then type the following in the respective text boxes and click ok. And voila- you have the full version.
For all those guys studying for GRE and other such examinations, this is a godsend. Just put it onto your cell and you would've no problems learning new words while on the move.

Please type the password with the hyphens ( - dashes)
username: hackme112@yahoo.co.uk
password:RNC-NHQ-D67-3ZX
Format : JAR
Supported phones: Nokia, Sony Ericsson

Advanced English Dictionary on platform Symbian 60 S60 for Nokia Sony Ericsson
Size: 7 MB
http://tinyurl.com/2537yp

Note: Tinyurl is just a masked version of Rapidshare links. Its perfectly safe. It will redirect you to the rapidshare link in a moment.

GRE: Dispelling Myths III

Well here I am, back with more golden rules. No chit-chat today- only business, becoz the part of the GRE we're gonna discuss today is one of the toughest nuts to crack.

Its about...

Analogies and Antonyms (AA):

Well, although all four sections- Reading Comprehension, Sentence Completion, Analogies and Antonyms have approximately equal number of questions, AA questions can be tougher than the others for the following reasons:

1. You must be cognizant (That's the company I'm placed in- cant help giving them this little publicity :-) ) of the given word (Antonyms), or word pair (Analogies).


2. You must have some cognizance of all the five 5 choices.


3. You must have some above average mental reasoning (for some tough ones), and must be able to use it.

First of all- its simple math (really simple folks!) that you need to know 6 words for Antonyms and a dozen for Analogies- for each and every question in the Test. English language composes of a million words, Merriam Webster has about half a million and even Barron's- which is supposed to be a highly condensed list for GRE students has about 3500.

So taking five words out of these 3500 aint not gonna pose a problem for the questions-setting comittee. BUT, its gonna present a big problem for you if you had just left the word in "choice", like you do in Semester exams.

If you have absolutely no idea of what the word means- the best you can do is just guess; trying to work out the meaning from word's roots is as crazy as generalising that all the French women are sensual and all Jews are smart.

So to increase your chances of getting a word in your (possibly) limited vocabulary, you must expand it.

This you could do by mugging up every word list in Barron's, or Word Clusters from Lyceum (Mama Easy Book). Believe me- I found this is the most boring as well as the most strenuous exercise to the mind. And whats more- half of the words you read aint not part of daily or professional usage. They're merely learnt to improve the math equation- know more words. They wouldn't appear in the GRE as well- but you folks (with an air of paranoia) read it, just in case.

I say- thats wrong. The BEST WAY to tackle these questions is to practise, practise and practise. Yes preparation is necessary I know- but its better to prepare while practising, learn while you earn. Here's the method:

Take up a verbal test- only Analogies or Antonyms. If you don't know any of the words in the question- immediately look the up the dictionary, find out the meaning and come back to the question. Try to answer it now- you will surely be able to do it now. Do the same for every question. In the course of a few tests you'll find that your vocabulary has increased manifold and you'll also remember the words better, if you repeat the procedure for the same tests 2 or 3 times- this surely aint a monotonous procedure compared to merely cramming words into your poor brain. I'll also recommend following this procedure with a good command of the Word Clusters- this procedure of mine works well with Mama Easy, not so with Barron's (I just learnt 2 word lists of Barron's afore my Exam, but knew atleast 500 words of Clusters).

Practise this method- others are either too time consuming and the words learnt that way are too volatile to stay in your memory for long. We'll meet again in the next episode- watch out for that, its gonna be about another problem topic- Issues and Arguments, with some notes on Grammar.

GRE:Dispelling Myths II

Well folks, I am back with some more of the golden rules. Today we’re gonna look at sentence completion. The methods I give are a motley group- some are age old rules of the thumb while some are radically new. Ok, enough of transgressions- let’s talk business.

Sentence Completion:
Best Method:
Well folks, I’m sad to say this, but the easiest way to tackle this section is to have read lots of English books- even Harry Potter is acceptable in this case. Remember that the whole point of GRE isn't filtering students coming into the US. It is merely to equip you with a level of English and Math deemed proper for a professional student, in the US. So it just encourages you to improve your English, and what better way than to read books?

(Oh please don't talk about watching movies- the only new word you'll learn is the four lettered **** and **** (you know them already! :-) ))

If you do read books- you’ll be able to identify those words that fit and those others that are awkward for the blank to be filled. In fact- your mind will tell you a lot of possible words that can be fit in, even afore you have read the choices. That way, you’ll find yourself flinching when you read some choices (obviously rejected) while nodding approvingly for some.

Some books I recommend (Read the book fully and you shall improve marvellously in your sentences, as well as vocabulary- but that comes later in this article)

1. Sherlock Holmes: Complete Adventures (Needn't read all of it- may 200 pages of it)
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. James Bond by Ian Fleming (only some adventures)
   

The level of English is capital (what people call King's English) and the stories are no less interesting than the fast movies we watch today. They also teach characterisitics of English Life, making you a cultured Englishman. (Not that Indians are barbaric or anything of that sort- just that their culture is differnt from yours, so it must be learnt)

"They will keep you immersed for days together (like in a trance), and voila, when you come out of it, thou shall have transformed into an English Master"-I'm not saying this is how its gonna happen. But you shall surely be interested in the story and shall learn slowly, but surely, just like I've done.

Dracula might be a bit slow- so better concentrate on the other two. Dracula is good for advanced users. You'll start using your dictionary every alternate moment once you start reading them. I found 4 words in only the first page of Sherlock Holmes when I read it- and I am an accomplished reader.

These books are a complete package for improving English-Grammar, Vocabulary, Sentence Formation, Slang etc etc, all in One.

Anyway, back to Sentence Completion

Other methods:
Well folks, all these methods are incomplete ones- so don’t go all out in following them. But just know that they’re available too. One way is to look at critical points in the sentence and try to eliminate absurd choices. But, this is very time-consuming unless you’re an advanced learner, and besides you cannot always be so sure with the choices you have eliminated.
I’ve not mentioned other methods here- because they’re all useless. The difference between the best method and the others is this- it’s like playing a cricket shot by instinct, naturally, rather than mechanically trying to remember each and every instruction regarding the shot and playing it. Any shot must be played by the body with feeling- not by the mind with thinking.
If you’ve mastered the Best Method (This method alone is fool-proof. None of the others can provide the complete solution.)- you’ll be answering SCs by instinct- just like how Sachin dispatches loose balls to the boundary, in a casual manner.

Warning- Only for Advanced Learners:
In the advanced stage- you’d be able to answer most of the SCs, but would still fumble at certain tricky ones. This is where your reasoning is tested. A profound knowledge of the words and their usage in various contexts is required to be 100% sure in all cases, which is very difficult to achieve. But do not be alarmed (Hardship Alarm Not J) This level of understanding is unnecessary for the GRE, unless you’re aiming at 1600 and want to be damn sure of reaching it. The possibilities of such questions in this section are low. So its better you follow the above tips to raise the bar above average. This level is outstanding.
I’ll explain further on this method when I write the article for advanced learners (another part in this series).

Note:

Don't miss out on the coming parts- the real fun begins only from the next part.

Next Episode (3rd) will be on what I consider the most important part of the Verbal test-Analogies and Antonyms- because this one needs the most preparation.
The episode following that (4th) will be devoted to Issues and Arguments.
5th episode will be for advanced learners of Verbal and the 6th will be for Quants, followed by a final episode as an epilogue, and to include anything left out. Grammar will be included-in the 4th or 5th or 7th episode. I'm thinking about it. But you shall surely get my tips on grammar.

Following this, (the series would be concluded with the 7th episode) I would be posting interesting questions (real questions), or anything new and worth reading about the GRE.

That will be written in GRE category. NOT IN GRE GOLDEN RULES.

Sorry for the delay- I shall try to post atleast once in two days in this category.

GRE: Dispelling Myths

I've been seriously mobbed with questions from friends about the GRE, ranging from how to crack the RC (Reading Comprehension) Section to "Whats to be done on Test Day" questions.

And they all think GRE is something beyond their reach, something equal to the IIT or CAT. The recent spree of low scores from their friends, whom they believed were worth more, has no doubt fuelled this notion.

Honestly speaking, the GRE is pretty much simpler than all our college exams, and if you know the right techniques, its as simple as our 1st Sem English Exam.

I speak as a guy who prepared not more than 15 days, with only about a week of full-fledged preparation, and scored 1420 (Verbal-630 and Quants-790). And believe me, its got nothing to do with innate ability. (In fact, with just innate ability you wont go far in any test)

In this article I shall dispel the myths and ridiculous notions circulating within student circles and lead you on the pathway to true success (by whatever yardstick you measure your success) in GRE.

• Each and every study material has its own approach, although the most popular are Barron's and Lyceum Word Clusters (Mama Easy). The important thing is to focus on the approach given in the study aid and master it, instead of trying to learn from each and every literary work ever compiled regarding the GRE. Thats ridiculous. (More on study materials later in this article)

• Equally ridiculous is the idea of students looking up Orkut, Hi5 and blogs for updates on "latest" GRE questions that contain every question complete with all the answer choices. Crazy ain't it? If you ever thought any student could remember more than a few questions (and all 4 answer choices) after the grueling test, you've never grown up. Why anybody with some common sense would know all these questions are DAMN FAKE, and are as useful as a solitary wicket in an abandoned match.

Wake up guys- would you be so paranoiac as to look up horoscopes for predicting your score? Reading those questions amounts to that. There're some good sites that do post useful content (questions worthy of reading), but its really unnecessary to go through them for an exam of GRE's level (not so damn tough). Imagine trying work out every possible combination for addition of two numbers?? You just gotta have the basic idea.

• I know innumerable friends of mine who have literally MUGGED UP Barron's and Word Clusters and still botched their GRE and thereby their beloved MS plans. Their scores cannot even be mentioned here. They're at Rock Bottom (no I aint talkin about The Rock's finishing move). And yeah- they could give the meaning of every word you could ask. So what does really guarantee success?

Here's the secret to GRE success right out of the horse's mouth (the golden rules):

First of all- take a few tests (Barron's CD is best for such diagnostic tests) and mark down your problem areas, whether it be vocabulary (the lack of it) or Reading Comprehension or sentence completion, essays, etc. Be true to yourself and mark them down. I've listed down below ways to tackle them. You don't need fancy material or read out-of-the-world questions (that's what you get in those damn sites), but only good old principles and their simple implementation. Just tackle these problems- and you're through.

1. Reading Comprehension (The Perennial Terror): This has been an age old problem with all test takers, so I noticed. And they're at a loss as to how to eliminate this. The problem arises from the fact that most engineering students are NOT regular book readers (No! Not even the syllabus books :-D ). Thereby most of them are slow readers. And even then they cannot grasp the important points soon enough.

There're many ways to solve this, but the best way I found is:

Just read the whole passage (repeat read not skim) word by word. Make sure you have read each and every word without skipping anything. Try to grasp the basic outline or idea being discussed, and remember some of the stand-out names of persons, places etc of the passage. Take about 3-4 mins for every first question of the passage (including time to read the passage). Take about 45 secs for each following question. With practise you should be able to identify critical points in a passage and grasp them faster.

I know the above method will just not work for you, initially (because you're a slow reader silly). But trust me- its the best there is. Just practise as much as you can. Because once you've mastered this, however long the passage is thou shall feel no pressure at all.


Remember, it's just a matter of tackling the problems. You don't need magic, rather you need logic.


More on the next episode...