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Re: GRE
Posted:
Dec 31, 2003 4:39 PM
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I totally agree with your views on probability and statistics, not only for
future teachers but also for just about everyone else. Probability and
statistics, or stochastics as the combined subjects are often called in
Europe, are the most useful math for everyday life after arithmetic.
Lynn
"Kevin Karplus" <karplus@cheep.cse.ucsc.edu> wrote in message
news://geg0vvss5okl8s5b6j8p8jmnjb289k9frn@4ax.com...
> In article <qluuuv43odb516vbhotlbtahroq3odfoat@4ax.com>, Sky Rookie wrote:
> > Hi there...
> >
> > I have a few questions about the GRE.
> >
> > The school I've all but choose requires both the general and subject
test.
> >
> > When during my undergrad should I take the general test? I have one full
> > year of classes left plus one semester of student teaching after that.
So
> > I'm looking at entering grad school Fall 2005. I don't think there is
> > anything else left in my undergrad that will help with the general test,
I
> > don't have any English classes left and I've taken all the math any
non-math
> > major would have.
>
> Take the general test whenever you feel like it---it's not much
> different from an SAT---that is it basically tests high-school-level
skills.
> That's probably the reason that the mode on the GRE math test is 800
> (the highest possible score). Some stats that were recently given to me:
>
> Verbal: fairly normal bell curve, with high-end fat tail and
> mean: 477
> median: 480
> mode: 460 (on best fit curve)
>
> Quant: rising end to curve, with
> mean: 579
> median: 590
> mode: 800 (yes, by far the most common score!)
>
>
> For all Engineering majors,
>
> Quant: curve looks like rising exponential
> mean: 716
> median: 740
> mode: 800
>
> If you want to get into grad school as a math major, you should have
> GRE scores at least as good as most engineering students (740 or above).
>
> > Can anyone recommend books to review for the math subject test? I think
I'll
> > be ok on the general test, but the math subject worries me a bit.
However, I
> > have the three highest level classes yet to go in my undergrad.
>
> I have no idea what they put on the Math Subject test these days.
> Long, long ago, when I took it, I remember thinking that it didn't
> test any math that I had learned since my freshman year, just a little
> calculus and linear algebra. It may well be different now, though a
> little web browsing reveals that recent exams have been about 50%
> calculus, 25% algebra, linear algebra, and abstract algebra, and 25%
> "additional topics" studied areas".
> (http://www.gre.org/subdesc.html#math)
> The "other" seems to come in large part from simple probability and
> combinatorics---so if you've never had that, take it!
>
> "Pure" mathematicians often turn up their noses at probability and
> statistics, but they are far more useful for teachers than most of
> what is taught in graduate math programs. In fact, if I were hiring a
> math teacher, I'd much rather see a masters in statistics than in pure
> math.
>
> I'd also like to see more college and college-bound students taking an
> elementary probability and statistics course in place of the
> badly-misnamed "precalculus" course that so many take as their final
> exposure to math.
>
>
> --
> Kevin Karplus karplus@soe.ucsc.edu http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
> life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
> Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
> Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
> Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
> Affiliations for identification only.
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