Preparing for the Comp Sci. GRE?

arys asks: "I've been looking around for a good book on the GRE Computer Science subject test but all I found were a book that is out of print and an other that has the worst reviews possible. What I want to ask is those of you that have taken the test, how did you prepare for it?"

gre.org

[rubinson]

I took the GRE last summer (although not the CompSci subject test). I went through a number of practice books and tests. By far, the best materials were the ones provided by and published by ETS.

Most of the materials are free for download from their website, including reviews for the subject tests. (Many of these resouces are sent to you when you register.) You can purchase "Practicing to take the GRE General Test" for $18 (I highly recommend this book).

I also used the Princeton Review and one other series that I can't recall offhand. Neither of these resources had the depth of the ETS materials (or the GRE itself). If I had just used the 3rd party materials, I would have been screwed. They simply didn't cover everything that was on the test -- the ETS materials do.

The relevent link: http://www.gre.org/pracmats.html [gre.org]

Also, I can't recommend highly enough the practice tests provided by ETS. The 3rd party books also provide practice tests that are largely worthless. But the ETS tests are the real thing. Made a huge difference for me.

Best way to study for the CS Subject Test

[www.whitehouse.org]

Take all the important books from your undergraduate studies (you did keep them, right?) and spend six months reading everything that your professors glossed over. The important books would be from the classes for: compiler construction (preferably the "Dragon book"), computer architecture (preferably Tanenbaum's "Structured Computer Organization"), design and analysis of algorithms, fundamentals of programming languages, don't forget discrete mathematics (Gries' "A Logical Approach to Discrete Math" can't be beat), linear algebra, and The Holy Bible (there are currently many extremely bright people hoping to get into a Ph.D. program to weather the horrendous economy).

On the worst reviewed book: do not, under any circumstances, read any portion of it. Even now, there are dark corners of my mind where its evil influence still lurks, terrorizing otherwise productive neurons into inaction.

To be honest, and not to sound elitist, unless you attended an Ivy League school, or a quality private school (such as RPI), you're probably screwed. The best way to prepare is to get into a Master's program that doesn't require the subject test (most don't), then take the test right after that.

I know smart people who were blasted by the subject test, got their Master's, then went on and scored in the 95th - 99th percentile the second time around. It's just a matter of what you were exposed to in school. I know that without the programming languages course and compilers course, both electives that most people avoid at my school, I would have tanked the subject test.

If you have to cram, it's too late.

[Pathwalker]

If you are trying to learn everything you need to know in a few months, you are doomed.

The computer science GRE is not an easy test.

The normal GRE is a test of basic skills, everything you need to know for it you should have known when you graduated from high school.

The Computer Science Subject GRE is an overview of the entire field of study. Take a look at the courses you have taken over the past few years, and look for gaps, or subjects you avoided. These gaps need to be filled in. Look at the higher level elective classes you didn't take, and try to gain an overview of what would be covered in them.

When you think you've filled in the gaps, re-read some books covering the basics of computer science (Knuth's Art of Computer Programming; Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein's Introduction to Algorithms; Hennessy and Patterson's Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, etc...).

After this, you might be ready for the test.

Good luck!

I hope you do better than I did.

Re:Best way to study for the CS Subject Test

[jhealy1024]

I know smart people who were blasted by the subject test...

Amen to that. While I'm no CS genius, I was a CS major in a good program during college. I took the GRE CS subject test during my senior year, and I got reamed by it. Biggest waste of $130/4 hours I've ever experienced. And I wasn't the only one; most of my friends had the same experience.

I took the exam because 1 school I was applying to required it. Had I known what the exam was going to do to me, I would have just skipped that school. While I don't want to sound like a chicken, you should seriously consider whether you need to take this exam or not.

If you insist on taking the exam, I suggest you read the major texts from each section of CS, especially those that you haven't studied. Look through the course catalog and find all the courses you didn't take (pay attention to Compilers, Operating Systems, Programming Languages, and Theory of Computation). I got nailed because I took the exam without having taken compilers yet. Turns out a lot of that year's exam was related to compilers. Whoops.

Re:gre.org

[Muhammar]

GRE - All tests and especialy the general portion of it: Buy the published test stuff from ETS. Get as much of their original materials which were given in previous years as possible.

Contrary to what they want us to believe, the best way to prepare for the GRE test is doing the tests repeatedly. The authors are probably the same over years, and the format, material and type of question is mostly a re-hash of the previous tests.

Having practiced the test in full lenght 3-5 times will greatly improve your speed and confidence at the actual test. You need to stick above the average procentile - which is not that hard if you compete against people that did not practice the actual test. A lot of people lose on scores not because the lack of knowledge, but because of the unfamiliarity with the test, nervousness and lack of time. The test authors have this "earnest" way in wording their multiple-choice answers: they often give the answer away just by the way they write them. You can see through them after few practice runs.

CompSci GRE Experience

[BanteringCTO]

I don't normally comment, but you've received so little meaningful help (IMHO), I thought I'd try. I've taken (and passed) the CS GRE. It was not an easy test for me Since then (nearly ten years ago), I've gone on to get both undergraduate and graduate degrees in CS and I've gained some understanding. The bottom line is that the CS GRE tries to test one's understanding of CS theory and it's mathematical or programmatic representation. In other words, you need to know numeric representation and manipulation (binary, hex, etc.), common algorithms/methods (recursion, sorts, etc.), CS terminology, discrete math (algebra's also a given, calculus isn't much help, trig doesn't hurt) and a sprinkling of graphics programming. Note that I did not mention any applications. Being a power user with some experience in VB will do absolutely no good. You must study CS theory and the math behind it. There are any number of good books covering these topics. I'd start with a good one on Operating Systems, if I were you. If most of it makes sense, you're on the right track. If not, consider taking some courses to prepare you.

took the GRE....

[Zurk]

i got a 1960 total when i took the GRE coupla years ago. i took it on the computer based test ..heres a few (may help you or may not) tips :
[1] dont spend anything on classes or books. they dont help. i didnt. no multiple choice test like the GRE/GMAT/LSAT etc is covered fully by any book on the market or any classes. theyre all a ripoff.
[2] to prepare, i went to the local public library everyday for four weeks before i took the test, with a pencil, stopwatch and tons of paper. i grabbed a dozen or so GRE preparation books from the shelves (princetons, kaplans, barrons, the official GRE test publications and others), ignored all the sections and did ALL the practice tests. i averaged *THREE* full GRE tests everyday for two weeks (3 x 7 x 2) straight. i split up the tests so that i did the tests in weeks 1 and 3.
[3] in weeks 2 and 4 i only reviewed the test answers, went thru the model explanations (if any) and redid any questions i had got wrong, ten times each, until i got em right ten straight instances in a row.
[4] expect to do much worse in the real test than you do on the practice tests. on the real one i got 1960, on the practice ones i was getting 2000-2300. getting into a tier 1 university with a 1960 was a piece of cake, however.
[5] do at least ONE computer based test on the internet..i found 3-4 of them which i did in one day. i didnt pay for any of em. YMMV.
[6] simulate the test conditions exactly. the public library helps...its dead quiet, i have a stopwatch, and i simulate the test by not going backwards on any questions, timing each question so that i completed each question in the 60-90 seconds that you normally are allowed and doing everything else required.
in the end if you can do the last dozen or so practice tests with a decent average (2200+/2400) youre in good shape. assuming you dont fuck up on test day of course, or come late for the test or get in a car accident or whatever.

Re:Best way to study for the CS Subject Test

[scruffy]

That's a good list. The one thing I would add is a book on formal languages and automata. The Dragon book has a lot of what you need, but not Turing machines, for example.

Re:Best way to study for the CS Subject Test

[Anonymous Coward]

dude. its marked out of 800 total

so 810/800 ? i dont think so.
so 800/800 is 100% not 99%.

I can only report what my score notification letter says. After columns for "date", "type", and "code" it has "score" 810, "% below" 94, some empty columns for "subscores", the # correct, incorrect, and hidden, and the "formula score" of 45.

Oh, and about people saying it's a hard test: correct 47, incorrect 10, omits 13. A 67% correct rate resulted in that 94th percentile score.