To the Editor:

Last year a lot of my friends in the schools of science and engineering took the GREs, an experience I will be sharing myself this fine academic year. The key difference, however, is that not only do I feel well prepared by RPI’s stringent math requirements but I also feel 100 percent ready for the verbal section as well.

Why, you ask? How could a mere science or engineering student at RPI possibly hope to get better than RPI’s extremely disappointing average on the verbal section? Is he a genius? Has he spent his nights memorizing vocab words? The short answer is: no. Not only I have I not studied or specifically prepared for the GREs, I don’t plan to. Other than familiarizing myself with the layout of the test to avoid wasting time analyzing it the first time I see it, I have done nothing to prepare, yet I still feel confident on all three sections.

So, what’s my secret? Reading books! Yes, that’s it. That’s all you have to do. And no, engineering textbooks do not count. I agree with the article published last week by Tim A. Fill on all but one point: you shouldn’t start studying early, but instead start reading early. Not only should you not have to try to expand your vocabulary artificially, “studying” is a very inefficient and short-lived method of doing it. Only by reading can you naturally expand your vocabulary (especially if you’ve got the trusty Oxford or dictionary website by your side).

Writing is even better! If you feel writing is simply too hard, you might be interested to know that it is required on the GREs and even (gasp) in your field. However, if you still feel you’re not self-motivated enough there is a little known subject at RPI called Literature (check the course catalog, it does exist!). Sign up for a literature, writing, or philosophy class that requires reading and/or writing of advanced works. I, for one, am happy that RPI has a very small writing requirement and leaves the selection of humanities and social science electives up to the student. If I were forced to take some of the classes I could envision that would “prepare” students for the GREs I think I might decide to take my leave of RPI and join Alby the Albino Squirrel’s relatives in the forest. Now I realize that some students (particularly engineering students) have very little room for electives in their schedule. These are the students that need to read the most! If you’re a freshman or sophomore, think about the GREs early and take a good English/writing class now before you use up all of your electives. If you’re worried about grades, use your pass/no pass credits.

Between my friends who took the GREs about half did extremely well on both sections (freaks) and the other half aced the math section but (let’s just say) “didn’t” ace the verbal section. I expect similar results this year. There may be some students at RPI so gifted that they can do well on the non-math sections without any preparation, but the RPI (and other technical school) average makes it clear that most cannot. That’s why I urge anyone reading this to pass on this simple mathematical equation: reading means a better score on GREs.

Robert Otlowski

CSCI ’06