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       Completed Form I-765: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-765.pdf

Under Item 16, write c 3 B. (These forms are also available in ISS mailbox, 412 Gershman Hall, right outside the door.)

       I-765 Application Fee (http://www.uscis.gov/i-765), payable to the US Department of Homeland Security. The amount for 2009 is $340.00, but be sure to check the website, as they change the amount often.

       Photocopy of all previous I-20s, including a copy of the new I-20 with OPT endorsement.

       Photocopy of I-94 Card (front and back)

       Photocopy of passport (biographical data, photo, and expiration date)

       Photocopy of Visa Page

       Two US passport-style photos (lightly print your name on the back of each photo with a pencil)

       Copy of any previously issues EAD card (s).

IMPORTANT REMINDERS ABOUT PAPERWORK:

           Be sure to sign new I-20 and I-765 forms.

           Be sure the address you put on your I-765 is the address where you will be receiving mail 3-5 months from the date of mailing in your OPT application. If you know you will be moving, be sure to write a reliable mail address on the I-765 form, as this address is where your EAD Card (Employment Authorization Document for OPT) will be sent.

           Mail all of the above completed documents to the following address. I highly recommend mailing the documents using Federal Express or by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, so you will have a record of its delivery.

                US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

                Vermont Service Center

                75 Lower Weldon Street

                Saint Albans, Vermont 05479-0001

                Phone: 800.375.5283

IMPORTANT REMINDERS ABOUT OPT

1. Travel

If you need to travel while on OPT, please bring the following documents. I do not recommend traveling abroad before you have received your OPT/EAD CARD.

       A valid passport

       A valid F-1 visa stamp in your passport (except Canadian and Bermudian citizens)

       Your OPT I-20 endorsed for reentry by Mara Flamm or an alternate DSO at UArts.

       Your valid EAD for OPT

       Evidence of employment such as a job offer or employment verification letter.

      

2. Students may apply for OPT up to 90 days before graduation.

      3.   Duration of Employment

• Employment authorization will begin on the date requested or the date the employment authorization is adjudicated, whichever is later.

 

Product Description

* NEW! Details and practice for the new question type* Hundreds of test-like practice questions
* Detailed answer explanations
* Proven score-raising strategies
* Tactics for solving all question types
* Review of core math concepts

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing; 7 Workbook edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141955221X
• ISBN-13: 978-1419552212
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches 

Product Description
- 500 flashcards covering the most-tested GRE vocabulary words

- Sample sentences provide the words in context



- Synonyms and a pronunciation key

Product Details

• Cards: 1004 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing; 2 Crds edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607140527
• ISBN-13: 978-1607140528
• Product Dimensions: 3.9 x 3.6 x 2.2 inches

Product Description

Are you hoping to pursue a master’s degree or Ph.D.? If so, the GRE will probably be an important part of your graduate school application. You’ll find everything you need to prepare for this crucial test in Cracking the GRE. This new 2010 edition of our popular guide offers proven techniques from the test prep experts at The Princeton Review. It includes over 300 practice questions in the book and exclusive free access to 2 practice tests, additional practice questions, and expert advice online.

In Cracking the GRE we’ll bring you the key strategies and skills you need to ace the Verbal, Math, and Essay sections. We’ll teach you how to think like the test writers and

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•Solve even the toughest questions in Text Completions, Reading Comprehension, Algebra, and more
•Practice, practice, practice with questions just like those you’ll see on the real GRE, and learn from your mistakes with detailed explanations for all answers

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Review; 1 edition (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375429328
• ISBN-13: 978-0375429323
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 1.4 inches 

These are the easiest questions in GRE verbal sections. Here you are asked to pick up the most nearest word opposite in meaning to the given one.

Most of these questions depends highly on your vocabulary power. So if you know meaning of all words in the question you can answer it right away.. But the problems comes when you face a question with words you don't know.

READ ALL ANSWERS BEFORE JUMPING TO A CONCLUSION

Take any example of below question

RELUCTANT:

• relaxed
• eager
• tiresome
• brave
• unwilling

GRE verbal isn't that easy that you will get marks just by picking up an antonym.
the answer for above question is eager...

Relucatant means unwillingly doing or joining without interest
At first glance unwilling might pop into your mind but it is not the nearest opposite of the given words.

The right answer is eager which means doing something with interest where as reluctant means doing or participate without interest.

All gre questions will be like this.

There are many tricks up under their sleeves.

Some times they include synonyms in the answers. You have to remember that you are looking for ANTONYMS NOT SYNONYMS.

Some times there are questions that target the secondary meaning and uncommon use of the word.


AFFECTED:

• Disturbed
• Maladroit
• Solid
• Unadulterated
• Genuine

AFFECTED:- which means

• Influenced in a harmful way; impaired, harmed, or attacked, as by climate or disease.
• acted upon; influenced.

But when you see unadulterated just comes in your mind but it lacks some thing. Also none of the answers seems to be right antonym. Unadulterated means pure or without any impurities. But the right answer for above question is GENUINE. Affected gives meaning of an insincere or fake expression. So Genuine (original ) is the right answer here. These types of question are difficult to answer even if you know the meaning of all words in the question.

There are other ways to attack or tackle the GRE Antonym questions when you don't know the meaning.

Stripping off any prefixes or suffixes like "-ing," "un-," "pre-," "-in", "-able" and so forth you arrive at the root meaning of the word. Take example of the word like predisposition.


remove the pre suffix and you will end up with disposition.

pre- gives the meaning of before and the suffix -tion suggests that we are dealing with a noun. So just look of nouns in the answers so that you can eliminate other forms like verbs and adjectives.

disposition means dispose some thing.. or making your position before or previous inclination etc...

Now search for a noun that means not inclined in the answers.

One of the most effective way to know meaning of unknown words is etymology. Which means divining words into two or breaking into two

Ex: ominpotent..

omni + potent

omni is like in the word omniscient --- which means every where..

potent means --> potency or strength...

Together the word means strong everywhere or strong among all.

Word that starts with "De," "Dis," or "Anti" will almost certainly be negative
so look for words that seem to have positive meaning..

There are also word that have rythm going up like Elevate, Ascendancy, Lofty and these will be certainly positive and others have tone going down like Decline, Subjugate, Suborn, etc. and these words have negative meaning.

Also if you don't recognize the meaning of the word then put the word in context.
Try to think of a sentence or context which you have heard the word in and you can guess the meaning from that.

But before looking for an opposite word, think of an opposite meaning for the capitalized word. This can be useful and you can filter the choices quickly.

if you want more knowledge on etymology use Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis.

Anyway all the best for your exam.

Other Suggested Reading

How to tackle verbal antonyms
Gre Tips

Toefl is popular. You have many useful reading resources & books available for preparation of TOEFL IBT.

Kaplan's Toefl IBT prep Course
This course inlcludes
Includes:

• 4 practice tests on CD-ROM in iBT format
• Audio CD and transcripts of authentic-language conversations for listening comprehension
• 8 comprehensive chapters of reading, writing, listening, and speaking practice
• Hundreds of strategies for answering integrated skills questions

I found it very useful. You can record your answers for sample questions and listen to them later. Kaplan is one of the best recommended courses.




Barron's Toefl IBT Prep

We have other publisher BARRON's whose text books are popular. I found this particularly useful. The audio cd of barron has about 8 practice test. All of them are very good. I highly recommend buying this book.



The tips and hints given in this book are really good.

There are other resources which are by the ETS itself and some other institutes.

This section test your ability to read and understand /comprehend university level text or literature.
The reading section tests your skills like

• Reading to find information
• Basic comprehension
• Reading to learn

You have to read about 3-5 passages each 700 words long. Total time for this section is 60 to 100 minutes. In the Reading section, test takers can also click on Back at any time to return to the
previous question. You have to concentrate while reading these question (even though it is boring to read 3 or 5 lengthy passages). Don't Read all of the passage. Just scan for main points or gist. It is recommended that you first read the question and then look for answers in the passage. We are not going to increase our knowledge by reading these passages. We are there to answer questions. Remember that, so start reading the questions first and look for answers in the passage. There are other methods to get more score in reading section. Increasing your reading speed. Just search in google to increase your reading speed, you will be able to get a lot of material. Read novels & other materials you will improve your Vocab along with your reading speed.

Here are the items you have to take for your visa interview.

• I20
• Appointment letter
• Application
• Financial Statements
• College Transcripts & all academic documents
  
• Passport
• Financial affidavit
• SEVIS Receipt
• Pink application fee receipt
• Annual Income Certificates like (form 16 or tax forms of your parents)
• Property evaluation documents
• TOEFL and GRE score records
• Experience letter & offer letter of your Employers

Just check the site of American embassy(or the other countries embassy website ) for other information. Some embassies might require you to submit the documents 5 days before the appointment. Just follow their rules. Be confident and always maintain eye contact.

Toefl - Test of English as Foreign Language.
There are 4 sections in teofl IBT
Reading, Listening, Speaking and writing. Almost all of them are boring (honestly i was never tortured much any where). You have to sit there almost for about 5 hrs listening, reading more than 10 paragraphs and listening to more than 2 hrs of lectures. The scoring is on a scale of 0-120. More than 100 is considered a good score. Some universities requirement of toefl to get admission or require you to complete addition courses in english after admitting you. Sometimes reading may contain listening and other sections also contain integrated tasks which might require other skills. So the new toefl ibt is tougher the TOEFL CBT.

Take TOEFL IBT Overview Here

Section	Description	Testing Time	Questions	Score Scale
Reading	3-5 passages from academic texts; approximately 700 words long; 12-14 questions per passage.	60-100 minutes	36-70 questions	0-30
Listening	4-6 lectures, some with classroom discussion; each 3-5 minutes long; 6 questions each. 2-3 conversations; each 3 minutes long; 5 questions each.	60-90 minutes	34-51 questions	0-30
Break	-	10 minutes	-	-
Speaking	2 tasks to express an opinion on a familiar topic; 4 tasks to speak based on what is read and listened to.	20 minutes	6 tasks	0-4 points converted to 0-30 score scale
Writing	1 task to write based on what is read and listened to; 1 task to support an opinion on a topic.	50 minutes	2 tasks	0-5 points converted to 0-30 score scale
Total score	-	-	-	0-120

Vocabulary is the important  part of your GRE. Infact your performance in gre depends on your vocabulary. GRE exam has very difficult vocabulary reasoning section and is becoming more harder and harder. This articles gives you good tips on how to build your vocabulary. One sure hit way is to read more and more challenging material. If you read more challenging material you will encounter hard words & you will try to learn the meaning and remember the meaning since you will be using them in proper context. Reading word in their proper context is the most important thing. When you read a novel or a more challenging work the words are used in appropriate context and the vocabulary is difficult. I recommend reading works of Salman Rushdie. His works are wonderful and hard (difficult vocabulary for an international student). But start with "Word power made easy" by Norman Levis. It is a good start. You will enjoy this book. It has humor and nice concept to learn words. This book is based on etymology, which deals with origins of words. Barron's word list is a crash course. It is effective but i may not help you in getting 800/800 in verbal section. Use it if your GRE exam is in 2 or 3 months from today. Conclusion read more & more challenging material to improve your vocabulary (like practice makes man perfect)

Is the ranking really that important in determining which school to apply? Ranking is a game. A game for fame. If MIT has 9.8/10 and Harvad has 9.7/10 in US News ranking that does mean Harvard is inferior or low in standards when compared to MIT? How much you should consider school ranking for applying for university? There is a good article on how to choose or access the quality of the college. You must choose people than colleges or labs. People are who you will be interacting with and doing projects with. See their profiles carefully and their publications. How you research is being pursued in the university. Here are some stats by a Chinese university about worldwide ranking of universities. Here is the US News Grad School Ranking for year 1997.
Visit PHDS.org which is a very helpful site. At phds.org you can set your own criteria and get informations about schools and rank them.  This website also have very good resources on career develpment and advice for prospective graduate students on how to apply for unviersities.

Here is  a good description of how GPA is calcualted. So people can compare their local percentages with the gpa of US Education system here. Some universities use a different scaling system. Normally they mention how to convert them to GPA system in transcripts. But most of the students from India get into problems when sending the transcripts since the universities donot accept transcripts send directly by the applicant. In such case i would suggest, get your transcripts signed and sealed on the cover by assistant registrar of registrar or head of your under-graduate section and send them to the university.

Here is the list of items that you have to send to unversities while applying for Graduate programs.

• Letters of Recommendation (3 or 2 depending on university)
• Statement Of Purpose
  
• Application (if offline. Send print out if it is online. Depends on university)
• Degree Transcripts (all degrees from college. B.S or B-tech , B.E etc)  sealed and attested properly
  
• Official Gre Score Reports (sent by ETS)
• Official TOEFL Score Reports (sent by ETS)
• CV (Curriculum Vitae or Resume`)
• Photo copies of GRE & TOEFL Score Reports (Till the official ones reaches, they will consider these).
• Application for Graduate Student Assistantship (if there is one for ur university)
• Financial Affidavit form (for international students)
• Other Related documents (Photo copies only. These documents like awards, published papers, training certificates, etc..)
• Photo copy of you passport (if necessary)

Read the application instructions carefully. All universities give clear information on what documents need to be sent to them. Don't send any unnecessary documents which piss them off and waste their time. Don't send them mark sheet of your 10th class or 12th.
Most of the universities provides a checklist of items to be sent. So get a printout and use it. Even if any one of the items is missing your application will be incomplete and you will be in trouble. Double check every paper or document you are sending .

Filter or choose which universities you are gonna apply (1 month approximately)

| | | \/

Take the tests GRE & TOEFL (2 -3 months approximately)

| | | \/

Write the SOP,Request for Letters of Recommendation (1 month approximately)

| | | \/

Fill all the applcations and send all the Materials (1 week approx)

| | | \/

After receiving admissions choose one of the universites & reject others (depends on your senses)

| | | \/

Pay SEVIS FEE @ www.fmjfee.com (For ppl who applied in USA)

| | | \/

Apply for visa

| | | \/

Book flight Ticket as soon as you have received your visa (1 day)

| | | \/

Take flight and land at your dream place

Gre Vocabulary is tough. The verbal section is very hard. You need to have good grip on english meanings. Here is a good article on how to improve your vocabulary .You have to atleast master all the important meanings given in Barrons Gre Guide books. There are thousands of words in english. No one asks you to learn all of them. Most frequently appearing GRE words are listed in Barron's GRE book. I highly recommend all to use this. I just costs you few dollars. But it is very useful.
There is another way to improve you vocabulary. Use flash cards. This is realistic option to memorize words. Start reading the word lists in barrons. Write down the word which you often forget or find difficult to on flash cards with meanings on the back side. This is very very userful. This way you can remember all the difficult words you are forgetting. Revise these flash cards when ever you find time. But practice is also very important. I have listed some of online gre vocabulary practice resources in my blog post. GRE PREP Materials. Some experts say use mnemonics. Which mean they ask you to remember a picture for each word (i too think this is the easiest way to remember things). But this is only short time. If you want you vocabulary to come in handy during long time , read more and more challenging materials. This is the only way you can improve yourself and remember vocab for Long time. I suggest you read Norma Levis's Books "Word Power Made Easy". This is the best book for getting solid foundation in vocabulary. It is an entertaining book. I highly recommend this before jumping into Barrons.

There are many factors that come into  when selecting your university. Here are some of the common factors i consider in selecting a university

Research Area.
                    This is the obvious thing by which you choose your university. You should choose an university where there is good emphasis on your research area. Read the papers of some of the professor to get to know what they are doing. It would be best if your research area and research interests of the professor match. This is one of the criteria how Grad Students are selected for Unversities.

No of Professors in your research area.
                  This is one of the important factor that graduate students forget to think about. Some of them don't even see the no of professors. It is better to have more than 3 or 4 professors in your field of study. Don't go to a University just you want to work under a single professor. If that single professor turns out to be a jack ass? or if he is not interested in doing research or he does his own research without any funding? or if he has all positions filled already he is guiding a large no of students. You will be in big trouble. There will be no funding for you. This is a dangerous situation. So don't choose a university just because you like a single professor's profile.Always keep a spare.


Percentage of income from Research to that institute.
            This is also a very important factor. IF the universities major source of income is tuition fee then drop it there itself. Because you might not get any funding from that university. Ofcourse it depends on the professor also, but most of the time fresh graduates students gets Teaching assistant ship. So its better that you choose a university which has more income from resources other than tuition fees.

Tution Fees
              This goes without saying, IF you cannot afford for paying tuition fee of this university even for one year then avoid applying for that university. This is just a waste of your time and money. Generally private schools are expensive in comparison with public schools

No of people graduating every year from that university.
              If this number is low then avoid it all costs if you don't want to waste your money.

Labs in your research area.
              This is important if you are planning to do a research in you research area. The university must contain a lab associated with your field of interest. IF there is no lab then there is no emphasis or no research going on your Research Field.

You can find a large number of free gre testing tools or gre test on web. These websites helps you a lot in gre preparation. All of these gre courses listed here are free.Some of them even offer gre classes. Some of these gre test prep tools are made of javascript and some of them are made in flash. You can prepare for gre online without paying much .
Here are the gre practice resources online.


Test Preview
This website has are large no of assesment modules. It contains 20 questions on each of Analogies,Algebra, Averages and Rounding, Arithmetic, Commas, Estimation and Sequences, exponents, Fractions and Square Roots, Geometry,  Grammar, Graphs, Math, Comparison Math Questions, Measurement, Nouns, Percents and Ratios, Basic Reading Comprehension, Reading for the Main Idea, Advanced Reading Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary, Sentence Correction, Sentence Flow, Usage Tests, Verbs, Writing Section 1 and Writing Section 2

Gre Guide
This site has four practice test on each of following topics

• Reading Comprehension
  
• Sentence Completion
  
• Analogies
  
• Math Problem Solving
  
• GRE Math Comparison

Syvium Gre
This site has 64 gre tests on specific parts. It covers all basics & has very handful tips on each of the three sections of GRE.

GRE Verbal Practice @ Graduateshotline
This is a never ending practice. Practice till you die!! You have to select closest synonym here. This is free!!.

Number2.com
This is also a good site with tips on how to attack a specific section of gre. It does have some practice questions but limited. But the tutorials provided  here are very good.

Free Full Length Practice Test at Princeton Review
This is a single full length practice test at princeton review site.

Another Free test at Micro EDU
I found only verbal section here. You might find more...

English Test .com
This site has really good javascript. YOu can improve your english vocabulary very well here.

My GRE Tutor
This site has lots of information and very good practice tests. Down side you have to login or register though it is free

The computer based gre contains three sections. Analytical writing, Quantitative reasoning, Verbal Reasoning. The unscored & Research sections can be skipped. The most frustrating is that you have to write before you can give the Verbal exam which you will be very anxious ( i bet).

Section	Number of Questions	Time
Analytical Writing	1 Issue Task*	45 minutes
Analytical Writing	1 Argument Task*	30 minutes
Verbal	30	30 minutes
Quantitative	28	45 minutes
Unscored**	Varies	Varies
Research***	Varies	Varies

Its better to check the official GRE page at ETS.
Here are the cost accoring to that page on 23-august-08. The fees are subjected to change any time. So be careful.Also you can give the exam only once in a month and 5 fives in a calendar year. Also all INDIANS must need an passport for attending the exam. So don't register for GRE unless you have a passport. I faced huge problem with this. I actually received my passport  on the day before the exam.

$140	General Test—U.S., U.S. Territories, and Puerto Rico
$195	General Test—China (including Hong Kong), Korea, and Taiwan. See Bulletin Supplement (PDF).
$170	General Test—All Other Locations
$ 25	Late Registration Fee
$ 50	Standby Testing (paper-based test only)
$ 50	Rescheduling Fee
$ 50	Changing Your Test Center
$ 12	Scores by phone
$ 20	Additional score report (ASR) requests–per recipient
$ 50	Question-and-Answer Review Service—Verbal & Quantitative Sections
$ 55	Score Review for Analytical Writing Measure
$ 30	Paper-Based Test Hand Scoring
$ 30	Score Reinstatement Fee