From: rbrewer@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Robert Brewer)
Subject: Re: rec's for GRE study material for CS test (kinda long)
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:42:23 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.001217.4740@cs.mcgill.ca> jerry@cs.mcgill.ca (Gerald (Jerry) KUCH) writes:
>In article <1992Dec9.180417.5202@matrix.com> srm@matrix.com (Steve Morris) writes:
>>I need to take the GRE computer science subject test.
>>Do you know of any other study material (self-help books)
>>besides the practice tests from ETS. (The practice tests
>>contain no explanations.)
>
>ARCO makes a GRE CS Subject test prep book.  So does REA, those guys who
>make that series of cheesily typeset "THE [SUBJECT HERE] PROBLEM SOLVER".
>ARCO has better typesetting...  haven't really studied out of either of
>them, though, so I can't really compare or contrast them in a meaningful
>way.  There's also the 2nd edition of the ETS practice book... it looks
>like those sample questions that come before the actual sample test are
>all taken from the 1st edition of the practice book.... minus the ordering
>and structure.

I just took the CS GRE on December 12, and I got all the test prep stuff I
could find. Here are the sources I had:
ETS test from 1985-6
ETS test from 1990-1
ETS booklet you get when you register
Arco CS Prep copyright 1988

I don't know if you can still order the 1985 ETS book from ETS anymore, I
assume not. The 1985 test is pretty good, but I believe it is somewhat easier
than the more recent tests, and lacks some material (as the test changes over
time). If you get both the ETS offical test books, DO THIS ONE FIRST. The 1990
test comes with Sample Problems, which just happens to be a subset of the 1985
test. However, they are ordered by topic, and they only give you the correct
answers, no scaling info or percentage of people who got the question right. If
you are like me, you want a practice test to be as close to the original as
possible, so you can get an idea of what your real score is going to be.
Therefore, it is much better to take the 1985 test and get a real score than to
do the sample problems in the 1990 test. So if you have both, don't look at
the sample problems in the 1990 test, just take the 1985 test.

Also, percentile rank of people with a certain score has changed since 1985,
so refer to the 1990 test for the scaled score -> percentile rank chart.

Except for the above, the ETS stuff is great. The two tests were actual tests,
so you can virtually guarentee that there are no errors or bogus questions (
I don't know about the booklet, but I didn't find any errors in it). The only
thing I would like is explanations with the answers, which is present in the
Arco tests.

The Arco book has two tests (that they made up), answers with explanations,
and an appendix with some useful info. That's were the good stuff ends. This
book is RIFE with errors, bogus questions, and just plain wrong answers. I
can't believe it was published in this state!! In the two answer keys alone
there are 3 errors (i.e. #74 is B not D, the correct answer is listed in the
solutions). Even the most pitiful proofreader could have caught these errors.
Shame on the authors and publisher! There are also questions that are mistyped
like an example program that can't produce the claimed output, using the word
'insert' when they meant 'delete', etc. Lame! There are some questions where
more than one answer are correct, and some questions are just wrong!

I also believe that the Arco test doesn't represent the real thing very well.
I scored much better on the ETS practice tests than I did on the Arco ones.
They also don't provide any idea of how to translate a raw score to a scaled
one for their test. The Arco tests tend to emphasize weird topics that would
require some memorized knowledge, which is less frequent on the real thing. 
They also have some really trivial questions that non-CS people could answer
just by careful reading of the question, which tends not to happen on the real
thing.

Even though I have said some mean things about the Arco book, I would recommend
it to anyone who can afford it (after you buy the ETS books, of course!). While
it has flaws, there is good info in it. The solutions to questions are crucial
to improving your score. ETS will show you how you will do, but it won't tell
you how to remedy holes in your knowledge, which the Arco will in some cases.

Now, on a different topic, I thought I would write something about my general
experience preparing for the test. I graduated in Physics from a small liberal
arts school which has no CS dept, and few CS courses (like 4, which I took).
While I lack the formal CS prep, I am quite knowledgeable about CS in general
from non-academic sources. I decided that I wanted to go into CS for graduate
work, but I feared that I didn't have the formal background to take the CS GRE.
So the first time I took the Physics GRE, and I didn't do very well, and I 
wasn't accepted anywhere (mostly this wasn't my GRE scores' fault, I was aiming
too high). So this fall I decided to study hard and take the CS GRE. Actually,
I was surprised at how well I was able to do on ETS practice tests (about 90th
percentile) considering my lack of background. The subjects that I had the
least were formal automata and grammars, and computer architecture. So, I took
all the practice tests, and I made a big list of topics that I was clueless
about.

I took this list to the local University library and read encyclopaedias and
introductory books on the topics I didn't know. I gained a fair amount of info
this way, which was kinda gratifiying as I was getting enough info in one
week of cramming that I could perform as well as many that had taken courses
in the stuff.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that if you are fairly bright (you are 
applying to grad school, right?), motivated, and have a degree in something
other than CS (though science and math degrees help a cactusload) you can rock
the CS GRE.

If anyone is interested in the errors and corrections I have found in the Arco
book, I would be happy to post them...
--
Robert S. Brewer                                 rbrewer@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu