How To Crack GRE Exam For Biology / Life Sciences

Remember the dream that you got the other night about studying at Cornell University located in New York or the Mcquill university which is located in Montreal, Canada and making yourself and your parents proud!! It can be a reality soon!

There is a very famous saying which was put forth by Dr. Abdul Kalam,

“YOU HAVE TO DREAM BEFORE YOUR DREAMS CAN COME TRUE.”

So if you have already dreamt about it, it means it is on the path of coming true!

Being from the life science background one can go either for pursuing their Masters(MS) from abroad or a PhD degree. Now the next question that might occur in your mind will be how should I go about it? Worry not we at Biotecnika are here to guide you and present you with an enormous repertoire of options.

There are some international exams which are conducted by the Educational Testing service in order to make the selection procedure for MS or PhD in foreign countries much easier. Out of which the most important one is the GRE Exam.

GRE Exam – Graduate Record Examination

Let’s understand one of the most important exams, GRE i.e. Graduate Record Examination. It is one of the exam which is mandatory for the students who wants to get in Canadian, US or Australian Universities. The total marks range from 200 to 990 and the score validity remains for the next 5 years. Truth should be stated and the first rule that one should keep in mind is that the GRE is not a very easy examination. Instead of testing general problem-solving skills they too should require specialized knowledge.

GRE Biology Test (GRE Exam Life Sciences)

Talking about the content which is present in GRE subject test i.e. for GRE biology test:

• Cell and molecular biology-related questions contribute around (33-35)% of the paper. In this part questions from topics like cell biology, metabolism, genetics, and microbiology are being asked.
• Organismal biology topics contribute around (33-34)% of the paper. Topics like Animal anatomy and physiology, Plant anatomy and physiology and biodiversity are being asked.
• Ecology and evolution (33-34)%, Ecosystems, Behavioral ecology, Evolutionary processes, History of life are some of the topics from which the questions are being asked.

When you are planning for your higher education in a particular field of study, it may not be enough to just crack GRE general test. The subject test is very important as by your GRE subject test you can represent your knowledge in a specific subject to any graduate school. This is beneficial as it helps in making you stand out from other applicants who have appeared for the general GRE test.

GRE test named GRE Biochemistry subject test is based on 3 primary content areas which are namely biochemistry, cell biology along with molecular biology and genetics. The question paper is divided into 3 parts 36% of the exam is taken up by biochemistry, 28% by cell biology and the final 36% is made up of molecular and genetics questions.

When you study exclusively for biochemistry (GRE Exam Life Sciences) you will observe that the three classifications which are provided they are not independent of each other. Some of the topics under the biochemistry section are

• Catalysis and binding
• Major metabolic pathways
• Bioenergetics and regulation
• Biomolecules
• Integration of metabolism
• Chemical and physical foundations
• Under cell biology and molecular biology
• Cellular compartments of Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes,
• Cell surface and communication
• Cytoskeleton
• Protein synthesis, processing, and cell division
• Motility and shape
• Differentiation and development
• For the molecular biology and genetic sections
• Genetic foundations
• Genomics
• Chromatin and chromosomes
• Genome maintenance
• Gene expression
• Gene regulation in Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
• Bacteriophages
• Animal and plant viruses

Best books for GRE Exam Life Sciences / Biology are as follows:-

1. New GRE 2011-2012: Strategies, Practice, and Review

2. Cracking the New GRE, Published by top GRE instructors at The Princeton Review

3. Barron’s New GRE 19th Edition

4. The Official Guide to the GRE revised General Test

5. Barron’s GRE Math Workbook by Blair Madore

6. Cracking The GRE, 2009 Edition by Adam Robinson

7. GRE General Test by David Bell

8. GRE-Preparation Course by Jeff Kolby

9. Kaplan GRE Exam Math Workbook by Kaplan

10. Peterson’s Ultimate GRE tools

Another important point that should be kept in mind is that one should not get overconfident. Since the subject based GRE test is based on specialized subjects do not get overconfident with the thought that you have already studied for this subject in your undergraduate program. Invest a huge amount of time before giving your GRE exams (Life Science) since a huge amount of questions are asked from biochemistry concepts that you might think that is not clear. Refer to standardized books like Biochemistry by Leninger, Voet, and Voet, etc.

A GRE subject test consists of 190 multiple choice questions and there are 3 parts of biology subject test which are namely,

• Cellular and Molecular Biology
• Ecology and Evolution and
• Organismal Biology

For Attempting a GRE Subject Exam (Life Science) test one must have:

• Their ETS account and one needs to open an ETS account for yourself and get registered for the subject test.
• ETS is a very user-friendly site where you can also reschedule the test date of the GRE subject test just do it 4 days prior to the date of the test. The cost of rescheduling is $50.

One important thing to remember is that one should get thorough with the basic concepts first. For this purpose prepare from the standard reference books solve previous year question papers having multiple-choice questions.

Put your dreams ahead of everything and attain your dream to fly higher in international universities by clearing the GRE subject test.

About the Author

 Kajol Patel is known as the Czar of Ecology & Evolution at Biotecnika. She is one of the most active & dynamic Research enthusiast working with us. Her active interest in various upcoming research in the field of Life Sciences is evident from her articles & Podcasts. She is the favorite among her students.

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