Page 1 of 1

GRE Subject Test Preparation

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 7:34 pm
by MireM.
Hi all,

I'm an aspiring doctorate-level statistician/biostatistician. I'm currently doing an MS degree, but starting to prepare for phd applications (which I would apply for after my MS). The math subject GRE is not a requirement for most Statistics programs, but although my MS degree is in biostats/epidemiology, my undergrad degree is not in a quantitative field, so I feel that taking the subject test would be good for me to take in order to boost my competitiveness. My question is, what sort of classes do you recommend to prepare for it? I've taken Calc1-3, will be taking Calc4 and Linear Algebra next summer and differential equations in the fall. Anything else that would be helpful? I apologize if there is a link answering this question already, but I've found mostly suggestions for materials to use to study for it, and I'm thinking more in terms of classes that I should take first.

Thanks!

Re: GRE Subject Test Preparation

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:38 pm
by GPsubjectMath
The courses you mentioned should suffice to score around 75% if you master them. Will that be good enough? The rest of the topics include set theory, group theory, point set topology, probability, measure theory, modules and fields theory. It seems a bit extreme to take a whole course for the potential of 2-3 questions in each subject. You are covered for the majority of the test, and I would recommend reading about and practicing the rest of the topics without actually taking a FULL course in each topic. You can definitively "absorb" the rest of the material through questions.

Re: GRE Subject Test Preparation

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:42 pm
by GPsubjectMath
Oh, sorry, forgot about number theory, numerical analysis and complex analysis.
For the first two, I stand by my advice. For complex analysis, though, I would take a course in it... it is profound and would strengthen the understanding of "classic" notions such as sequences, series, Taylor expansion and such...

Re: GRE Subject Test Preparation

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:42 pm
by arctanX
What you mentioned should cover the better part of the questions in the exam.
However, the test tend to include 5-10 questions from the following: abstract algebra, set theory, complex analysis, probability, point set topology, measure theory. There are a few more topics like algorithms, graph theory, numerical analysis and such, that are more esoteric.
I would recommend taking a course in complex analysis, but for the rest of the topics, just learn the material while practicing questions.

I hope this help...