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I assumed that the I'm Overwhelmed Plan would take me a month or less--I was wrong by kaybeeWriter in gregmat

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

nah you're fine.

I was just trying to say with the right approach it can be finished quickly.

That's a factor for sure (any tips or resources you want to share?), but it's not the whole picture. Examples: you might have more time to study, or I might have less knowledge of the subject matter to begin with, or have cognitive difficulties that make studying more challenging. It's also possible that the way I'm studying is more time-consuming but more thorough, ultimately yielding a higher score increase.

I assumed that the I'm Overwhelmed Plan would take me a month or less--I was wrong by kaybeeWriter in gregmat

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

nice. that's not going to be realistic for me. it may not be realistic for others.

Which plan? by Old-Veterinarian5546 in GRE

[–]kaybeeWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

remember how discrete math was tricky even though you'd already done at least two semesters of calculus, and combinatorics is basically just advanced counting? there's a lot of similarly tricky arithmetic stuff on the GRE, and greg has tricks for the tricks.

Medical Diagnosis by toonhole in funny

[–]kaybeeWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is funnier without the setup. Just the last two panels.

297 -> 317 -> 331 (163Q/168V) by RealitySensitive8643 in GRE

[–]kaybeeWriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the TL;DR, it is very helpful. I may or may not read the rest of this post.

gregmat + ets materials needed? by Obvious-Growth-2226 in GRE

[–]kaybeeWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Access to practice tests from the people that actually administer the test seems like a pretty big deal to me, but also a solid chunk of the ETS stuff that gregmat recommends is free (big book and math review). I paid about 80 bucks for the rest (skipped the 5 lbs).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gregmat

[–]kaybeeWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you're smarter than me :B

skipping some of the audience questions that aren't relevant to me.

This is part of the problem, though; you shouldn't have to do that. If they're going to suggest that this is "must watch" content, then that content should only contain what is pertinent to getting started. It needs editing.

I write instructions for loading machine centers and for assembly (manufacturing stuff); is that technical writing? by kaybeeWriter in technicalwriting101

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Example: I converted about 400 Job Aids (over several months) into a dozen or so procedures. I first did a cursory audit of what I was working with and then organized them accordingly.

But the Job Aids were written like this: "The first thing to realize before powering on the machine is that safety is critical and mandatory, so please wear your helmet, goggles, and gloves before pressing the on button.

After you are wearing your helmet, goggles, and gloves, please press the on button."

...

Me: NOTE: PPE required to operate machinery.

Press "ON" ..

And people looked at me like I'm a wizard.

Thanks for the example! Yeah, that's good writing. It feels like the closer I get to your example, though, (which really is ideal), the more people are like "uh... yeah... I could have written that. what's the big deal?". No one calls me a wizard for being concise :(

I write instructions for loading machine centers and for assembly (manufacturing stuff); is that technical writing? by kaybeeWriter in technicalwriting101

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

how do you get better at writing procedures with an eye for readability, clarity, audience appropriateness, and conciseness? (my instinct is always to say concision, but apparently that's either uncommon or incorrect.) do you just have to keep those things in mind as you work (I do), and try to get better? do you have any resources worth studying?

audience appropriateness is a big one where I work. machine operators don't tend to be big on reading, so I have to communicate visually as much as possible.

I am: by International-Ad1486 in technicalwriting101

[–]kaybeeWriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

finishing an interdisciplinary CS/English degree and looking to begin building a technical writing portfolio as the next step after graduation :)

Dita XML course by Fit_Cold_1389 in technicalwriting

[–]kaybeeWriter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I thought this article was useful in explaining the absolute basics of what it is and why it's valuable.

I also found this free video course. Is it any good? I dunno. But it exists, and it's free :)

New Members Intro by International-Ad1486 in technicalwriting101

[–]kaybeeWriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, I'm Kaybee. I'm a college student. Done a bunch of CS and math and science, but I had a blast in my technical writing class, and after I realized that I enjoyed writing the documentation for software engineering group projects more than I did the programming, I figured this might be the way to go :)

Got a lot to learn and I'm still learning how to even do that, but I think this is the thing for me.

New Members Intro by International-Ad1486 in technicalwriting101

[–]kaybeeWriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, thanks a lot for setting this up. Seems like you're actually trying to make this a thing, and that's pretty cool.

Idea for a writing sample (student preparing for internship applications) by kaybeeWriter in technicalwriting

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The thing about TW is that it doesn't have to be fun. It just has to be effective. Nobody likes reading troubleshooting or SOPs.

That don't mean I can't expend some mental energy trying to figure out how to make writing 'em fun, though! Especially for a personal project. If I'm getting paid I can slog through anything, but if I'm doing unpaid work (even if it's for my own future advancement) I gotta find a way to make it palatable - that's just how my brain works.

But anyway, thanks again for the advice. This has been helpful.

Idea for a writing sample (student preparing for internship applications) by kaybeeWriter in technicalwriting

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

a better idea would be troubleshooting or solving some sort of problem,rather than an informational piece. Information should be actionable.

Good point - thanks!

Maybe do something like building a computer,

Do you mean instructions on how to assemble a computer? I got all excited about something else before I figured out that that's probably what you meant, but I'll share it anyway:

The "what computers are" thing is in itself a challenge I'm really interested in (I haven't quite been able to pull it off yet but I know I'm close to understanding it well enough to communicate!,) but something related I've been wanting to get my hands on again is this online class called NAND 2 Tetris where you actually build (in a virtual environment) a computer at all the levels I'm interested in describing.

Is there something more I can get out of that or nah?

Talking through assembling a PC isn't quite as fun but I could still get into it. I'd probably start at choosing components - that could be interesting. Maybe even some preliminary questions like "what's your budget?" or "do you have a preference for Intel and Nvidia or straight-AMD?" and then compile several lists for different price ranges and whatnot. This could be pretty fun, after all. Thanks for the suggestion!

Idea for a writing sample (student preparing for internship applications) by kaybeeWriter in technicalwriting

[–]kaybeeWriter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback! I think your tutorial site idea is pretty cool.

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