…And I am nervous as hell. I’ve been studying on and off for the past few months, mostly on the math, but I don’t feel remotely ready. I’m not worried about the verbal or reading sections, and the requirements for the writing are old hat, but the math makes me want to crawl into a hole and die. I’m terrible at it, and the study books haven’t been all that much help.
My appointment’s at noon. Wish me luck! And tell me it’s not as scary as I think it is!
Nah, it’s a piece of cake. You’ll do fine, and then you’ll have many long years ahead of you to regret your decision to go to grad school.
Listen to this man. He knows!
And don’t sweat the GRE. It really is easy. You’ll be fine, especially if you’ve prepared for it. It’s just a matter of beating the system, and the GRE is an easy one to figure out.
Good luck!
Wow - that is cool. Good luck. (here’s what an idiot I am, I read GRE, but my mind though GED and so I was thinking Grad School? when I read Smeghead’s post.)
This. I can’t remember taking the GRE (it was over 20 years ago), but I remember not studying for it at all and doing quite well.
Good luck! I was freaked out about the math a LOT, but I found that the computer adjustment worked heavily in my factor, and I scored much, much better than I had anticipated, based on the sample tests I had taken in my prep book.
Good luck! I took the GRE last month so I remember that gnawing fear rather well. Everything turned out well and I’m sure yours will also. I’ll send out good thoughts your way.
Good Luck! I took it in November. You’ll do great!
It’s not as scary as you think. Just follow the formulaic pattern they want for the essays with some nice GRE words thrown in, pay special attention to the first 10 multiple choice questions in the math and verbal, remember the special triangles and x squared = 16 can mean x is 4 or -4, and if the questions seem really tough and terrible, that just means you are doing better than you expected.
Good Luck!
I took it 51 years ago and did much better (in percentile terms) than I had in SATs. I hadn’t studied for either one. I cannot explain the discrepancy. My SATs were good but not outstanding, but the GREs scores were off-scale (that is, above 99th percentile).
So, I got back from testing a little bit ago. I didn’t do very well. Since I did the computer-based test I already know my scores on the verbal and quantitative (not the writing), but I’m too embarrassed to post them. They’re way lower than what I wanted (didn’t even get a 600 :(). I don’t know what happened. I did better on the verbal section of the SAT, for crying out loud!
I’ll probably take it again at some point, though for right now I kinda just wanna curl up on the couch and watch TV. And imbibe in an alcoholic beverage. Possibly more than one.
ETA: Thanks for all the encouragement though, everyone! I really appreciate it.
I got lower than 600s on both Verbal and Math. I’m not afraid to admit it. To be fair, it was a last minute decision to take it and I really wasn’t able to study. I don’t know what kind of test all these people who are saying “Beat the system!” and “It’s easy!” took. They’ve revamped the test since I last took it in August. Can you still not go back to change the answers to previous questions? I was amazed and pissed that you couldn’t do that, even if you were still in the same section. I got the highest on the writing portion.
My other friends who took it said “Oh, the writing is easy, my questions were all about describing my dreams and aspirations and blahblahblah!”
:rolleyes:
My question I got was “Do you believe that a civilization will be most remembered for its art or scientific achievements?”
Awesome. Luckily I tore up the critical analysis segment.
Don’t worry too much. Relax, and now you know what to be prepared for. Even though both mine were under 600, they were above the averages for the school I was interested in and I still got in. Good luck!
Don’t be late. I recall taking mine, and 30 seconds into the proctor explaining the rules, the door flew open and a girl came running in saying: “Sorry I’m late.” Nope, back out she went. You will not be admitted once the doors are closed.
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. At least it’s over for now and you can enjoy the rest of the holiday season. You’ll be able to take the exam again and next time you’ll know what to expect.
Ok, if you’re sick and tired of the GRE stuff, don’t read the next two paragraphs.
I know you had study materials, but I just wanted to point out that the ets website has some prep material that is pretty handy (and free), especially their math review (pdf). The material helps you familiarize yourself with the way they word their questions and reviews some basic math skills like algebra and geometry.
On the other hand, if you just want some shortcuts and quick ways to study for the times that you’re stuck, the Princeton Review and Kaplan books are fairly handy. The guide I used had a surprisingly accurate vocab list (it was the most useful part of the book) and they also have some useful methods of solving equations if you’re stumped. The annoying thing about the book I had was that it seemed to emphasize tricks and shortcuts and not actual learning, but it might help.
Good luck and enjoy your break for now, you deserve it.
Some years ago I was recommended by a mutual friend to help someone study (cram!) for the last month before taking her GREs. Never having taken the test before, I was surprised to find the material was pretty much what I recall from about 8 grade standardized testing.
Nice young lady. As prepared as a bunch of rocks on all three questions. There was nothing I could really do except coach her on test taking skills and confidence and hope it stuck.
It didn’t.
Her score was close to the minimum possible.
Didn’t matter one bit to her program. They accepted her anyway. No idea what happened after that.
Maiira, I’m sorry you didn’t get the scores you wanted. FWIW, it really bugs me when people come into these threads and declare that the GRE is really easy and that studying is pointless. First of all, I’m terrible at math, and that includes GRE math. Second, it absolutely is possible to improve your score by studying. I didn’t study hardly at all the first time I took it, and I got a lousy score. The second time I took it, I studied my ass off and got a much better score.
I don’t know where you are in life, like if it’s been a long time since you’ve had to do math on a regular basis, but if you need more math practice, I really can’t recommend this book highly enough. I had been out of high school for twelve years when I took the GRE and I hadn’t taken a real math class in all that time. I went through this book over and over and over, and I ended up scoring a 600, which is, trust me, AMAZING by my personal standards. (I got a 510 on the math section of the SAT, and that was actually when I was in high school, doing math on a daily basis.)
BTW, I think the verbal section of the GRE is much harder than the verbal section of the SAT, so don’t beat yourself up if your score wasn’t as high as it was on the SAT.
You can do it!