Blogmas #3: My experience with the GRE
Hey guys!
I’m stuck
inside today, studying for my upcoming exams, and eating grilled cheese in my
pyjamas even though it’s 2pm. Oh the life of a student. But I thought I’d talk
about something different. Like the GRE.
I graduate
this year with a bachelor’s degree (fingers crossed), and am hopefully going on
to grad school, so I needed to gather up the requirements, including the GRE.
It wasn’t
what I was expecting at all. Getting into the GRE is a lot like going to the airport.
When I first came in, there were forms to fill out to “check in”, saying I
wouldn’t tell you the questions, and that you are who you say you are. You have
to have adequate ID to prove that last part too. Then comes the pat down. They
check your wrists and ankles for writing, go through all of your pockets to
make sure they’re empty and go over you with a metal-detector wand.
They gave me
a locker to put things into, but it wasn’t very big. Large enough for a small
purse and my cell phone, as well as the watch that I wasn’t allowed to wear
into the room. It wasn’t even a digital watch. You can’t bring anything in the
room, including your own pencils or Kleenex. They provide all of that for you.
The room I was in had six little cubicles each with a desktop computer,
a book of scratch paper, two pencils, a very uncomfortable noise-cancelling
headset, and a place to put your ID and locker key. There are also cameras
everywhere, pointing at your front, back, the computer, and the door. The
cameras can also record audio, so they know what’s up. The proctor types in a
password, and then the test starts
The same agreement you already agreed to pops up, and you have to
confirm it again. Then you jump right into the first couple of sections, which
are the two essays. You get a 60 second break in between each one, and you
should take every last moment of it, or else your eyes will start to give out.
After the essays are complete, the test alternates between the verbal reasoning
sections and the math (quantitative problems) sections. Halfway through the
test, you get a ten minute break. It can be very tempting to skip this and just
soldier on through, but you shouldn’t. Take the break, even if you don’t want
to. At the very least, it breaks up 4 hours of staring at a computer screen.
Without being specific, I found that the math section was significantly
harder than I was expecting. In hindsight, I would have put more study time
into that section. Other than that, all I can really say is that it’s tricky
but not impossible. I didn’t do the most rigorous studying I could have and I
still got a pretty good score.
That’s about it. I’m not a huge fan of standardized testing, but
sometimes you can’t get away from it. I’m still waiting for my mark on the
essay portion, but I’m feeling confident. Oh! And the essay questions are all
online, so I recommend reading through them before your test.
Today was another day on the advent calendar as well! On the third day,
I got an itty bitty It’s Potent! Eye Cream.
I’ve used the Total Moisture Face
Cream in the past, and it was okay. It’s not my favourite though. I checked
online and this stuff is supposed to be great for brightening up under eye
circle, of which I have more than my fair share. I’m looking forward to trying
it out. My skin was pretty much destroyed when I had chicken pox, because it also meant I couldn't do a lot of my skincare routine. I'm just now starting to get back into the swing of things, so this couldn't have come at a better time.
What are you up to this fine Tuesday?