Thursday, January 21, 2010
Reactions to Scores
Since I have taken the GRE I have of course been able to tell friends and family, professors and fellow students how I did. It is always interesting to see people's reactions. They range from the look that says that you don't know what to make of the score because you are not really concerned about taking the GRE, to pride, to jealousy, and to sincere congratulations. The most recent one was: *bewildered look* "What the....?!??!"
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wikipedia Info
Here's some interesting information about the GRE, courtesy of wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examination
Here's how I stack up according to the table on scores and percentiles:
Verbal: 680 was my score. That is 96th percentile.
Quantitative: 720 was my score. That is 75th percentile.
That means that I got a 1400! The averages for the verbal and quantitative sections, respectively are 457 and 586. Together that is a 1043. I got almost 400 points higher than that! Yay for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examination
Here's how I stack up according to the table on scores and percentiles:
Verbal: 680 was my score. That is 96th percentile.
Quantitative: 720 was my score. That is 75th percentile.
That means that I got a 1400! The averages for the verbal and quantitative sections, respectively are 457 and 586. Together that is a 1043. I got almost 400 points higher than that! Yay for me.
It's Been Over a Day...
So I figured that warrants a write-up of everything that happened!
Got into the city really early because otherwise I would have been worrying about not getting to the place fast enough and the like. Got off the F train at Bryant Park and walked eastbound. Stumbled upon a Jamba Juice and decided that it would be a good idea to get lunch in me before I went into the testing place because I know that there is no food or drink allowed in there. I was planning on having a "big lunch" but I was way too nervous so I had a Jamba Juice oatmeal and M&Ms and OH MY:
Jamba Juice oatmeal: AWESOME
For those of you keeping count, there is in existence three things that have so far gained the evasive AWESOME points.
Studied the beloved Barron's GRE book, especially the Master Word List. Then I decided to walk a little further, but it was so cold I went into Grand Central Station to warm up. While I was there I read over all of the Key Points in the Mathematics Review (Chapter 14) and felt even more prepared.
Then I walked in the frigid weather (I love gloves, man. Gloves are almost awesome. Almost because it's annoying when I can type stuff into my phone.) to the testing place. Had a little bit of a scare because I didn't know that it would not be labeled on the outside, but I found it just fine. I'm glad that I got information on the location before I left, though.
I had arrived an hour early, but when I went up to the desk, the man sitting there asked me if I would want to take it now. I was surprised and told him that I'd like to take a little time to relax and unwind a little bit, so he gave me ten minutes.
Got my items checked into a locker, went to the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror and told myself that it'll be awesome, got all checked in (photo, procedures told to me, etc.).
Then I took the test!
Because I don't want to get in trouble I'm not going to write anything about the test other than that it took a while.
And then I finished, found out how I did on verbal and quantitative, had a mini-celebration in my chair, was really happy about it, and the guy who I talked to first asking if I wanted to take the test an hour early asked me if I wanted to sell my scores (as a joke). Huzzah!
I'm still waiting on the score I got on Analytical Writing, but I am very happy about my scores.
Just because I've taken the GRE doesn't mean that this blog is going to end, mind you! I still have to take the Psychology GRE! I think I'm going to take it in April, but I don't want to really think about it right now because I just want to relax while I can (two days max?)...
:)
Got into the city really early because otherwise I would have been worrying about not getting to the place fast enough and the like. Got off the F train at Bryant Park and walked eastbound. Stumbled upon a Jamba Juice and decided that it would be a good idea to get lunch in me before I went into the testing place because I know that there is no food or drink allowed in there. I was planning on having a "big lunch" but I was way too nervous so I had a Jamba Juice oatmeal and M&Ms and OH MY:
Jamba Juice oatmeal: AWESOME
For those of you keeping count, there is in existence three things that have so far gained the evasive AWESOME points.
Studied the beloved Barron's GRE book, especially the Master Word List. Then I decided to walk a little further, but it was so cold I went into Grand Central Station to warm up. While I was there I read over all of the Key Points in the Mathematics Review (Chapter 14) and felt even more prepared.
Then I walked in the frigid weather (I love gloves, man. Gloves are almost awesome. Almost because it's annoying when I can type stuff into my phone.) to the testing place. Had a little bit of a scare because I didn't know that it would not be labeled on the outside, but I found it just fine. I'm glad that I got information on the location before I left, though.
I had arrived an hour early, but when I went up to the desk, the man sitting there asked me if I would want to take it now. I was surprised and told him that I'd like to take a little time to relax and unwind a little bit, so he gave me ten minutes.
Got my items checked into a locker, went to the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror and told myself that it'll be awesome, got all checked in (photo, procedures told to me, etc.).
Then I took the test!
Because I don't want to get in trouble I'm not going to write anything about the test other than that it took a while.
And then I finished, found out how I did on verbal and quantitative, had a mini-celebration in my chair, was really happy about it, and the guy who I talked to first asking if I wanted to take the test an hour early asked me if I wanted to sell my scores (as a joke). Huzzah!
I'm still waiting on the score I got on Analytical Writing, but I am very happy about my scores.
Just because I've taken the GRE doesn't mean that this blog is going to end, mind you! I still have to take the Psychology GRE! I think I'm going to take it in April, but I don't want to really think about it right now because I just want to relax while I can (two days max?)...
:)
Monday, January 11, 2010
More Detailed Update to Come
...because I have a headache right now and want to go to sleep soon.
But, important news:
I took them. The GREs.
*drumroll*:
Verbal: 680
Quantitative: 720
Analytical Writing: to be announced (score hasn't come in yet)
Verbal + Quantitative = 1400.
I would celebrate, but I'm just too tired! It's like I just gave birth...although I really don't know that feeling because I haven't given birth...but you get the idea. I am very happy about my score.
Time to sleep.
But, important news:
I took them. The GREs.
*drumroll*:
Verbal: 680
Quantitative: 720
Analytical Writing: to be announced (score hasn't come in yet)
Verbal + Quantitative = 1400.
I would celebrate, but I'm just too tired! It's like I just gave birth...although I really don't know that feeling because I haven't given birth...but you get the idea. I am very happy about my score.
Time to sleep.
Today is the Day
In less than five hours I will be starting the GRE, the four-hour long test that I didn't need to take, but that is still extraordinarily important.
My strategy is to leave where I am at 11AM, find where the place is, study a little, and then take the test.
I've studied hard and I'm going to put my very best foot forward. I will not be discouraged and I will work hard at the questions that I am given. I will be okay.
My strategy is to leave where I am at 11AM, find where the place is, study a little, and then take the test.
I've studied hard and I'm going to put my very best foot forward. I will not be discouraged and I will work hard at the questions that I am given. I will be okay.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Maybe God Made It Cold to Make Me Stay In and Study
It's freezing here! Anyways, cutting to the chase:
I stil haven't finished the Percent practice exercises in the Barron's book. I just kind of decided to move on from there. I'll get back to it...hopefully. Here's how I've done in other sections:
Ratios and Proportions Practice Exercises - 23/25
Averages Practice Exercises - 16/20
Polynomials Practice Exercises - 7/15 (eeeeww...)
Equations/Inequalities Practice Exercises - 16/20
I stopped at Word Problems for now.
Since my last update I've taken two addition practice tests: the GR90-16 and the GR91-17. I'll start with the former first:
On the GR90-16 I got a 660 on verbal and a 680 on quantitative! Together, that's a 1340, an 80-point improvement on the GR86-2! Woo! Remember that on the GR86-2 I got a 610 on verbal (so then, I improved 50 points) and a 650 on quantitative (that's plus 30 points). I took this test sitting at a small living room table and timed myself. It was nice to sit in a chair instead of my usual study spot: the bed. Here's a section breakdown:
Verbal Ability, Section 1: 31/38 (questions I got wrong: 7, 13, 18, 27, 30, 35, and 36)
Quantitative Ability, Section 2: 25/30 (questions I got wrong: 12, 14, 15, 18, and 25)
Quantitative Ability, Section 3: 26/30 (questions I got wrong: 15, 25, 26, and 28)
Verbal Ability, Section 4: 31/38 (questions I got wrong: 5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 34, and 36 [23-26...that was a rough reading comprehension!])
On the GR91-17 I got a 1380! That is a 40-point improvement on the GR90-16. On this one I got a 650 on verbal and a 730 on quantitative (whoa!). So, that is a 10-point drop for verbal (but that is still relatively consistent) and an improvement of 50 points on quantitative. This one I took on my bed like I did for the first one, but it was earlier in the day (afternoon) and I hadn't had very much to eat or drink yet. Go me. Here's a section breakdown:
Quantitative Ability, Section 1: 27/30 (questions I got wrong: 12, 29, and 30)
Verbal Ability, Section 2: 29/38 (questions I got wrong: 3, 5, 10, 14, 16, 22, 34, 35 and 38)
Quantitative Ability, Section 3: 25/30 (questions I got wrong: 9, 13, 17, 23, and 30)
Verbal Ability, Section 4: 31/38 (questions I got wrong: 21, 22, 23, 24, 34, 35, and 37 [21-24...again with the reading comprehension!])
On the quantitative sections I've been pacing myself almost perfectly, but I know that I will have a lot more time for less questions when I do the CBT, so I'm okay with that. On verbal I'm averaging 8 to 11 extra minutes, so I know that I need to slow down a little. Not to mention, on the CBT there won't be especially long reading comprehension, so I have time to really concentrate on it and read slower to get more information out of the readings. On the practice tests, the long reading comprehension seems to a place where I get the most questions wrong in the verbal sections.
I finished all of the word lists (800 words, 10 words per list... 80 word lists) and the little quizzes that follow each of them in Barron's Essential Words for the GRE. For that I'm proud of myself. I started on the root word lists and it's really interesting. I know that I have to go back and spend time studying the Master Word List, but yay. I think that I've mentioned this before, too, but I've been recognizing words that I've recently learned, and when that happens on the practice tests it's really exciting for me because (for the most part) I can figure out what the correct answer is easier.
So, I've been finding a few mistakes in my GRE books. There were a few in both the Barron's GRE prep book in the quantitative review section and in Essential Words for the GRE. I think that I found one in the Princeton Cracking the GRE book, too.
Now I'm HUNGRY.
I stil haven't finished the Percent practice exercises in the Barron's book. I just kind of decided to move on from there. I'll get back to it...hopefully. Here's how I've done in other sections:
Ratios and Proportions Practice Exercises - 23/25
Averages Practice Exercises - 16/20
Polynomials Practice Exercises - 7/15 (eeeeww...)
Equations/Inequalities Practice Exercises - 16/20
I stopped at Word Problems for now.
Since my last update I've taken two addition practice tests: the GR90-16 and the GR91-17. I'll start with the former first:
On the GR90-16 I got a 660 on verbal and a 680 on quantitative! Together, that's a 1340, an 80-point improvement on the GR86-2! Woo! Remember that on the GR86-2 I got a 610 on verbal (so then, I improved 50 points) and a 650 on quantitative (that's plus 30 points). I took this test sitting at a small living room table and timed myself. It was nice to sit in a chair instead of my usual study spot: the bed. Here's a section breakdown:
Verbal Ability, Section 1: 31/38 (questions I got wrong: 7, 13, 18, 27, 30, 35, and 36)
Quantitative Ability, Section 2: 25/30 (questions I got wrong: 12, 14, 15, 18, and 25)
Quantitative Ability, Section 3: 26/30 (questions I got wrong: 15, 25, 26, and 28)
Verbal Ability, Section 4: 31/38 (questions I got wrong: 5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 34, and 36 [23-26...that was a rough reading comprehension!])
On the GR91-17 I got a 1380! That is a 40-point improvement on the GR90-16. On this one I got a 650 on verbal and a 730 on quantitative (whoa!). So, that is a 10-point drop for verbal (but that is still relatively consistent) and an improvement of 50 points on quantitative. This one I took on my bed like I did for the first one, but it was earlier in the day (afternoon) and I hadn't had very much to eat or drink yet. Go me. Here's a section breakdown:
Quantitative Ability, Section 1: 27/30 (questions I got wrong: 12, 29, and 30)
Verbal Ability, Section 2: 29/38 (questions I got wrong: 3, 5, 10, 14, 16, 22, 34, 35 and 38)
Quantitative Ability, Section 3: 25/30 (questions I got wrong: 9, 13, 17, 23, and 30)
Verbal Ability, Section 4: 31/38 (questions I got wrong: 21, 22, 23, 24, 34, 35, and 37 [21-24...again with the reading comprehension!])
On the quantitative sections I've been pacing myself almost perfectly, but I know that I will have a lot more time for less questions when I do the CBT, so I'm okay with that. On verbal I'm averaging 8 to 11 extra minutes, so I know that I need to slow down a little. Not to mention, on the CBT there won't be especially long reading comprehension, so I have time to really concentrate on it and read slower to get more information out of the readings. On the practice tests, the long reading comprehension seems to a place where I get the most questions wrong in the verbal sections.
I finished all of the word lists (800 words, 10 words per list... 80 word lists) and the little quizzes that follow each of them in Barron's Essential Words for the GRE. For that I'm proud of myself. I started on the root word lists and it's really interesting. I know that I have to go back and spend time studying the Master Word List, but yay. I think that I've mentioned this before, too, but I've been recognizing words that I've recently learned, and when that happens on the practice tests it's really exciting for me because (for the most part) I can figure out what the correct answer is easier.
So, I've been finding a few mistakes in my GRE books. There were a few in both the Barron's GRE prep book in the quantitative review section and in Essential Words for the GRE. I think that I found one in the Princeton Cracking the GRE book, too.
Now I'm HUNGRY.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Funny Conversation Regarding the GRE on Meebo.com
me: but im going back a little earlier because i ahve to take the gre on the 11
friend: yeeesh
friend: how do you feel about that?
friend: like, confidence wise
me: like...
me: fml
me: lol
friend: haha
me: if i have to take them again then im going to take them again
me: it was really short notice i just feel like i should take them because i want to be a graduate assistant next year
friend: oh yeah that would be good unfortunately you have to go through hell
friend: but fml is decent progress
friend: i would have killed myself personally
friend: lol
me: lol
me: this is crazy i know but i have a blog about it
me: http://katrinahasamonthtostudyforthegre.blogspot.com/
friend: haha
friend: awesome link
me: i bought 4 books and a friend gave me four more and ive been studying like a freak lol
me: thanks lol
friend: cant trust books. the printed words are LIES!
me: lol my vocab has improved a lot but i freaking HATE math
friend: i wouldnt expect you to love the devil
me: LOL
me: that is seriously hilarious
me: i'm putting that on my blog LOL
friend: yeeesh
friend: how do you feel about that?
friend: like, confidence wise
me: like...
me: fml
me: lol
friend: haha
me: if i have to take them again then im going to take them again
me: it was really short notice i just feel like i should take them because i want to be a graduate assistant next year
friend: oh yeah that would be good unfortunately you have to go through hell
friend: but fml is decent progress
friend: i would have killed myself personally
friend: lol
me: lol
me: this is crazy i know but i have a blog about it
me: http://
friend: haha
friend: awesome link
me: i bought 4 books and a friend gave me four more and ive been studying like a freak lol
me: thanks lol
friend: cant trust books. the printed words are LIES!
me: lol my vocab has improved a lot but i freaking HATE math
friend: i wouldnt expect you to love the devil
me: LOL
me: that is seriously hilarious
me: i'm putting that on my blog LOL
Happy New Year!
Remember when I said that I was going to write while I was in North Carolina? Haha...didn't happy obviously! I was having too much fun with family. I did study though! I've been doing a lot of studying. The pile of GRE books at my feet really is incredible. I just carried it and my laptop downstairs and that has proven to be an arduous and onerous task indeed.
Dare I write New Year's resolutions?
"I'm going to study for the GRE more."
Okay!
Here's what I accomplished since I last wrote:
Completed the Princeton Review's Word Smart for the GRE 2nd Edition, one of the books that my friend had given me. She had done up to Quick Quiz 21, leaving 22 to 65 to be done. Finished the book in a couple of days. It was a long car ride, after all. The only things that I did not pay much attention to were the Final Exam Drills where the testee would have to make a sentence. This kind of exercise is supposed to help with analogies, but I didn't have much patience for them, I think because it wasn't going fast enough. I just might go back and do them.
Been working in Barron's Essential Words for the GRE, the very first GRE prep book I got (during the summer...barely worked on it) and I should be done by tomorrow. I've realized that through studying by vocabulary has definitely gone up and I recognize words that I recently learned. So, that's good!
Been working on the Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE 2010 Edition and I started on the Hit Parade, like I wrote about in a previous post, but I'm going to hold off for a little bit and do them all at once.
Stared at the Kaplan prep book, opened it for a few seconds, and decided not to use it yet.
Started working on the math sections in the Barron's book and realized that I hate math. I got a 12/15 on the General Math Strategies Practice Exercises and a 5/15 on the discrete quantitative practices exercises (YEAH...I know. Gross). So, respectively, those are Chapter 10 and 11. Chapter 12 is on quantitative comparison questions and I got a 12/15 on the practice exercises for it. Chapter 13 is about data interpretation questions and I got an 6/15 on it (gross as well...I need to work on these more).
Chapter 14 is "Mathematics Review" and I actually really like this chapter because it has these awesome things that they call "Key Facts", of which I've taken the liberty of starting to write them down. It would probably be easier to type them all up, but I like having them all on a few sheets of paper that I can study from instead of on a laptop. (Sure, I could print it. Leave me alone, I want to write them.) Here's how I've done on the practice exercises on specific subjects within the chapter:
Basic Arithmetic: 17/25
Fractions and Decimals: 22/25
Percents: unfinished.
The practice exercises on percents is unfinished as of right now because I sort of got frustrated in doing it and stopped.
So that's what I've done in addition to celebrating New Year's Eve, New Years, having family dinners, and generally having a good time.
I just realized that the CD-ROM that came with the book is missing...I'm wondering if my boyfriend has it.
This is exciting: I did an entire paper GRE practice test! I timed myself and everything...aren't you proud? It was General Test GR86-2 in ETS's Practicing to Take the GRE General Test 10th Edition. That means that I still haven't been able to do much practice on writing, but here are my scores for it:
Verbal Ability,Section 1: 30/38 (questions I got wrong: 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 22, 24, and 35)
Verbal Ability,Section 3: 28/38 (questions I got wrong: 6, 7, 13, 21, 27, 33, 34, 36, 37, and 38)
Quantitative Ability, Section 2: 23/30 (questions I got wrong: 9, 11, 13, 20, 26, 29, and 30)
Quantitative Ability, Section 4: 24/30 (questions I got wrong: 11, 15, 18, 24, 25, and 30)
That means that I got a 610 on Verbal and 650 on Quantitative! That's a 1260, a significant improvement on the scores that I got on the Diagnostic Test that was in the Barron's book! Whoopee, this whole studying thing is working!
In consideration of the fact that I took the test in the comfort of my own room and know that I should get used to testing in any environment (so that what is happening around me affects me less), I'm going to test myself in various places. I'm considering asking friends if I could go to their houses so that I can take a practice test. You might think that I'm kidding...but I'm not.
In other news (that doesn't have to do with the GRE and what I feel like talking about because this is my blog...), the pipes are frozen and I can't go take a shower. I could go study more...but I don't want to right now!
Dare I write New Year's resolutions?
"I'm going to study for the GRE more."
Okay!
Here's what I accomplished since I last wrote:
Completed the Princeton Review's Word Smart for the GRE 2nd Edition, one of the books that my friend had given me. She had done up to Quick Quiz 21, leaving 22 to 65 to be done. Finished the book in a couple of days. It was a long car ride, after all. The only things that I did not pay much attention to were the Final Exam Drills where the testee would have to make a sentence. This kind of exercise is supposed to help with analogies, but I didn't have much patience for them, I think because it wasn't going fast enough. I just might go back and do them.
Been working in Barron's Essential Words for the GRE, the very first GRE prep book I got (during the summer...barely worked on it) and I should be done by tomorrow. I've realized that through studying by vocabulary has definitely gone up and I recognize words that I recently learned. So, that's good!
Been working on the Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE 2010 Edition and I started on the Hit Parade, like I wrote about in a previous post, but I'm going to hold off for a little bit and do them all at once.
Stared at the Kaplan prep book, opened it for a few seconds, and decided not to use it yet.
Started working on the math sections in the Barron's book and realized that I hate math. I got a 12/15 on the General Math Strategies Practice Exercises and a 5/15 on the discrete quantitative practices exercises (YEAH...I know. Gross). So, respectively, those are Chapter 10 and 11. Chapter 12 is on quantitative comparison questions and I got a 12/15 on the practice exercises for it. Chapter 13 is about data interpretation questions and I got an 6/15 on it (gross as well...I need to work on these more).
Chapter 14 is "Mathematics Review" and I actually really like this chapter because it has these awesome things that they call "Key Facts", of which I've taken the liberty of starting to write them down. It would probably be easier to type them all up, but I like having them all on a few sheets of paper that I can study from instead of on a laptop. (Sure, I could print it. Leave me alone, I want to write them.) Here's how I've done on the practice exercises on specific subjects within the chapter:
Basic Arithmetic: 17/25
Fractions and Decimals: 22/25
Percents: unfinished.
The practice exercises on percents is unfinished as of right now because I sort of got frustrated in doing it and stopped.
So that's what I've done in addition to celebrating New Year's Eve, New Years, having family dinners, and generally having a good time.
I just realized that the CD-ROM that came with the book is missing...I'm wondering if my boyfriend has it.
This is exciting: I did an entire paper GRE practice test! I timed myself and everything...aren't you proud? It was General Test GR86-2 in ETS's Practicing to Take the GRE General Test 10th Edition. That means that I still haven't been able to do much practice on writing, but here are my scores for it:
Verbal Ability,Section 1: 30/38 (questions I got wrong: 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 22, 24, and 35)
Verbal Ability,Section 3: 28/38 (questions I got wrong: 6, 7, 13, 21, 27, 33, 34, 36, 37, and 38)
Quantitative Ability, Section 2: 23/30 (questions I got wrong: 9, 11, 13, 20, 26, 29, and 30)
Quantitative Ability, Section 4: 24/30 (questions I got wrong: 11, 15, 18, 24, 25, and 30)
That means that I got a 610 on Verbal and 650 on Quantitative! That's a 1260, a significant improvement on the scores that I got on the Diagnostic Test that was in the Barron's book! Whoopee, this whole studying thing is working!
In consideration of the fact that I took the test in the comfort of my own room and know that I should get used to testing in any environment (so that what is happening around me affects me less), I'm going to test myself in various places. I'm considering asking friends if I could go to their houses so that I can take a practice test. You might think that I'm kidding...but I'm not.
In other news (that doesn't have to do with the GRE and what I feel like talking about because this is my blog...), the pipes are frozen and I can't go take a shower. I could go study more...but I don't want to right now!
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