When you sign up to take a GRE, ETS will mail you a Practice Book for the test that you signed up for. For example, when I signed up for the General GRE, I received a General GRE Practice test. Because I recently signed up to take the Psychology GRE, they sent me a Psychology Test Practice Book.
This 60-page or so practice test has made me love ETS a little bit more than I previously did. And that's not really based off the score that I ended up taking. It's the fact that it was a real GRE, one that they have retired but still contains the same type of questions. It has begun to get me interested in studying more thoroughly for the Psychology GRE already, which is a nice change from that Barron's test I took and blogged about in a previous post.
If I haven't mentioned this before, I'll mention it now: ETS has sole publishing rights to GREs and GRE questions, so other test preparation companies such as Barron's, Kaplan, and Princeton Review can only make up their own questions that are similar to ETS questions. So, I encourage people to buy the ETS materials to begin their preparation so that they can really see what a GRE is like.
One downside to taking a paper practice test is that it isn't what I'm going to be taking. In other words, I'm going to be taking a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT), which is different enough to matter.
What I liked about the practice test is that it told me what I would have gotten on it had it actually have counted in real life, something which the Barron's test didn't offer.
On the test, Form GR0781, which had copyright for 2007 and 2003 and 205 multiple-choice questions, I received these scores:
Total Score: 115
Scaled Score: 610
Subscores: 1.) 59 and 2.) 61
This is the note that I wrote right after I finished the test so that I wouldn't forget how the practice test went: "It took me 2 hours, including a phone interruption, hunger, not being fully awake, and eating breakfast. Took the test on the floor."
I was allotted 170 minutes to take it, which is 2 hours and 50 minutes. I finished with plenty of time. If I slowed down a little bit I might have done a little better, but I felt as though I was working at a comfortable pace. Another thing was that I started it right when I woke up, and let me tell you: I am not a morning person. Don't worry - I signed up to take the test in the afternoon!
So I'm starting off with a 610. I'd say that's a pretty solid number to start off. It's an average score. People actually get into doctoral programs with that score. In consideration that there were a lot of things on the test that I recognized but I just couldn't completely recall it then, I think with a little more time, studying, and practice I will be just fine. I'm aiming for a 720.
I can do this.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Anger and Utter Digust
SO I just finished and taking the STUPID Diagnostic Test 1 in Barron's "How To Prepare for the GRE: Psychology" book. It's such utter nonsense that it makes me furious. There is no way that I would do as bad on the REAL AND WHAT COUNTS Psych GRE as the score I ended up getting on this load-of-garbage Diagnostic Test.
While I won't go into details on how the test ending up breaking down (which, by the way Barron's, that dumb-ax grading grid is a *choice word (in adjective form)* piece of (mhmm) and you should *choice word* change it for the love of Piper), I ended up getting 93/200 WRONG.
Now, I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I graduated Summa Cum Laude from my undergraduate Alma Mater, not to mention that I received a 3.97 GPA within my major, which was General Psychology.
I can't wait to get my hands on a REAL, ETS-APPROVED PRACTICE PSYCH GRE to show Barron's that they very much overdid it and thus should apologize to any person who ever cracked it open. It makes me wonder if they did it on purpose so that whoever takes it feels so struck down that he or she crawls back and buries his or her self wholeheartedly into the Barron's book, all the while shedding bitter tears of failure and brokenness. NO, I didn't CRY. Geez. I'm just Ten-Out-of-Ten-A-Plus-Ticked-Off.
Yes, those of you who may have read my former posts may well know that, yes, I did thoroughly enjoy the Barron's book for the General GRE. I thought that it was stellar. And, yes, I will end up reading through the information that the Psych book has to offer because A.) It's all I have at the moment, B.) I want to compare it to other (probably BETTER) prep books, and C.) just because the tests bite it hard doesn't mean that the real information won't assist me.
To those who put together the Barron's Psychology GRE prep book: a big, European backwards "peace" sign to you. Strong enough?
While I won't go into details on how the test ending up breaking down (which, by the way Barron's, that dumb-ax grading grid is a *choice word (in adjective form)* piece of (mhmm) and you should *choice word* change it for the love of Piper), I ended up getting 93/200 WRONG.
Now, I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I graduated Summa Cum Laude from my undergraduate Alma Mater, not to mention that I received a 3.97 GPA within my major, which was General Psychology.
I can't wait to get my hands on a REAL, ETS-APPROVED PRACTICE PSYCH GRE to show Barron's that they very much overdid it and thus should apologize to any person who ever cracked it open. It makes me wonder if they did it on purpose so that whoever takes it feels so struck down that he or she crawls back and buries his or her self wholeheartedly into the Barron's book, all the while shedding bitter tears of failure and brokenness. NO, I didn't CRY. Geez. I'm just Ten-Out-of-Ten-A-Plus-Ticked-Off.
Yes, those of you who may have read my former posts may well know that, yes, I did thoroughly enjoy the Barron's book for the General GRE. I thought that it was stellar. And, yes, I will end up reading through the information that the Psych book has to offer because A.) It's all I have at the moment, B.) I want to compare it to other (probably BETTER) prep books, and C.) just because the tests bite it hard doesn't mean that the real information won't assist me.
To those who put together the Barron's Psychology GRE prep book: a big, European backwards "peace" sign to you. Strong enough?
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
I'm Officially a GRE Tutor
This past Sunday I started tutoring someone else for the GRE! How exciting is that?! The person that I am tutoring is a teacher in New York City who is looking for a career change.
She's funny... she asked me for a week's worth of tutoring session because she was hoping to take the test at the end of the month. Problems with that: she hasn't registered for a testing appointment yet and in New York City the slots fill up fast; she hasn't been in school for a number of years, which doesn't mean that she won't do well, but does mean that a lot more time has passed to allow for a lot of knowledge to be stored a little too far back in the brain; she needs to spend more than the 3 hours I meet with her on days that I tutor her to study for this nutty test. Good things though: she is excited to learn, she is capable of acknowledging her strengths and weaknesses, and she has materials. All of these things add up to a big plus in my book. That materials part is important, too... GRE prep material is expensive.
Paired with this, I have started studying, too. I know that in a relatively recent post I've spoken about my need to study for the Psychology GRE. I've finally forced myself to begin a diagnostic test... thank you Barron's. Haven't finished it yet because I got distracted (I know, I know... I should do it in one timed sitting I'm sorry...) because I had to eat something.
Under no circumstances should studying take away those precious times of day when you nourish yourself, mk?
Going back to the Psych GRE... it seems as though what I learned in my Psychology courses at my alma mater did not cover everything that is one the Psych GRE. Whoop-dee-doo... *sigh*
On that note, I'm going to go finish that diagnostic test. I'm halfway there. You can already let the music (or should I say the funeral dirge?) play. I'll be back soon :)
She's funny... she asked me for a week's worth of tutoring session because she was hoping to take the test at the end of the month. Problems with that: she hasn't registered for a testing appointment yet and in New York City the slots fill up fast; she hasn't been in school for a number of years, which doesn't mean that she won't do well, but does mean that a lot more time has passed to allow for a lot of knowledge to be stored a little too far back in the brain; she needs to spend more than the 3 hours I meet with her on days that I tutor her to study for this nutty test. Good things though: she is excited to learn, she is capable of acknowledging her strengths and weaknesses, and she has materials. All of these things add up to a big plus in my book. That materials part is important, too... GRE prep material is expensive.
Paired with this, I have started studying, too. I know that in a relatively recent post I've spoken about my need to study for the Psychology GRE. I've finally forced myself to begin a diagnostic test... thank you Barron's. Haven't finished it yet because I got distracted (I know, I know... I should do it in one timed sitting I'm sorry...) because I had to eat something.
Under no circumstances should studying take away those precious times of day when you nourish yourself, mk?
Going back to the Psych GRE... it seems as though what I learned in my Psychology courses at my alma mater did not cover everything that is one the Psych GRE. Whoop-dee-doo... *sigh*
On that note, I'm going to go finish that diagnostic test. I'm halfway there. You can already let the music (or should I say the funeral dirge?) play. I'll be back soon :)
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