The GRE’s. The Graduate Record Examinations. Whatever you wish to call them, they are an exam that invokes a tremendous amount of stress to many students. By someone who just took them a month ago, that sentiment is TRUE. Apart from stressful, they were time consuming and made me want to eat my weight in Ben and Jerry’s. Over the course of studying, I had very colorful thoughts and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Here are 11 thoughts you may have studying for the GRE’s.
“Wait, how much is this exam?”
Like it or not, the GRE general subject test is about $200. With the same $200, you could have bought a plane ticket to Florida, but instead you’re crying a little inside.
“This is going to be so easy.”
Going into a cycle of preparing for the exam, you’ve heard from others that the GRE’s are basically the college level version of the SAT’s. You did fine on those, so now is going to be no problem, right?
“Abort abort this is not easy”
Starting to look at the Kaplan Prep book you bought, you slowly realize that this 4 hour exam is not going to be a walk in the park. You go from overly confident student to one crying inside very quickly.
“Why do I have to know this?”
Especially for the math section, there’s going to be things you’ll need to know how to do. God forbid that you’d be tested on something relevant, but at least you know how to find the area of a trapezoid.
“I don’t even remember learning this in the first place.”
While a prep book may refer to its math section as being a refresher, you may have other opinions. Yes, I remember a2 + b2= c2, but PLEASE tell me where I learned nCk= (n!)/[k!(n-k)!].
“When am I going to use these vocab words?”
The reading section tests your grasp of definitions for overly fancy words. While studying word lists may helpful, pretty much nowhere in the future will you need to say “jingoistic” instead of “patriotic”. You just won’t.
“I’m so done. I just can’t even”
At one time or another, you may hit your point where you’re just so done with preparing and studying and never want to need to look at another data graph again in your life. While it won’t be good to enter the exam with this mindset, it’s okay if you do while studying. Take a breather and come back later.
*crying noises*
About a week leading up to when I took them, I may or may not have had a bit of a mental breakdown and cried in my room, thinking I was going to do so incredibly poorly. It’s OK to feel like this. Cry it out, have a glass of wine, slap yourself back to reality, and finish what you got to do to do well on the exam.
“Okay, I can do this.”
Driving to the exam the day you take it, a little pep talk might not hurt. Research shows if you act confident, you will perform better on the intended task. Put on your big girl pants, stand tall, and act like you have it all together.
“That. Was. AWFUL.”
Okay, so maybe the exam didn’t go so well for you. Or maybe your scores are okay, but the exam was still awful. For me, I know the latter is true. Like it or not, the GRE’s are something most of us need to suffer through, so at least now they’re done and over with. Whether you cry or not, that’s up to you.
“That wasn’t so bad.”
Leaving the testing room, especially if you did very well, may possibly be the best feeling in the world. You did your time preparing and studying, you dropped $200 on registering, and now you don’t need to think about the term Graduate Record Examination again. The sky opens up, angels are singing, and all is well again.