The GRE

So, I finally took the dreaded GRE. I studied for about a month beforehand. Much of the Math was concepts I hadn’t thought about in years and many of the words were so obscure I feared they were made up. After figuring out my strengths and weaknesses, I resolved to study Kaplan’s recommended vocabulary and specific math concepts that I had forgotten. Unfortunately a month wasn’t enough time to learn everything but I am not sure I could have handled studying much more.

I had to fly to Honolulu from Maui since the test is not offered on Maui. Fortunately my friend, Maria Daughtry and her family work on the YWAM base there. Maria and her mom, Olga Durand picked me up in Maria’s station wagon. When I looked in the backseat, I was surprised to find two sleeping little boys, Maria’s son, Kieva and his friend Shawn. Not wanting to wake them, I crawled over Kieva and positioned myself right between the two of them. It was hard not to laugh as I settled in. The funniest part was when Shawn woke up and gave me the strangest look. He had awakened from his nap to find a random lady sitting next to him.

We got back to the YWAM base and Maria and Olga took me to see where I would be taking my test. The good thing about this test being in Honolulu, besides being able to hang out with my friend, Maria, is that University of Hawaii, the testing site, is literally a ten minute walk from the YWAM base. We found the room where the test would be held, which made me feel better. I didn’t want to be running around lost on the day of the test. Then we walked back to the base to hang out. I wanted to get to bed at a reasonable hour but ended up going to sleep close to midnight. My bed for the night was on loan from Maria’s son, Kieva and had some pretty amazing Transformers bedding. I found it pretty amusing that I spent the night before my grad school test warm and cozy in a 4 year-old’s Transformers sheets.

I ended up getting a good nine hours of sleep. When I woke up, I made myself some scrambled eggs since that’s what my mom always made me when I was a kid. She didn’t make it every morning, just the mornings when my brother or I had a standardized test. Other days we fended for ourselves with cereal and toaster strudel. I think I equate eggs with test readiness so I really needed to eat them in order to feel confident that I could do my best.

I walked over to the campus a bit early. My test was scheduled for 12:30 and I was supposed to get there 30 minutes early. I explored the University of Hawaii campus a bit while I waited. It felt a lot different than the University of Texas, where I got my degree. The buildings were not nearly as nice, though there were many interesting and exotic trees. It looked like the entire place had been renovated in the sixties or seventies and then left alone. It could definitely use some updating. The students looked so young to me, which I couldn’t understand until I came to the painful realization that I am 10-11 years older than most of them. Despite all this, it felt really good to be on a college campus. I have always loved school from preschool to elementary school to middle school to high school to college. I have a feeling that if I do end up going to grad school, I will really like that too.

Since I had some time on my hands, I got some lunch from Subway and sat down to watch The Price is Right on a big screen in one of the common areas. When it was time for my test, I went up to the room I’d scouted out the day before. There were two women waiting and no one who seemed to be in charge. One of the women, a large eccentric looking, older lady from Hilo, asked what test I was there for. It turns out she was also there to take the GRE. She started grilling me about how much I had studied. I told her I had studied for about a month. She said she didn’t study at all so it would be a true test of her abilities. Didn’t seem too smart to me. If I am going to spend $160 on a test, you can bet I will try my best to not have to take it more than once.

We were led back into a room one by one. They had us show our I.D. and took our picture. We also had to copy a paragraph that said we wouldn’t tell anyone about the test or they would cut off one of our fingers. Okay, I made that last part up but the paragraph was pretty serious. The directions said to copy the paragraph in our own handwriting but not print. I hadn’t used cursive in years and copying the short paragraph took painfully long since I was out of practice. I also had to sign in and out. Then a nice lady took me into a computer lab with security cameras lining the ceiling. She gave me some ear plugs and wished me good luck.

The test was computerized, which was a bit strange. I think I would have done slightly better if it had been pen and paper. I equate pen and paper with serious. With all the games I play and quizzes I have taken on the computer, it was hard not to just answer quickly without thinking too long. I had to write essays, answer verbal questions and answer math questions. I got my score right away, which was a huge perk for taking it on a computer. I got a 1260 out of 1600. I definitely didn’t ace it but from what I have read, it’s more than enough to get me into grad school. I am glad I no longer have to study for it. Unfortunately there is still work ahead of me as I now have to apply to grad school. Ugh. I sure hope I end up going after all this.