Well its not as impressive as the Rev and his Doctoral exams (which I will also one day hope to post about) but SKing29 is taking the GRE Exam (and SKing29 likes to refer to himself in the third person). You are probably asking yourself why is SKing29 making this thread? Is it for attention? Is it for sympathy? Well the answer to those questions and any others similar is simply no. The reason is that I am using this as a platform to gather advice and to mention that I am sort of proud of myself for making it this far in my academic career (plus sharing it with my Phins brethren isn't that bad either). I've been preparing for graduate school for sometime now and with a busy schedule of 21hr Semester loads and 20hr work weeks I have sort of let the GRE slide right under my nose until my adviser pointed it out to me (I know great start ). Either way I am excited about taking the test although most of my History professors say that my letter of intent to my desired programs means more than the GRE and that I like. I'm rather excited about this and hopefully some of you guys that have traveled this road before can give me some tips or horror stories as I would love to hear them. Oh and by the way $140 for a test is a ripoff. Sorry I forgot I take the test this Saturday. Yes I am that stupid.
I took it about 8 months ago. I did poorly on the math part, which is what I expected since I hadn't had any of the math the exam covered since high school. I did fairly well on the other part. I'm not really sure what the best way to prepare for it is. I just bought a book, read over it, and did the practice tests that came with it. If you do anything I'd say do as many practice exams as you can so you familiarize yourself with the content and the format. I'm sure you'll do fine. The hard part for me came when I started grad school. It was a rude awakening once I started taking classes. The workload is vastly increased. And the material was so much different from my undergrad stuff, both style and substance. It's been a very difficult transition for me. But all of my professors told me its normal to feel like everything is way over your head. I've held up for the time being. But all in all I have 45 pages worth of writing to do for finals in a few weeks. I didn't mean to scare you with that. I just wanted to give you an idea of what it might be like. Hopefully the transition is easier for you. If you didn't take two years off between undergrad and grad like I did it should be. Good luck.
lol, I hate people like you who dont stress over exams like this. If you're this calm a week out I'm sure you'll do fine. Not sure how much studying you can do for it w/ so little time, but I'd run through some practice tests just to familiarize myself with it. What are you going for your PhD in? Obviously something history related, but what specifically?
I didn't know Celt was taking doctoral exams? Anyway, I took it on the computer and it gave me my score immediately. I did really well on the essay and did okay on the math and reading. I ended up with 1000. My advice, get a GRE practice guide and study it. That's what helped me. Good luck, brother.
You're fortunate in that you're taking the exam while still in school full time. Since the test is so soon, I'd familiarize yourself with the exam set up and practice questions. Since your intent is to study history, your grad school will probably look hard at the reading (verbal) and writing sections. Do review the math as well though. I have studied both English and Leadership at the graduate level, so my writing and verbal reasoning scores were higher than math. If you want to get into a competitive school, do not blow off the math. It will be okay if the score is not as high as the other areas, but still "show up." Good luck!!! GRE Test Practice Questions - Help your GRE Exam Score with free GRE Test Preparation
Yeah my professors have already done a good job of scaring me. Its going to take me to the limit but to tell you the truth I actually stress out over heavy workloads while doing it but I keep coming back for more so I must like it. I am hoping to get my PhD in US religious History and religions influence on US politics (you know laws, etc.) but mostly concentrating on colonial times into the Founding Fathers (or what roles religion played in setting up the US Constitution, etc.). Hopefully that was clear. Sorry Rev I meant to say you...for some reason I get you and Celt mixed up a lot. Yeah when I registered for the test I was told I could use that software and I will starting Wednesday night because I have papers due tomorrow and they are taking up a lot of my time. To everyone I would like to say thanks for the kind words. Plus guys Math for me from all I've heard will have no influence on the grad schools I apply for since I am going into History.
I took it and got the exact same score that I got when I took the SATs. I guess it truley is a standaradized measure. The essays were the easiest for me, but I've always been a writer. Good luck!
Best of luck brother. I took something similar, not sure it was called that, back in 1982. Took me until 1992 to get into Grad School....I waited until I was working at the U of Miami and made them pay for it through tuition remission
Another thing I forgot. Try to get your applications, letters of recommendation, etc. in as early as possible. I had trouble tracking down professors to write letters and it took them a while to get them in, which delayed the processing of my file. And if you want to be a grad assistant make sure you do that before positions are filled.
Thinking about doing this or the LSAT. With the economy the way it is I figure it'd be a good time to go back to school.
