{"id":21108,"date":"2019-08-23T12:33:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T17:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=21108"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:41:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:41:20","slug":"journey-to-grad-school-preparing-for-the-gre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/gre\/journey-to-grad-school-preparing-for-the-gre\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey to Grad School: Preparing for the GRE"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Sliker<\/h5>
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\nAlthough I was sure I wanted to go to graduate schoo<\/a>l,<\/a> taking another standardized test didn\u2019t at all appeal to me. \u00a0I would have to slay yet another proverbial dragon. In my mind, I saw a giant book full of questions, just like the ones I had filled out three years ago\u00a0while preparing for the SAT. I thought I would never again need to find the function of x, or analyze a vague writing passage. Well, it never hurts to hope.
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Mental Preparation<\/h3>
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\nI was a sophomore when reality set in about the GRE. It\u2019s a long test–somewhere in the five hour range. It contains math, writing, and reading comprehension. There\u2019s no avoiding it; if you\u2019re taking the GRE, it\u2019s time to bust out those high school algebra books,<\/strong> unless you took more algebra-type math through college, in which case you have my sincere admiration and probably know a great deal more about GRE math than I ever will. Sure, not everyone struggles with the math section of the GRE, but everyone struggles with some aspect of the test, so\u00a0I hope that sharing my difficulties will help you feel less alone about yours. <\/span>
\nFirst off, I\u2019m a procrastinator, \u00a0so when I got to college and realized I would have to take a math course, I saved it for my senior year. Unfortunately, that means I haven\u2019t had math class in nearly five years. Words have so much more appeal to me than numbers, so I put off\u00a0learning the equations and formulas I should needed for the GRE. By testing time, the GRE and its math problems scared me so much that I ran into the waiting, outstretched arms of Kaplan. I didn\u2019t intend to\u00a0get a job with Kaplan<\/a> as part of the process; that was an amazing twist of fate. Initially, I was the obsessive last-minute test-prepping junior. However, having now worked for Kaplan for almost a year and knowing a lot more about how to be successful on grad school admissions tests, I can most definitely say I do not recommend being that person. On the upside, I have a lot of recommendations that you should\u00a0take instead.
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Take Advantage of Free Test Prep Resources<\/h3>
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\nWherever you find them. Kaplan has a ton of free online events<\/a> to prep students for the GRE, and when you go register with ETS to take the test, they\u2019ll give you some free resources, too, like practice tests and study guides.
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Remember, the GRE is NOT an Abilities Test<\/h3>
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\nThis is the single most important thing I\u2019ve learned from studying the Kaplan method of GRE prep, and since this is the closest I can get to screaming about it from the rooftops, I\u2019ll explain it. The GRE is NOT a measure of how well you can do algebra, or if you understand the intent of the author of a certain passage, though having those skills is helpful. It tests your ability to \u00a0use logic in determining the answers to different sorts of problems. Let me say that again. This is a logic test, so set aside your fear of polygons and word roots and think about logic puzzles instead.<\/strong> If you want to learn more about Kaplan\u2019s methods, take advantage of free online events and resources<\/a>— they were the top resources I used before getting my job with the company, and they really will change the way you look at the GRE.<\/span>
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Taking the GRE<\/h3>
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\nAs for the test itself, I\u2019ve got to admit, my experience wasn\u2019t much to write home about. My local ETS center was small; the room only had 11 desks. I walked in, put my stuff in a locker, got handed some pencils and scrap paper, and was seated \u00a0in front of a desktop monitor displaying the words \u2018GRE Exam for Test Subject: Laura Sliker\u2019 along with a long string of numbers I assume\u00a0identified me in the ETS system.
\nMy hands shook for a solid minute before I could coax myself to press the start button, and that was it. I spent the next four hours writing, solving, and analyzing everything in front of me to find answers. Then came the part I like so much better than any standardized test\u00a0I’d taken in the past: a big button that said, \u201cReport to retrieve scores.\u201d<\/strong> I couldn\u2019t believe I didn\u2019t even have to wait five minute to\u00a0find out how I did. \u00a0Another deep breath, more shaky hands, and after what seemed like forever, I decided there was no way I’d done badly enough to not want to report.
\nClick.
\nA fresh screen with two numbers, reading and quant. I read off quant, and it was like I expected (like I said, I may never truly understand algebra and I\u2019ve come to embrace that it\u2019s part of who I am). Then I saw the reading score, and it was hard not to cry. Thanks to Kaplan and my own hard work, the number on the screen was higher than I had ever hoped it could be, so close to perfect that I could count the number of questions I must have gotten wrong on one hand.
\nI was asked if I wanted to send my scores to schools, and I dumbfoundedly went down the list of my potential programs, sending off scores one by one. Someone came in to deactivate my computer terminal after that and told me my writing scores would come in in about 2 weeks. I walked out to my car and smiled with relief for the first time in what felt like weeks. I did it, and it was so much easier than I expected. It felt like magic. Then the waiting game began\u2026.
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\nConsidering applying to graduate school? Check out our free\u00a0guide to grad school.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Start Preparing<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

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Although I was sure I wanted to go to graduate school, taking another standardized test didn\u2019t at all appeal to me. \u00a0I would have to slay yet another proverbial dragon. In my mind, I saw a giant book full of questions, just like the ones I had filled out three years ago\u00a0while preparing for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[68],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34828,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108\/revisions\/34828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}