GRE

With the start of the new year, I have started to get serious about applying for graduate school.  One of the items on my to-do list was to take the GRE, a standardized entrance exam for most schools. 

I knew I needed to place above the 50th percentile to be considered for admission by most schools, which I was hoping wouldn't be a problem.  Since the GRE is standardized I kept telling myself something along the lines of, "You can't really study for a test like this." I realize that isn't the best attitude to have, but I also wasn't going to spend months getting ready.  My friend, Joseph, took it last year and gave me his test prep book.  I looked through a few sections and felt good to go.

So the day of the test I was getting a little nervous, but nothing too serious.  When I arrived at the testing center I had to fill out some forms, and then I was caught off guard at the bottom of the page.  They provided a space for me to copy a paragraph saying I was who I said I was and I wouldn't cheat.  The catch: the paragraph had to be written in cursive.  Cursive?  I haven't written in cursive since the 4th grade.  Literally.  My cursive literally reflects the intelligence level of a 4th grader.  It took me about 25 minutes to finish the  paragraph.  While my hand was cramping up, four other test takers came and finished their forms before I completed my paragraph.  Without a doubt it was the hardest part of the test, and it wasn't really even part of the test. 

Luckily the rest was easier.  After three hours I got my scores.  80th percentile for verbal reasoning and 70th percentile for quantitative reasoning.  Not the highest scores, but well above what I needed.  Now starts the process of filling out applications!