Test time

So first thing tomorrow morning I am taking the GRE.

I began studying for this mid-June (off and on). At first I was incredibly intimidated by the math section (for starters I forgot that negetive numbers even exsisted), but after doing some review most of it came back to me. My biggest problem now is probably that I'm still a little on the slow side when it comes to solving problems, but other than that I think I've got the math section as good as I need it. The verbal section worries me for only 1 reason... VOCAB. If it was all reading comprehension, I'd be fine. I understand what I read. No problems there. But i do not use GRe level vocabulary and honestly I really didnt feel like learning it for this test. I did anyway, at least I made an effort to familiarize myself with some of the words. I got a study book from the library that had 2 lists of vocab words: 1- the 50 words most frequently used, and 2- the 3,000 words most frequently used. Anyone else see a problem with that?? 3,000 words!!! How in the hell am I supposed to learn all those? So just seeing that discouraged me, and I stuck with the 50 word list. Hopefully I made the right decision.

It's not that I'm stupid and cant understand big words... it's just that I prefer a language that is more accessible. I dont see any reason for using 13 letter words just to make myself sound more educated, I'm typically more concerned with getting my point across. This is something I feel strongly about, and that is why I know the GRE vocabulary is going to ruin my overall score. And the worst thing about is that next year they are reformatting the GRE so that there is heavier emphasis on reading and less on vocab. Just my luck.

As for the writing part... I'm not worried. I dont think those scores are really going to affect final decisions too much. I'm just hoping that I dont get a prompt I know nothing about. But that will probably happen. Oh well. I guess I just have to wait until tomorrow and see how it goes.

ps- overall i have enjoyed studying for the GREs (but that's just because I'm a nerd who likes school)

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