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GRE Chemistry ridiculous questions...


tashkenty

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Hello everyone. It seems like I'm the only one alive in this forum...but anyways, I'll just share my humiliating experience...

 

 

I'm just angry with the ETS for asking 2 ridiculous questions in the recent GRE Chemistry exam. Imagine, they asked 'the wavefunctions of butadiene' and 'the wavefunctions of ground and excited states of the helium atom'. Hello? Do I need to memorize these wavefunctions? Just sitting for 170 minutes without food nor water is agonizing...and the exam itself is totally demoralizing...and here they are asking these ridiculous questions?

 

 

My appeal: ETS examiners should test the basic knowledge of examinees in Chemistry. These types of questions are so difficult to answer given the meager amount of time. They should be more considerate to the examinees...

 

 

Sorry, am just disappointed and frustrated with these questions...

 

 

Just expressing my sentiments,

 

Tashkent

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Roachstein,

 

Hello.

 

The GRE subject exam is a race against time. For Chemistry, it has 136 questions that needs to be accomplished in 170 minutes. Although the wavefunctions of butadiene and helium atom are extensively discussed in Physical Chemistry and Physical Organic Chemistry, I think these questions are very impractical to include in the exam, considering its level of difficulty and the time needed to derive the expressions. Its so damn hard to come up with the equations (you have to set up the matrix first, you have to memorize the necessary formulas, etc..). I believe the ETS examiners are just "ego-tripping" when they included the questions in the exam. From my viewpoint, I think they only want a handful of examinees to pass the exam. I think the examiners should resort to asking "basic Chemistry questions" which can be solved with the alloted time given for the exam.

 

Of course, my argument would be invalid if your mind lis ike that of Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrodinger, Max Planck or Werner Heisenberg (who got his PhD at the age of 25 at the University of Leipzig). Maybe your exceptional mind can derive these equations in a minute. For me, I go back to rote memorization. (Until now, I don't see the relevance of these wavefunctions in our everyday life. I think its full of crap...)

 

Regards.

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  • 2 months later...

Hello.

 

I am planning to try the GRE chemistry for the first time. Should I be feel nervous, excited, or nothing but a paper for me to write on.

 

When will this be held? DO we have this here in the philippines for me to take or do i have to fly to the ETS?

 

ooooohhh... sacred.

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hello.

 

refer to the previous posting, GRE bulletin, or GRE website for details on schedule.

 

In the Philippines, GRE chemistry tests are offered in UP Diliman (Vinzon's Hall), Silliman University Dumaguete, and other areas (e.g., UP Baguio - December only). Pls check the GRE Bulletin for details.

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  • 4 months later...

Hello...

i am quiet... and now i am talking...

 

How can I get in touch for the GRE chem especially knowing the venue of the place (I am from quezon city), the time, the type of test (computer based or paper based)?

 

I tried the prometric email and they do not have the category for GRE:Chem. Only the general GRE.

 

Please help me...

 

danke

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  • 2 weeks later...

Auburnph,

 

You will know the testing site for GRE Chemistry as soon as u register for the exam online. Just choose the testing site that you feel confident to take the exam. In your case, if you come from Quezon City, it will be most practical to take the exam at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Vinzons Hall.

 

Good luck.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I know this thread was made a long time ago, but I am curious, what the hell is the answer? The schrodinger equation can only be solved for the hydrogen and hydrogen like atoms. You can't solve SE for the helium atom, so what is supposed to be the answer?

No it is not true. You miss one thing: "exact solution" for SE for He cannot be found, but you can use a banch of approximations to find the approximate solution. Nothing hinders us from writing the molecular or atomic wf as the linear combintaion of modified H wf found as an exact solutions of SE. Is is a common, textbook-style practice :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

In the long run, it is hard to obtain a 90 percentile unless you know things well.

For the record, my practice tests gets me to 75-82 percentile.

 

It is true that there are approximations for SE for other atoms. You know, start from the basic general equation and omit other expressions.

 

Still, I do not want to multiply and divide decimals. Imagine, PV/RT in a paper. Well, shortcuts are fine but could people think about it?

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  • 3 months later...

Really now ... Are you referencing the exams that were available in test prep guides, the ETS guide and such? I can understand having those exams, however, you aren't allowed to keep a copy of the exam and I don't think that it's possible to request exams from the ETS as well.

 

Besides ... my practice exams really didn't make a difference for me. I scored very well by reviewing my old textbooks from P-Chem, Analytical and Inorganic. Once you've seen one multiple choice Chemistry exam, you have seen them all.

 

Nick

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  • 1 year later...

hello. i am new here. im from quezon city, philippines. hopefully, i would be applying for the GRE next year. i just have a few question. i hope you could help me.

 

1. where and how could i register for the GRE?

2. to be accepted in gradschool,(e.g. master's in economics) what score for the GRE general test should i achieve?

3. other tips for the GRE.

 

:). thank you very much!

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