jk101 Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Whew~....finally done with my GREs... :) I've been lurking around the forums for a bit...mostly reading up testimonials in this section...just thought i'd share my own GRE experience...The flow is rather fragmented (I just got back from the center a few minute ago, so my brain’s a little dead)….Story begins the night before the exam…. For some reason a heatwave struck the city i live in the day before the exam, so i woke up countless times in the night to drink water....woke up early (8:00am) with the exam at 1:00pm feeling a little ill...decided to drop by the place early so i left for the test center at 11am...got there....had lunch at a place close by while unwinding , completely oblivious to the drama that was soon to unfold. Went up to the center at 12:00. Started identification procedures only to find that none of the ID i had brought me (Driver's license, National ID card etc.) could be used! (partly my fault for not reading the id section on the ets site more carefully). Called the person who dropped me off and said "Come here now. No time for questions.". Time 12:15, house 13 minutes away (on average), necessary ID in an unknown location. Wasn't panicking though, was already planning a re-take. Car arrives 12:31. Reach home 12:43 (breaking a few lights in the process). Find ID in 30 seconds (literally ransacked my home…tossing everything on the shelves on the floor). Long jam on the way to the center. Get out of car and run. Reach center 12:56...center is on the 15th floor…painstakingly slow ride up the lift, with people getting off at their floors like snails…reach center right on the dot 12:59…. Started ID procedures. Thankfully enough nothing else went wrong. Went in and started the test. First up were the essays, both went well. Rushed out for my 10 minute break. Went to the bathroom first, reentered the center and took my “supplies” (scones and water) from my locker. Stuffed my face (was really hungry) before rentering for the general rest. Started the general test a bizarre quant section with the weirdest questions, depression levels rising. Reach the final question to find that it’s a”type in data” type question (which as far as I know indicates an experimental section). Feeling better, but fatigue from the running beginning to kick in. Next section was the verbal, which was surprisingly easy. I suspect I made a careless mistake early on and didn’t get to the really hard verbal questions. Finished the section with time to spare (a mistake on my part…shouldn’t have rushed). Left the clock running at the final question while resting a little. As predicted another quant section comes up….this one makes a lot more sense and is actually not too hard…end the section right on time….only got stuck early on one question…the answer to which hit me right after I left the center (believe it or not I forgot the “divide by half” in the triangle area formula….somebody shoot me….)…Hesitated for just a moment before clicking accept scores. Click the button with my eyes closed. Peek out and catch the 7/7 digits bit. Open eyes fully. Scores were as stated in this post title 730 verbal 760 quant. Pretty okay with the quant score, expected to do a little better on verbal though so a little disappointed there, but apart from that felt pretty okay with the scores. Now for the subject test! Sitting for that next Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldust Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Congrats jk101! This is an excellent score. Moreover, your experience should serve as a warning to other test-takers to read the ID requirements carefully. Am I right in guessing that you needed your passport? Best of luck for the subject GRE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 Hahaha~ thanks Goldust! Believe it or not, they wanted my student ID! A cheap looking thing made from plastic with a faint scribble at the back was apparently considered to be better identification then anything else i had (the irony did not escape me whilst we were darting through traffic). :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldust Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Well, that's new. I always thought Driver IDs and passports were better than student IDs. My center did not even bother with the student ID. But I guess the procedures are different in different countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 True...I guess what was important was to have a signature on the card...the driver's ID in my country doesn't have that, which was why I guess it wasn't considered acceptable. Lucky enough student IDs were accepted, since my passport has long expired. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 btw...your GRE scores are far more impressive Goldust. ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashu22 Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Congrats Great Score :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vasoolraja Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 JK101: That's an incredible score - congrats!!! Your experience was thrilling and you had me on the edge of the seat - you have narrated your experience in a manner that you see in a thrilling novel!! Again, congratulations!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 Ashu22 : Thanks! Best of luck in your own sitting~ Vasoolraja : Hahaha~ Thanks for the kind words! I wouldn't call it incredible though, not compared to the stellar scorers on this site...congrads on your score btw!....hehe...it's definitely going to be a story i'll be telling for quite some time...my friend's convinced that it's a miracle....i'm not quite as convinced that it is, but it was defintely an exceptionally surreal experience... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vasoolraja Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 JK101: Thanks for your message. Hey I haven't taken my GRE yet. I took it 5 years ago and the scores expired. I had very poor scores then - 510V and 540Q. By the way, may I know how many multiplication tables you know byheart? I know upto 12. Do I need to learn till the 20th multiplication table to tackle GRE quants with greater efficiency? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 Vasoolraja : Whoops, my bad. Was browsing through your posts and mistook one of the threads you posted on for being your scores. :\ . Best of luck then for your retake! Hmmm~ well my mental arithmetic is pretty quick so i could probably do multiplication in my head pretty fast. Though personally i would say that the quants section (at least the one i sat for) doesn't typically call for long multiplication. I suspect that knowing up to the 12th by heart will more then suffice. I would have focused more on question types that call for unusual application of mathematical principles. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted October 31, 2008 Author Share Posted October 31, 2008 Some basic advice from my experience (mostly relevant to test takers from Malaysia). :) 1) Call the center up to check if you need to bring anything. 2) Bring snacks (you probably will get hungry during the break) 3) The test center in Malaysia is not very cold so don't dress up to warm (i didn't fortunately) 4) The test center doesn't have ear plugs, but they have headphone mufflers instead. The mufflers do drown out sound, but they also retain heat. So if you want to wear them, they get really hot and uncomfortable after a while. Also, they didn't fit very well (though that fact might vary based on your head shape) ;) 5) The staff are pretty nice so don't worry about difficulties in regards to that. 6) There's a food place nearby (mamak), but the food sucks. 7) There's water at the center, so you don't have to bring a giant water tumbler (I did. :P ) 8) Stay calm (i didn't have problems there) and don't get overconfident (I had problems there...in my verbal section) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk101 Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 AWA scores just came in today. Didn't manage to do quite as well as i had hoped which is a bit of a bummer since i'm aiming to apply to borderline "humanities" programs (cog psych/science/neuroscience). =\ Targeted a 5.0 (? percentile) and ended up with a 4.5 (58th per). Am currently wondering if the score would hurt my chances at the top schools i hope to apply to. Guess i'll have to work extra hard on my SOPs. :) In regards to my writing experience during the test, i felt that the AWA section went pretty well. Admittedly i was a little ruffled after the credentials fiasco (see first post), but i didn't feel (and still don't) as though that experience affected me enough to mess up my writing. In hindsight i took the writing section too lightly, since i do a lot of writing in my course and have a good track record in that aspect of academic work. So i only wrote 3-4 practice essays before the real thing. Am hoping the subject test results (which are due anytime now!) come in with better news. Right now i'm hoping that my course GPA (3.84) ,the academic and research awards i've won and the fact that i'll soon be presenting and publishing some papers internationally will boost my application bid (damned right i'm blowing a trumpet, i'm demoralized as it is!):) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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