chrisword87

Hi folks! I have a question about my Subject test scores. I took the test on November 12th, and the results are supposed to be online approximately tomorrow (Dec. 23rd); okay so far. The strange thing is, the scores of my General test were supposed to be available around Dec 1st, and instead, I got them on November 11th! Nearly a month earlier, just a pair of weeks later than the exam. So I guessed that it was the same for what concerns the Subject test, and that the scores are usually available before the date that they indicate. Therefore, the fact that my scores of the Subject test aren't available yet kind of worries me. Anyone with a recent experience with a Subject test can tell me something about the scores' timing, if they are published on the indicated date or earlier? Thank you very much, and happy holidays! Chris

Hey guys! Above all, SORRY SORRY SORRY for answering just now, I've been quite busy lately. But anyway, thanks for all your kind feedback, your comments truly made me happy. I heartily hope that this post is going to be useful to other test takers! So, in order: Erin: THANK YOU! I think I owed you a small contribution, considering the huge help this wonderful forum gave me! i.k.u: *blushes* Thanks, really! I love writing, it's one of my greatest passions, therefore I really hoped to do something nice on the TOEFL... I was a bit worried, since I wrote a lot (between 500 and 600 words, something like this), so I kinda kept my fingers crossed for days :) it went well, and it's been such a great satisfaction. Good luck you too! MAndrew: exactly, I totally agree, practice makes it perfect, there is no other way. Personally, I think that each well done and serious book (I used Barron's, but I guess there are plenty of others!) can be helpful, especially if it has model tests on it. They help us to get used to what's coming on the BIG day. rragab: oh yeah! That's what exactly my point, so knowing that I managed to motivate others really makes my day! I'm sure you scored/will score great, mate! reet25: thank you mate, and huge congrats you too!!!:) anhqui: you are very welcome. Speaking and Listening are actually the most feared sections for a lot of test takers, so don't panic and don't feel alone. Beside the "official" practice (model tests, etc.), which IS essential, I can suggest you to hear as many music (in English, obviously!) and watch the original version of movies and TV shows, choose something you like so it won't be boring. It doesn't do miracles, but it surely helps. Also, when you're under the shower, or cleaning your room, or doing whatever that doesn't require the 100% of your *thinking*, try to speak about everything that comes to your mind (yes, you can even try to tell the story of the last movie you saw at theater!). It is a funny and simple way to wisely use your time! zooba: hey, don't worry: it's just a matter of practicing, practicing, practicing. The reading section is the easiest one, which it doesn't mean that scoring low means you're stupid; even the most clever person can lose a bit of concentration, and the reading passages aren't exactly easy and enjoyable. Just think that you can do it, and don't give up! I wish you all guys the happiest holidays, a very Merry Christmas and a joyful new year! Chris

Okay, just kidding, didn't mean to scare anyone with the title! Anyway, finally it's over, I can't actually believe it. I found the whole preparation quite stressing to tell the truth, but on the other hand it has been very helpful since I gained a precious amount of experience that hopefully will be useful in the future. My separate scores are: Reading 29 // Listening 28 // Speaking 24 // Writing 30. I know, the Speaking didn't go that well, but it was my greatest worry, honestly I wasn't sure I could reach a 20/30 score. I'm effing satisfied about the Writing, though, I really did care about making it well since writing is one of my greatest passions. Anyway, I am a veeery chaotic person, I'm not here to advise you with the ideal syllabus everybody should follow. I studied in about a month and a half preparing both the GRE (the general went quite well too, still waiting for the results of the Subject) and the TOEFL, so you can imagine how stressful the period has been. What I can do, and what I'm willing to do, nevertheless, is giving you advices about the psychological side of the question (and here's the reason of the title of the thread), how to face your 'biggest TOEFL taboos'. As I said, this whole thing stressed me a lot, but hopefully I can help someone else to face it with more serenity :) For the record, I am Italian. I don't think that it influenced that much the way I faced my preparation, eventually what I'm going to say could be more interesting for people of my nationality or a similar one. But not necessarily! Now, let's start. THE TEST IN GENERAL. Okay guys, a lot of us are university students, or were some time ago. Now try to think about the most difficult and frustrating exam you had to prepare in college and that you successfully passed. (As a graduate biotechnologist, the first things that would come to my mind are biochemistry, or pharmacology, or human pathology). After doing that, simply realize that the TOEFL is softer than that. This DOESN'T mean that it shouldn't be taken seriously, and it surely needs the right amount of time to prepare it - which varies from person to person, it can be a year for somebody, a week for somebody else. What it DOES mean, is that you've faced monsters that are greater than it. You can do it. And even if you're not so sure about it, just try to believe it anyway: a bit of self-esteem can only have beneficial effects. LIKE WHAT YOU DO! Ever seen Mary Poppins? She gives the kids the same advices my mum has given me for all my life: all the hard and annoying stuff, like cleaning our room or doing our homework, are much easier if we try to enjoy it (obviously, we are not aliens: nobody will ever enjoy cleaning at 100%!). Just try to focus on the bright side. My greatest fear, as I mentioned earlier, was the Speaking section. I found it incredibly frustrating to sit and practice, I would have cleaned my room or ironed my shirts a thousand times, rather. But this is not how the obstacles are overcome. So, sit, open a YouTube link with some practice, and do the same question over and over again, until you rock at it. It is true, you only have ONE chance on real TOEFL. But do it over again with another 10, 20 questions, and see how your approach changes. Eventually (sounds crazy, but it's actually true!), seeing that you are starting to succeed, you will also like it. THE DAY(S) BEFORE: DON'T TORTURE YOURSELF! Everybody has a part of the test where he or she is more likely to succeed, the one that gives us more satisfaction during the practice. For me, it was the Reading part, I actually find reading quite relaxing in the midst of all that stress. Now, a lot of people are contrary to the idea of studying the day before a test. I do believe that it isn't the healthiest thing ever, but it isn't the most damaging either. Just do like you always did before, no need to change your habits. Remember? It's just another exam. If you want to practice the day before, leave apart the section that annoys you most. You already learnt all you could learn about it. Instead, focus on what you like. I was tempted to continue with the Speaking exercises until the evening before, but I knew that the agitation would only have had negative effects on my performance, and I would have gone to bed even more nervous and hysterical. Instead, I did plenty of reading practice. It really helped me to face it all with more rationality and equilibrium. Obviously I was tense and OMGIMFREAKINGOUT in the evening, but at the same time I was satisfied with my day. Also, two or three days before, take a break and prepare all you're gonna need, and put it into a bag: the registration ticket, the valid ID, etc (just remember to check the day before if the schedule has changed!). Also, if the exam is going to be hold in a place you're not familiar with, check the street you have to take, which bus, subway line, or where to park if you're going to drive. It will help you to have less worries to face immediately before the exam. READING: A POWERFUL WEAPON, DON'T WASTE IT! Everybody, with the right effort, can succeed in the reading section. The fact that it is easier than the others doesn't mean it must be faced less seriously. On the opposite, focusing enough on it you can dramatically raise your score! I had the longer version (4 parts, 80 minutes), which is quite stressing and, actually, long, but not impossible. Just focus! It's made by human people, not supernatural monsters. And most of the times, the answer is right in the text. LISTENING: UP WITH THE FANNISH SIDE OF US! Watching movies/TV shows in the original language, listening to music trying to focus on the lyrics, are all excellent habits when it comes to this section. Obviously, this is not sufficient, and doesn't replace the practice. But it is without doubt a good starting point. (One thing I personally experienced about watching original stuff with subtitles: even if we're actually reading the subtitles, our brain does register what the characters are saying and how it is related with the translation. It is more useful than what we could think!) Biggest mistake people do during the listening section: at the beginning of a lecture about a familiar topic, thinking "okay this is easy". NO. Yes, it might be easy, good for you! But you might be asked about the opinion of the professor, and how does it relate with the difficulty of the topic? Try to stay focused until the end. Write down the conclusions of the discussions/conversations/lectures. They are very likely to be useful when it comes to answer the questions! SPEAKING: THE BLACK BEAST. My score is no big deal for a lot of test takers that actually plan to score higher, and they are perfectly right, but anyway. For MY standard and expectations it is a good and satisfying result, I feel like I've improved during my practice period, and this is very important. I found NoteFull's videos very useful, both for the schemes that it gives (and that I partially used!) and also because he's an extremely nice, calm and confident person, watching those videos really helped me during the most stressful days :) Anyways. Just sit there, watch the screen, and think that YOU CAN DO IT. And smile. WRITING: LAST BUT NOT LEAST. You are allowed to relax, a bit. It's almost the end. BUT IT'S NOT! Again, succeeding in the writing task is almost entirely up to you. We all have different attitudes for writing, but ETS doesn't require perfect essays, it just wants a satisfying response to the given answer. Do a lot of practice to make sure that you won't be stumped in the middle, get familiar with expressions of transition and cause/effect, and all this stuff. Try to mean what you write with the same enthusiasm with which you beg (or begged!) your parents to let you spend the night out. REWARD YOURSELF. I can't remember where (I would quote the source, otherwise) but I read it on a list of tips and advices for the TOEFL. I perfectly agree: no matter the result, you just survived a 4 hours-long exam, in which you properly engaged yourself. and a long period of stressful practice. You rock, man! Spend a night out with friends, do something you like, and enjoy it. You deserve it. HAVE A SATISFACTORY MEAL. Quite banal, everybody says it, but it's effing true. Obviously eating too much would be more damaging than beneficial, but never face an exam with your stomach empty! PRACTICE. I said it several times, I'll say it once more. Nothing replaces exercises, and it is the only way to be enough confident with yourselves and your possibilities. (For the record, I used Barron's iBT TOEFL, 13th edition, and I found it quite good. Do a lot of full-lenght practice test, whichever book you are going to choose!) To conclude (finally, you'll think :P), a quick summary of the concepts you must not forget: - Practice (!!!) - Be self-confident: you rock! - Trying to like what you hate most is the best way to defeat it. - And most important, you're a person, with experiences, thoughts, opinions, weaknesses, strengths, desires, objectives, plans, goals, personality. You're stronger than a machine, for Heaven's sake! All that I can say, now, is... the best of luck!:orange: Chris

Thanks for this thread, really, I was actually looking for the same information... my problem is that I love writing, so when I have a lot to say it is quite difficult for me not to be extremely verbose. Plus, I took the GRE this week, so I'm used to writing essays that are quite longer (I've read that a top GRE essay, for the independent task, should be 400-700 words long) in the same amount of time, so I'm having not such an easy time in trying to be more concise. Anyway, thanks again! Chris

Hi guys, my exam is in six days... ewww, I'm quite scared, to tell the truth :/ Anyway, I'm posting here some of the practice that I've done about the second writing task, I would be pleased if some of you could tell me what they think about it (I'm posting different essays, but it is perfectly okay if you feel like reading only one of them - it would be great!) Thank you on advance! Chris ------------------------------------------------------ “Before making a decision, it is important to find out if the decision will be popular with others" In my view, personal decisions should first of all be dictated by one’s personal set of moral values. The people that I’ve always admired for their strength are the ones with enough courage to support their opinion even despite other people’s disagreement. The first reason is that a person that shows to be firm on his ideas, unpopular as they might be, is likely to gain other people’s respect. For example, a politician who introduces a new tax because he thinks that more money income would be useful for the welfare of the country, shouldn’t care about the probable negative reaction. If he does, he will probably give the impression of a weak figure, easily malleable. To make another instance, a student that decides to graduate in a field that his family and friend find inappropriate for him, should be able to clearly speak his own reasons; one day, when he will succeed, they will surely recognize the positivity of his determination and passion. There might be occasions, however, when it is constructive and useful to gain the consensus of other people; sometimes, in fact, the very aim of a decision could be making someone else happy. Let’s take, for example, a couple of parents organizing the next holidays; it would surely make sense to consider what they children may like, for holidays have to be an experience as pleasant and relaxing as possible. Another example could be a young boy or girl organizing his or her birthday party, where he or she plans to invite a lot of friends; even if the priority should be to accomplish his or her tastes, it would be nice and kind to try to organize something that his or her friends will enjoy. To conclude, there are too many kinds of different decisions to express a definitive and one-sided opinion; it is true that the ability of someone to speak in the name of his or her own values is a noble and admirable quality, that should have the priority on the eventual popularity of the decision. It is as well true, however, that people are social animals, that have the duty to invest some energy in trying to achieve a peaceful coexistence, especially with the ones they care most about. ------------------------------------------------------------------- “Students, not teachers or administrators, should be in control of their own education.” Education is by all means an important and delicate issue, which needs specialists to take care of it. Therefore, I don’t agree with the claim that it should be students themselves, to control their personal instruction and formation. My opinion is based on several reasons. First of all, students are young and inexperienced. A great part of them, especially before university, don’t know what they want to become when they will be adults, and even the ones who think they know, and who are probably right, usually don’t have a clear idea of what they really need, in order to realize their goals. To make an example, let’s take a junior medicine student that is attending the first college year. It is quite obvious that he wishes to become a talented doctor, and for this reason, he would probably hope to study interesting subjects like anatomy, pathology and innovative and revolutionizing therapies. He won’t be very enthusiastic to spend the first semester upon boring and unattractive things like chemistry, physics, or even maths; after all, they apparently have nothing to do with what he wants to become. Thus, if students had to choose their personal curriculum, they would probably eliminate all the unpleasant stuff, and start immediately with the really interesting subjects. This is because they can’t actually realize the importance to start with notions that might not relate directly with the essence of their graduating or majoring field, but are necessary for them in order to deeply understand what will come next. Secondly, even giving students the possibility to decide how to administer their own education, there would be a lot of complications for what concerns the organization. It is not very likely, for a group of students graduating in the same field, to agree on everything; rather, if they had the chance to control their education, they would end arguing about a lot of things, making it impossible to reach a conclusion satisfying all of them. School systems, in fact, do need a supervising and responsible authority, attentive to students’ needs but also capable of taking important decisions. Finally, it should be a student’s interest to be able, someday, to be him or herself the one who takes the control above a business, or a company, or whichever will be his or her job. To become this responsible and conscious, however, they first have to learn from someone who is older and more experienced. A society where people only count on themselves, is not very likely to progress. To conclude, I seriously think that students are supposed to be protagonists, and not spectator, in what concerns their education. Nevertheless, an efficient school system should be controlled by experienced teachers and administrators, able to understand what students need and, at the same time, conciliate it with what they know to be important for them. ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Countries should not isolate themselves from the world but instead engage other countries" It is very important, for a country, to belong to a reality greater than the purely national one. Sometimes it is really challenging, because not all the countries share the same level of wealth and development, but I think that it is a worthy effort. Therefore, I agree with the claim that a nation should engage other countries, rather than isolating itself. The first important reason is that having relationships with other countries provides economical advantages for all of them. Different nations, even if they are close to each other, are likely to focus each one on specific aspects of their economy, and collaborating with each other, under an economical point of view, is very useful and productive. Another great advantage provided by a similar situation is the cultural aspect. Engaged countries frequently establish special conventions for workers and students travelling from one place to the other, in order to encourage them to make an international experience. Since these kind of experiences are, in my opinion, one of the best occasions for both a student and a worker to grow up and culturally enrich himself, this aspect of the engagements between nations is without any doubt positive. One must also consider, when evaluating the upsides of such a situation, that having a partner on which a country can count in a difficult and though situation, like a crisis or another kind of emergency, is a guarantee that shouldn’t be underestimated. Engaging countries sign a contract of reciprocal loyalty and availability to help each other, while an isolated country will hardly find someone ready to help it without putting his own interests first. Obviously, a collaboration between two countries does have its downsides. Often these relationships exist between similar countries, like for example two developed nations that clearly see the inherent benefits of an engagement. It can happen, however, that evident differences characterize the countries involved, for example, one can be a lot wealthier than the other. Let’s think, for example, of an imaginary engagement between the U.S. and a South American nation. In this case, the richer country maybe doesn’t receive such a great benefit, especially at the beginning. Nevertheless, I think that the positivity of the situation cannot be denied, since a similar context would probably be an input, for the government and the authorities of the poorer nation, to engage themselves in order to keep the pace of the collaborating country. Especially when it comes to developing countries, after all, it is particularly important not to leave them alone and isolated, for it would only worsen their disastrous and inefficient conditions. To conclude, we are living in a world that, now more than ever, emphasizes the importance of internationality and exchanging cultures. Therefore, it should be a modern nation’s major value to engage with other countries in order to form form peaceful and productive alliances. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- “Teachers should encourage their students to question everything” Teachers and instructors not only have the role of teaching facts, theories and notions to their students; rather, they have the duty to show them how important is achieving a constructive and positive way of thinking. For this reason, I think that a good and smart way to render education an active rather than a passive process is inviting boys and girls to make questions about what it’s being taught them. The first important point about questioning, in my opinion, is that the only way of becoming an independent thinker is never accepting anything as simply given, but rather considering all the possible alternatives. This concept may look quite misleading, so I will use an example to make it clearer. When studying a scientific theory, efficient student shouldn’t obviously reject what is told in that theory and formulate a new and more convincing one. They might hope to become successful scientists in the future, and eventually be able to reach such achievements, but, as students, they aren’t certainly required to be that ambitious. On the other hand, what they should do is deeply reading and understanding what the theory says, considering if there are eventual alternatives and wondering, if such options would prove to be right, how the scientific world would be revolutionized. Acknowledging what the actually accepted position is they can, as well, speculate how things are likely to change in the next years. Going deeper through this issue, an important value that teachers are supposed to teach their student is that, especially when it comes to scientific and technological subjects, the only way for the human knowledge to progress is casting doubts on what is widely accepted as true, in order to complete or change the modern notions. When teaching young boys and girls the values of research and active thinking, thus, it is important to show them that everyone is potentially able to change things and make new discoveries. To conclude, it is obvious that educators have the responsibility to shape their students behavior, even if this requires setting a limit to their ambitions. Clearly, a constructive thinker is not supposed to be a subversive revolutionary. On the other hand, a doubtful and questioning approach is useful to deeply understand the potentialities as well as the weaknesses of human knowledge. Achieving such a way of thinking is a great investment for a student that is taking care of his or her future.

Hi everybody!:) I have a question about the scoring method of the Reading Section, and I apologize if someone else already asked this. I'm doing some model tests, and the last question of a section - typically the most difficult ones - is worthy 2 to 4 points, instead of just ones. But how does it actually count, in the final score? I mean, if I do it right and it is a 4 points question, I should add 4 points to my total instead of one? To make it clearer: let's suppose i've got three reading tasks, 13 questions each, so the higher possible score is a classical 39. Considering that the last questions of all the three parts is 2 points instead of 1, someone, in theory, can score "42/39", which means that even missing a pair or questions I can still get the maximum OR have I got to calculate the score out of 42 instead of 39? thanks a lot in advance. Chris

Hi, I would be pleased - and extremely thankful - if some of you could review this :) Issue Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position. My essay Education is an absolute right and a major value of humanity. It is as well true, though, that everyone has to occupy his or her place in the world. Our society does need doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, mechanics, chemists, and a whole lot of other professions and roles, requiring or not a particular study background. Moreover, teachers and advisors not only have the duty to teach their students that two plus two equals four, or the history of their nation. They are supposed to care about the future of the people they are advising and teaching to, and be able to help them to face reality and make realistic and responsible choices. But does a teacher hold the right to convince a boy or a girl not to choose the road he or she desires to take, only because the results achieved so far are not one hundred percent satisfactory? As it happens with many issues regarding such delicate topics, the best comprehensive answer is ‘it depends’. Before explaining my point and providing examples, I want to point out that, as everybody knows, school and education are organized in different ways according to the nation one is referring to; to simplify things, I am going to use Italy, the country where I grew up and studied, as a paradigm. A student decides what to study, for the very first time of his or her life, when he or she (from now on, let’s suppose it’s a girl) starts high school, at the age of fourteen. Let’s consider a girl who likes maths; she’s likely to choose a scientific high school. If she her marks are excellent or good, there is no problem, and every teacher that knows her will agree on her choice. What about a not so talented student? Well, in this case, she will probably feel discouraged, once she will realize that scientific high school’s math is a bad nightmare, and liking the subject is not enough to succeed, if one isn’t enough motivated. Fourteen years old students don’t have a sufficient maturity to put aside their personal pride and fantasies to take responsible and realistic decision. An efficient teacher, in my opinion, is supposed to have the discretion and to be disinterested enough to figure out what is the best perspective for that student, and make her accept his point of view. To analayze a different context, let’s take another example. Our student is going to graduate from high school, therefore she has to choose what to study at university. Again, she is obsessed with math, so she is attracted by the math department, which requires, unfortunately, an entry test to be enrolled. Her proficiency in math decreased during the last high school year, so her teacher might not agree with her choice. Nevertheless, it must also be considered that a nineteen years old person is supposed to possess the right objectivity to evaluate her own possibilities. If the teacher tells her that there is no hope for her to pass that test, the teacher may even be caring about her future, but to mention a common way of saying, ‘he’s doing it wrong’. The student will probably end feeling discouraged along whichever road she decides to take, either it will be math or a less harduous alternative. On the other hand, a teacher encouraging her to try what it takes to realize her dream, yet making her aware of the difficulties and the strenght that will be asked her, allows her to face the challenge with a positive and confident attitude. If she won’t succeed, at least she won’t have any regret, and will focus on an alternative and just leave her math experience behind. Young people, especially the one starting to face adulthood, like a high school graduate, need to be teached that the right way to solve problems is not avoiding them, but rather using all their resources to successfully face them. Many other examples could be used to deepen the issue, and yet a general and comprehensive conclusion wouldn’t be likely to be reached. What is important and fundamental for every teacher and advisor, is to have a constructive attitude towards their students, whichever is going to be the advice they give them. Education is an absolute right and a major value of humanity. It is as well true, though, that everyone has to occupy his or her place in the world. Our society does need doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, mechanics, chemists, and a whole lot of other professions and roles, requiring or not a particular study background. Moreover, teachers and advisors not only have the duty to teach their students that two plus two equals four, or the history of their nation. They are supposed to care about the future of the people they are advising and teaching to, and be able to help them to face reality and make realistic and responsible choices. But does a teacher hold the right to convince a boy or a girl not to choose the road he or she desires to take, only because the results achieved so far are not one hundred percent satisfactory? As it happens with many issues regarding such delicate topics, the best comprehensive answer is ‘it depends’. Before explaining my point and providing examples, I want to point out that, as everybody knows, school and education are organized in different ways according to the nation one is referring to; to simplify things, I am going to use Italy, the country where I grew up and studied, as a paradigm. A student decides what to study, for the very first time of his or her life, when he or she (from now on, let’s suppose it’s a girl) starts high school, at the age of fourteen. Let’s consider a girl who likes maths; she’s likely to choose a scientific high school. If she her marks are excellent or good, there is no problem, and every teacher that knows her will agree on her choice. What about a not so talented student? Well, in this case, she will probably feel discouraged, once she will realize that scientific high school’s math is a bad nightmare, and liking the subject is not enough to succeed, if one isn’t enough motivated. Fourteen years old students don’t have a sufficient maturity to put aside their personal pride and fantasies to take responsible and realistic decision. An efficient teacher, in my opinion, is supposed to have the discretion and to be disinterested enough to figure out what is the best perspective for that student, and make her accept his point of view. To analayze a different context, let’s take another example. Our student is going to graduate from high school, therefore she has to choose what to study at university. Again, she is obsessed with math, so she is attracted by the math department, which requires, unfortunately, an entry test to be enrolled. Her proficiency in math decreased during the last high school year, so her teacher might not agree with her choice. Nevertheless, it must also be considered that a nineteen years old person is supposed to possess the right objectivity to evaluate her own possibilities. If the teacher tells her that there is no hope for her to pass that test, the teacher may even be caring about her future, but to mention a common way of saying, ‘he’s doing it wrong’. The student will probably end feeling discouraged along whichever road she decides to take, either it will be math or a less harduous alternative. On the other hand, a teacher encouraging her to try what it takes to realize her dream, yet making her aware of the difficulties and the strenght that will be asked her, allows her to face the challenge with a positive and confident attitude. If she won’t succeed, at least she won’t have any regret, and will focus on an alternative and just leave her math experience behind. Young people, especially the one starting to face adulthood, like a high school graduate, need to be teached that the right way to solve problems is not avoiding them, but rather using all their resources to successfully face them. Many other examples could be used to deepen the issue, and yet a general and comprehensive conclusion wouldn’t be likely to be reached. What is important and fundamental for every teacher and advisor, is to have a constructive attitude towards their students, whichever is going to be the advice they give them.

Thanks a lot! So they will provide us with the pencils, right? Thanks again...

Hiii:) I thank on advance whoever will answer, my test is in 2 days so I'm a bit in a hurry, but I decided to give a try anyway. I have some very practical questions: 1) on the ETS website it's written that smartphones (I have a BlackBerry) aren't allowed in the test center, while on my Princeton book it says that they aren't allowed in the TEST ROOM, but we can leave them in the personal locker; what should I do?! My problem is that I'm testing in a different city so my mum is driving me there, but I thought she could at least go visiting the city during those 4-5 hours... but without my cell phone I don't know how to communicate with her when I finish the test. It's not the end of the world, I know, but I just wanted to know how this exactly works. 2) we are supposed - if I don't go wrong - to write the name of schools where we want our scores to be sent on test day. At the same time, we can't bring with us any other personal item which is not our ID. I thought about bringing a sheet of paper with the exact name of the departments and the codes needed, but evidently I can't, can I? Have you got a solution? 3) do they give us scratch paper AND pencils, right? Or we're supposed to bring our pencils from home? (again, the Cracking book seemed quite reassuring on this, but since the ETS doesn't mention anything about this..) Thank you very much again. If the test goes well (which is something I'm wishing soooo hard) I'll be keen on sharing my experience here, since yours have been very helpful to me. I'm Italian, so it will probably be helpful especially for other people from Italy or the rest of Europe :) Chris

Hi guys! I am an Italian neo-graduated biotechnologist, and since I'm planning to apply for an American grad school, I am taking the GRE general test next October 26th. On the ETS website it's written that, for who takes the test from Oct16th up to Nov18th, "Approximate Score Report Mailing Dates and View Scores Online Dates" is December 1st. Does it mean that the score will be send about that day, or is it the day (more or less) that the schools I indicated will get my scores? To be direct: my application deadlines are on December 5th, do you think (from personal opinion or experience) that I will have timing problems? Thank you very much. Chris