Adventures In Standardized Testing

Lets begin with a simple problem: Eleven years ago, Janet was half as old as Bobby will be in 4 years. If Bobby is b years old now, how old is Janet in terms of b?

Does this question make your head hurt? Because this is one of the easy ones. This is the type of problem you find on the GRE, which I just took yesterday. Since deciding to take the GREs, my brain has been in its own internal upheaval, battling itself between "you have no idea how to do this" and "study harder!" I still to this moment feel as if I know absolutely nothing and couldn't retain new information if I tried.

They say there's no way to cram for the GREs, because it's all knowledge you need to absorb over a long period of time. I beg to differ. You could memorize properties and definitions, but all that doesn't help when the question itself is ambiguous! I memorized 300 new words that the Princeton Review told me would be on the test. How many were on there? Five. It was good I knew them, but the context it was in (read: analogies) was confusing! See, the GRE likes to trick you. There are always two or three correct answers to a verbal question, but one is just a little more correct than the others.

I'm so glad I was the only one in the room, especially during the math section. I was so frustrated with the damn geometry 5-step problems I just wanted to get up and leave. So I settled for many strings of curse words and throwing my hands in the air with exasperated surrender.

I did ok. Better than average, less than Ivy League. I sent my scores to Yale because I'm really curious to see if I could get in. I have it down to a few schools: Boston U, Tufts, Johns Hopkins (dream on, Canyon Girl...) and Iowa. Yes, yes I know: I went to Penn State and Iowa is my sworn enemy. How could I abandon all that means anything to me and go there?! Well, because they have a good program.

The next adventure? Filling out the SOPHAS application! Tufts is the only school I have to apply to directly. And I still have no idea where I really want to go or if I should apply for Spring or Fall. Spring deadlines are rapidly approaching, (mid-October), and I don't know if I'd have a better chance of getting in if I waited until the fall. So many questions, so little answers. My friend Kelly said this to me the other day, and it's very true: "You have all these resources for applying to undergrad, but there don't seem to be as many for graduate school."

I think this is a secret test to make it to grad school: You have to do everything independently. I'm still in shock I actually was able to study and take the GREs on my own free will. This is why grad school is harder: because it's something you have to not only desperately want, but have the determination to do.