In early June, I registered to take the GRE on July 25 because I had to
take it before August 1st to meet the November 15th deadline. At that point, I knew it covered vocab and math that I hadn't seen since high school. The only math I took at Berry was basic statistics. The first weekend after I signed up I took a diagnostic practice test that accompanied a Kaplan GRE book (along with four full practice full tests) I got from Amazon for like $30.
The minimum score I need for PA school is 290. Each section can be scored 130 to 170 for a lowest possible of 260 and a highest possible of 340, with 300 being right in the middle. To make the cut, I needed at least 145 in both sections.
When I took the diagnostic around June 15, I realized just how rusty I was on algebra, but I loved math in high school so I knew it would only take some easy review. The verbal section made my vocabulary feel very small. But it turned out good and I was very happy with the results. I got a 149 on the math and 146 in verbal for a total of 295. This was soooooooo much better than the feeling I had after that first practice MCAT I took. MY FIRST GRE EVER AND I WAS ABOVE THE SCORE I NEEDED!!
After the diagnostic, I made a study plan to work through my Kaplan GRE book. Along with my anatomy class and shadowing, my schedule was crazy.I had a practice test scheduled for every weekend and I barely had any free "me" time during the day. The study plan was the ideal scenario though. It didn't even last two days...
The next practice test was on June 23. I skipped the writing section. My math score stayed the same but the verbal went up SIX points to a 152, for a total of 301! This was really the only practice test I took. I got busy/made excuses until pretty much the week before. At that point, I started reviewing the small deck of flashcards I made with math formulas and such and answering practice questions in my Kaplan book.
The next practice test was on June 23. I skipped the writing section. My math score stayed the same but the verbal went up SIX points to a 152, for a total of 301! This was really the only practice test I took. I got busy/made excuses until pretty much the week before. At that point, I started reviewing the small deck of flashcards I made with math formulas and such and answering practice questions in my Kaplan book.
I
took the real GRE on July 25 and was a bit nervous. The security was similar to the MCAT
but it didn't feel as tense or scary. I started around 1:15pm (early - my scheduled time was 1:30pm) and finished
at 5:15pm. The hardest part, by far, was the form I had to fill out before they let me go into the testing room - I had to copy a paragraph in CURSIVE! Once I sat down at my computer, I realized they had entered in my name wrong and they had to correct it.
Anyways, I felt very confident in my two essays.
The first verbal section had several words I didn't know but I did my
best to make good guesses and pick up on context clues.
The first math section was really hard!! I kept skipping questions to come back to at the end, but when I got to the end, I only had maybe 10 minutes left and like 12 questions that I had skipped!!! I was panicking. I still didn't have time to work most of them out. They were legitimately hard questions (harder than any practice questions I had worked on) and questions that would take long calculations. I seriously ended that section by guessing
on about 7 questions at the last minute... yikes.
I was three sections in and got to take a break next. Halfway done! I walked to the bathroom, prayed, and came back, only using about 4 of my allowed 10 minutes. I needed the break to clear my head and gain control of my nerves. I also remembered that there will be one section that won't count toward my score and I was so hoping that it was that math section I just finished (and felt awful about)! I cleared my head and wasn't going to let that one section affect the rest of the test. I also remembered that the GRE is an adaptive test, meaning if you do well on a section, the next one will be harder (or easier if you did not do well on the previous section). So I must have done very well on the first verbal section because the following math section was very hard.
The next section was a verbal and I felt about the same for that one as well - several words I did not know but I made my best guesses. It was during this section that I got distracted and noticed that there was a window beside me, to my right, because several airplanes flew over and I heard several sirens. I really had to work to stay focused.
A math section followed and again was quite hard. The last section.... I knew that one section would not count towards my score. If the last section was math, then one of the (awful) math sections wouldn't count. If it was a verbal, then the awful math section would count towards my score...I clicked "next" and my heart sank. The last section was verbal and both of my math sections would count. I tried not to let it bother me but I was distracted. I didn't finish that section, either. At the end, I had several blank and had to guess.
I felt nauseous as I waited for my score to pop up. This was one great thing about the GRE, though, instant scores. I waited a month for my MCAT scores. I needed at least 145 in both sections to meet the minimum required score. But I have never had a testing experience like this before.
So here's my score..
Anyways, I felt very confident in my two essays.
The first verbal section had several words I didn't know but I did my
best to make good guesses and pick up on context clues.
The first math section was really hard!! I kept skipping questions to come back to at the end, but when I got to the end, I only had maybe 10 minutes left and like 12 questions that I had skipped!!! I was panicking. I still didn't have time to work most of them out. They were legitimately hard questions (harder than any practice questions I had worked on) and questions that would take long calculations. I seriously ended that section by guessing
on about 7 questions at the last minute... yikes.
I was three sections in and got to take a break next. Halfway done! I walked to the bathroom, prayed, and came back, only using about 4 of my allowed 10 minutes. I needed the break to clear my head and gain control of my nerves. I also remembered that there will be one section that won't count toward my score and I was so hoping that it was that math section I just finished (and felt awful about)! I cleared my head and wasn't going to let that one section affect the rest of the test. I also remembered that the GRE is an adaptive test, meaning if you do well on a section, the next one will be harder (or easier if you did not do well on the previous section). So I must have done very well on the first verbal section because the following math section was very hard.
The next section was a verbal and I felt about the same for that one as well - several words I did not know but I made my best guesses. It was during this section that I got distracted and noticed that there was a window beside me, to my right, because several airplanes flew over and I heard several sirens. I really had to work to stay focused.
A math section followed and again was quite hard. The last section.... I knew that one section would not count towards my score. If the last section was math, then one of the (awful) math sections wouldn't count. If it was a verbal, then the awful math section would count towards my score...I clicked "next" and my heart sank. The last section was verbal and both of my math sections would count. I tried not to let it bother me but I was distracted. I didn't finish that section, either. At the end, I had several blank and had to guess.
I felt nauseous as I waited for my score to pop up. This was one great thing about the GRE, though, instant scores. I waited a month for my MCAT scores. I needed at least 145 in both sections to meet the minimum required score. But I have never had a testing experience like this before.
So here's my score..
math: 151
(UP FIVE POINTS!!!!!)
verbal: 155
(UP THREE POINTS!!!!!)
total: 306
(FIVE points higher than the practice test and
ELEVEN points higher than the minimum score I needed!!!!!!!)
I knew immediately that I did not take that test by myself.
I had been praying about it and my prayers had been answered!
(UP FIVE POINTS!!!!!)
verbal: 155
(UP THREE POINTS!!!!!)
total: 306
(FIVE points higher than the practice test and
ELEVEN points higher than the minimum score I needed!!!!!!!)
I knew immediately that I did not take that test by myself.
I had been praying about it and my prayers had been answered!
A few weeks later, I found out that my writing score was a 4 out of 6
(a bit surprising since I felt so confident about them, but that's still good).
This made my overall total 310.
I was on cloud nine on that car ride home.
Mushy brain, tired, but really happy.
And really proud of myself for keeping my nerves under control.
I very easily could have full on panicked. But I did not.
The Lord replied, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
Exodus 33: 14
