i'll be taking the GRE in 7.5 months. the honorable haqdiesel is helping me prepare. anybody who has taken it, have any advice or recommendations?

GMAT for me, no GRE. Sorry ma'am. How similar are they?

I took it in my senior year of college. I recommend not partying until 2am when you have to take the test at 10. Not the smartest move I ever made.

Other than that, if you're a good test taker and you practice a bit before hand it shouldn't be a problem.

Same here, but I took the test before they required a writing sample.

I think just getting sleep and being fully awake and shit is like half of it. How much math is there? Because the writing portion surely wouldn't challenge you much...

I managed to dodge that and still get into grad school, although a lot of people I know took it. It's a lot of work, at least you've got lots of prep time.

Most bizarre test I have ever taken. It was computer based and I had to take it at a Sylvan Learning Center since I was in my hometown with no major university. I took it the morning after the Rams/Titans Super Bowl, so I didn't prepare too much the night before or even that weekend. Overall, I think I only took about three practice tests before taking it. It was really hard to take serious when all you do is basically click a mouse for a few hours.

I ended up doing pretty well, as well as anyone else I know who freaked out over it. It was a cake walk compared to the FSWE or my Grad comps.

don't go overboard on it, it's probably a lot more stuff you already know than you realize. I helped the gf study for it and basically it was like a half hour a night for a few months and she did much better than she expected. Treat it like brushing up on stuff more than anything.

When I took it, they put us in the coldest classroom imaginable. I'd say wear layers as I was distracted by the discomfort. Also, take water. Eat some brain food before hand like walnuts or one of those Omega 3 foods.

Ermm...I'm the world's worst taker of standardized tests, my score in math was laughable otherwise I did well enough to get into grad school (in the arts, heh). Take the practice tests so you are used to the format and types of questions asked...good luck!

my office is a fridge. but that shouldn't be any indication of tolerance, i'm really not a great worker.

Most likely, they won't let you bring the water in with you, though.

Because you might've hid your answers in there.

I took in in '99 online, before the writing part, and they let you know what your score is right after you're done. At least, what your score will most likely be once they send it to you officially. I just reviewed one of those study books that a friend let me borrow. That probably helped the most with vocabulary because it had a huge list of words most frequently used on the test. I did well on all parts but the math, but that was to be expected.

I took it, overall simple stuff I thought. Do you feel like you need a good score? If so, why? Mine was a formality, I was accepted to Grad School already, they just asked me to take it for paperwork

You went to Hollywood Upstairs Graduate School as well?

i'd like to get a good score, if just for myself. i want to get into a great school, too.

Somewhat similar story, except mine involved LSD, no sleep, and no prior preparation. Got 99th centile on the language stuff, but with better preparation probably could have done much better on the math and logic sections. Haven't they replaced the logic section with a writing sample now?

At any rate, you sound like you are already way ahead of where I was, as you are actually thinking about preparing for the test!

I've had the distinct honor of taking it twice... about 25 years apart. I don't know if the math part will be an uimportant part of your score... I don't do lot's of math and there was more of it than I thought that was more than just logic. Review some basic stuff in one of thoes prep books would have been helpful. I got annoyed while taking it and (now that it's online) mouse clicked very quickly through the problems that didn't interest me. Mostly random chance got me a 580 on math this last time (down considerably from last time).

I don't know how one would study for the verbal. Simply being aware of the "format"... analogy, etc.... I guess would help.

The writing sample, like other standardized writing tests, does not value creativity. Clear paragraphs, with topic, examples and analysis, and conclusions, are what the anchor papers have.

What are you going to study?

(Surprised no one has asked yet)

great question. no clue exactly.

i'm really tempted to go with english or publishing or something like that but would also like to go into education eventually.

surprisingly, math is my stronger suit in tests. i'm afraid of the writing portion.

If you are afraid of the writing you should practice. Really, it is simply a matter of being organized and presenting a clear 'story' with good voice. What scores are you aiming for? What schools are you looking at? Do you feel a middling score will prevent you from getting into some schools?

I was pre-accepted based on my undergrad school and my GPA, was applying to Univ New Mexico, certainly not a top school. As such, it was a formality for me.

My only point is that if you are gonna kill yourself with studying, make sure it is for a good reason. I would contact the departments of the schools you are interested in, feel them out

believe me, i'm getting plenty of practice every day.

i don't know what schools yet because i don't know what i want to study yet. but if i go to grad school, i want in a good school and good schools sometimes ask for gre scores, thus, i would like to get a good gre score. i'll have five years to figure out the rest if i wanna use them scores.

Get a set of practice tests, just so you get a sense of the set up and what to expect.