Taking The GRE

I have already taken the GRE, the revised GRE. When I was planning to take it and even now, I hear various myths that shroud the GRE and make people panic for no rhyme or reason. When I was planning to sit for the revised GRE all my friends and acquaintances tried their level best to make me take the old GRE. I have already taken the old GRE once but did not fare well as I had fallen seriously ill on the day of the exam. The reason they wanted me to sit for the old GRE again was that I had already taken the test once and knew the pattern, also, there was a huge surplus of guide books and test papers and what not to help me crack it. But I did not listen to them.

I have taken the old GRE once and I know the exam well. It is or was a test of how well you can memorize a set of word-lists, the meanings and antonyms of the words. It was not at all a test of one’s knowledge in English. Also, the words that one had to memorize were mostly of no use. I am sure no one has ever again used or come across half those words after taking their GRE. Only people who can memorize very well can do well in that sort of arena. I am not one of those.

I chose to take the revised GRE for various reasons. The most important reason was that it was absolutely new and no guides were yet available. This gave me an equal advantage with others who were taking the test and this uncertainty was very challenging and exciting. The second important reason was that the verbal section of the revised GRE was completely new and far more difficult. Thankfully it does not require one to memorize word-lists and actually tests one’s knowledge of English. You can crack this section only if you really know English. No crack courses can help you score well in this section. The fill-in-the-blanks required not only the knowledge of what the options meant but also the knowledge of how a sentence is created and how English is written. No amount of memorization can help you in this. Another reason for me taking the revised GRE was the 50% off on the cost of the exam that ETS was offering. I did not have enough money at the time to pay for another GRE.

But even though the GRE has changed, people’s attitude towards it has not changed. I was looking at a website yesterday and saw the review of books that offer guidance for the revised GRE. I was very astounded to find that the reason Barron’s guide was ranked lower than the one by Princeton Review was that Barron had no new word-list for the revised GRE! I mean, why do you need a ‘new’ word-list? Isn’t English and a knowledge of its words the same? I have miserably failed to find the need to learn newer words for a newer exam. Knowing the vocabulary helps a lot but selective learning like this is just chasing the wind. Either you know or you don’t.

The results for the revised GRE are not out yet and I do not know how I have fared in the verbal. Maybe I have done worse than the last time, but given another opportunity, I would rather take the revised GRE than the old one. All my friends had rushed to take the old GRE as it was changing from August of this year because they were scared of the unknown, scared of doing something without a guide. They have done quite well in the GRE and will surely get through good universities. Me – I am happy being myself as I know exactly what I am capable of and I do not need an exam to make me realize that. I love challenges and I love to prove others wrong when I am certain that what I am doing is right. The revised GRE gave me just that challenge but I am yet to prove that the fear of others that taking the revised GRE will only result in a poor score is groundless. People are so scared to walk the path less travelled.