GRE....Graduate Record Examination. Just another standardized test that is suppose to determine if you'll be successful in graduate school. I've been looking at the GRE test examples and questioning whether that is truly the case. Have you seen what is on that test? Lugubrious - Huh? I believe myself to have a fairly broad vocabulary, but really? Who talks like that? And then there is the math.
Supposedly basic math skills from high school. Do you know how long it has been since I've been to high school? I don't remember that stuff. Hmmmm, what does that say about our education system? Well, that is another subject. Back to math. It really has me questioning my decision to pursue a Ph.D.
I've decided though that I'm going to prove to myself I can do this. So I purchased a study guide written by Princeton students and have downloaded prep software from the makers of the GRE. So far the review has been good. I've learned some tips and a few tricks.
I also discovered that they have redesigned the GRE. there are no more Analogies. I didn't mind those. they have added more sentence completion and reading which I'm thankful for because those are my strong points. I'm still going to have to increase my vocabulary and they still have the math section. YUK! That is where I'll be spending most of my review since I have to relearn my high school math.
I won't be able to take the test until August so I'll have plenty of time to learn words like panegyric and misanthrope. Not to mention finding the value of x. WHY? I don't know it is just the way the system rolls.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Decisions, Decisions - Doctor Who?
I met with my advisor the other day regarding finishing my master's program and applying for the doctorate program. I'm going to have make some choices which is always difficult for me. I always worry about making the right one. It reminds me of a story I read once by Sylvia Path.
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."
I think of this all the time and yet, I still have trouble with choosing. Sometimes looking too far into the future and planning makes moving forward so much harder. This blog, Doctor Who will be a chronicle of my journey to becoming a Ph.D.
So I guess it's time to take the first step toward an goal and not away from one in fear. GRE here I come.
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."
I think of this all the time and yet, I still have trouble with choosing. Sometimes looking too far into the future and planning makes moving forward so much harder. This blog, Doctor Who will be a chronicle of my journey to becoming a Ph.D.
So I guess it's time to take the first step toward an goal and not away from one in fear. GRE here I come.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The End is Near
January 2011, Really? Why does it seem that the older I get the faster time flies. It seems that I just don't have the same amount of time to get things done that I did when I was younger. I have been hit with the realization that I'll be finishing my Master's Program this summer. Being the organized, control freak that I am, I also begin to think...then what? Do I continue on into the Ph.D program? Can I even meet the requirements? What about a job? It becomes a mind boggling confused state of "what ifs."
Ph.D program means taking the GRE. YUK! A standardized test that is suppose to reflect whether you will be successful in graduate school. Come on now! I'm already in graduate school carrying a 4.0. Now I have to take on a test that covers high school level algebra, English, etc. I haven't dealt with algebra, geometry, etc. for over 20 years. I don't remember that crap.
So as I get near the end of my Master's Program I need to make some decisions. I meet with my advisor in two weeks to discuss the Ph.D program. We'll see how that goes.
Ph.D program means taking the GRE. YUK! A standardized test that is suppose to reflect whether you will be successful in graduate school. Come on now! I'm already in graduate school carrying a 4.0. Now I have to take on a test that covers high school level algebra, English, etc. I haven't dealt with algebra, geometry, etc. for over 20 years. I don't remember that crap.
So as I get near the end of my Master's Program I need to make some decisions. I meet with my advisor in two weeks to discuss the Ph.D program. We'll see how that goes.
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