I took the new GRE this morning

Test Preparation
1

<p>I took the test today. I'm not the average CCer. I did have a high GPA, but was an elementary education major at a small state school.
I signed up on the test Monday night and took it today. I had studied a bit for the old GRE, but was cut short by losing my job (Thanks, Rick Perry!), moving and job hunting. I did start grad school at my undergrad school this summer, but need a score to continue. (Students that start this fall have no GRE required and no comps. This seriously makes me consider finding another school!) I start in-service this week, so this was the only time I could take it without missing work. I did use PowerPrepII and a vocab flashcard app on my phone, though it was not terribly good. My PPII practice score were 450-550 V and 540-640 Q. Horrible by CC standards, but my program requires a 750, so I was pretty happy with it considering that I hadn't studied in weeks.
The actual test seemed much harder than the PPII one. In fact, I considered quitting at the break because I thought I was doing so poorly on it. The writing wasn't bad, but the first two sections were headache inducing. I had to rush through the last half of quant. because I got hung up on a minor detail of a problem. The verbal section seemed to ask minor variations upon the same question over and over. I think it might have been because the room was too cold, for once the break hit and I wandered the halls for my 10 minutes, it was super easy from there. I made good time on the second quant section, and could see how the questions were changing in verbal.
My unofficial scores are 500-600 Q, 550-650 V. Can I do better? Sure! Am I happy with the score considering I had 2 days of prep (while juggling meetings and training)? Absolutly!</p>

<p>If you have any questions, I'll see if I can answer them for you!</p>

2

<p>I guess this is as good a place as any to ask–what is the food and drink situation? It says neither are allowed, but does this exclude some water and a granola bar? It’s a 4 hour test after all.</p>

3

<p>What happens is that you can’t bring anything into the testing room other than your ID. You cannot bring your cellphone or wallet or even your own pencils. The administrator told me to empty my pockets and ran me over with a metal scanner.</p>

<p>All your possessions go into a locker outside and you could access your locker during your 10 minute break. That’s where you would put your food and drink.</p>

4

<p>My center didn’t even let me go to my locker, as I might access prep materials there. No metal detector, though!</p>

5

<p>D’s center had no locker and they had to leave everything in the car.</p>