Studying for the GRE

It's something that I would have preferred to have gotten out of the way before coming to Japan, perhaps studied during the last few months I was in America so that I could concentrate now on fun only-in-Japan things, but Jasmin and I have begun: we're studying for the GRE.

As cool as that does sound, considering it's one letter away from GREg, unfortunately it stands for the really boring Graduate Record Examination. It's offered for those planning to continue wasting away in school by entering graduate school, which Jasmin and I are thinking about doing soon after going back to America. :p Our plans aren't completely finalized yet, and we still have plenty of research into schools and programs ahead of us. What I'd prefer to say is that we're keeping our options open -- by taking a $190 test plus transportation to and from the test location and hotel fees. WTF?! Yeah, while they offer the GRE in Japan, the price is not only slightly higher but it's only available in select locations, the closest of which for us is a 3 1/2 hour away Osaka. Sighです.

Luckily, we don't have to go as far as we did for my last test. Earlier this month, I took the GRE Psychology subject test in Tokyo. It's taken by prospective graduate students who are looking to go into a psychology program. In my case, most likely a doctorate program known as a PsyD., similar to a PhD but with less of the research and more of the hands-on training. Oh, and it's a 5-7 year program.

So now that we've decided to take the GRE, how are we going to prepare? Luckily for Jasmin, as of recently completing long-term goals is my specialty. I have created an excel spreadsheet known as my Goal Schedule that breaks down the months, weeks, and days from when we begin our studying until our test date. I've outlined very specific numerical final goals, as well as monthly goals, weekly goals, daily goals (approx. 30 min. of studying), and 5-minutes-from-now goals. The idea is that the only thing we need to concentrate on is what we can accomplish RIGHT NOW, and if we do that then, as per my schedule, our end goals will naturally be completed. We record our progress by checking off each day that we completed our goal, then at the end of the week and the end of the month we tally off how far we've come. If we don't complete the day's goal, we can write P = prioritized (i.e. no time, but using prioritized specifies that we chose to work on other things instead), T = tired, and U = unmotivated (a very important thing to keep track of). Of course, we get one free day a week and one free day for every 6 days of work, but instead of calling them free days I prefer to use the term Non-habit Day; we shouldn't be thinking of it as being finally free from a ball and chain, because it shouldn't create that kind mental dissonance. It's a simple habit, and I make the daily goals as simple as possible so that we can not only easily complete it but WANT to complete it. Because what's the point of having these kinds of goals if you're not motivated to take those small steps, one minute at a time, that are all adding up?

Umm... yeah, like I said. It's my specialty, or at least something I've put a lot of thought into. I've already used this for studying Japanese and the Psych GRE to great effect. Maybe I'll make another post about schedules in the near future.

But I digress. I didn't quite answer how we are going about studying for the GRE specifically. lol So it's essentially testing you on two subjects: Verbal (plus 2 essays) and Math. Just like the SAT. In fact, it's the same company that publishes the SAT, so at its core it's very similar. Luckily, the Math section is actually EASIER that the SAT, going back to late middle school or early high school math, because were it to test college math then everyone but math majors would fail. The Verbal section is where the majority of the studying needs to take place. There is no substitute for practicing on actual test questions, but Jasmin and I will also be studying vocabulary "on the side." We will be using the Anki program which is like virtual flash cards that you can use to greatly improve your memory very easily, and our cards will basically either be straight from actual test questions (goal: 150, daily: 3) or new vocab (goal: 500, daily: 10). The way I decided would be best to learn vocab is in this format:

Question side of the card: vocab /pronunciation/ (parts of speech, i.e. verb), "Example sentence."
Answer side of the card: self-written definition

This might seem almost too easy with an example sentence and the part of speech, but that's the point. The cards shouldn't be overly difficult or complicated to answer, because remembering something largely involves seeing it a number of times. Anki keeps track of all of our self-scores so we don't have to think about anything more than the current card. Hmm, maybe I'll describe Anki in more detail in a later post.

The last part of our studying involves doing fun things that naturally prepare us for the test. We're currently playing Words with Friends to expose us to English vocab, and Brain Age for simple number practice. Which brings me to my essay practice: these blogs. So expect more in the near future, at least once a week (I hope) timed at 45 minutes just like the test. Just general writing practice, nothing more.

I guess that covers enough for now. And my time is up. lataz