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Dudkin

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Everything posted by Dudkin

  1. I take the exam tomorrow. Interestingly, I have had to study in the opposite way as you. I feel pretty confident with the verbal side of things, but much of the math is so frustrating and nonsensical to me that I find myself racking my brain studying the quant. material and have to give myself a break by turning to the much more comfortable world of words. It is even more bothersome because I know that math is straightforward: follow the appropriate steps and there is an unambiguous answer awaiting you; but even though I feel like I can learn those steps and follow them in a textbook example, applying them in a more complex context where a number of rules can come into play proves incredibly difficult for me. I see some problems and my brain quite literally goes blank, sometimes as if I am staring at an alien language; I have no idea of where to begin--even though I just reviewed applicable techniques! It is bizarre and terribly frustrating. And to answer natofone's question: I have been studying for a number of weeks, and I can honestly say that I have improved my score by about the same margin as you have (sad, I know). So the studying has helped. Unfortunately, by initial score was significantly lower than yours. I am sure that if I feel the need to retake the exam I can improve even more, but it is a slow and arduous process for me.
  2. Thanks again, circumfession. I appreciate the empirical information, and am comforted to know that those excellent schools couldn't care less about the Q-score. I have been trying to listen to the (I think) more reasonable part of myself which feels that any grad school awarding PhD's in Russian Lit. is going to be little concerned with any inherently dubious standardized test score, especially the part of that test which has no practical or meaningful application to the field. My gut tells me that of far greater bearing will be those more personal and involved elements of my application which reveal me to be more than (I HOPE!) a number on an exam. As the test approaches though, my nerves and fears sometimes start to win out. So again, I am grateful for a bit of affirmation. If you don't mind my asking, what is your field of study? All the best.
  3. Thanks for the reply, circumfession, and I am glad to hear that your programs didn't care too much about your Q-score . I guess part of my problem, however, is that I have not found anything that specific, which breaks down average scores by department, or even any statement on department websites which would give me any sense as to how heavily the quant. section might be weighed. It is a matter, perhaps, of getting in touch with the schools more directly?
  4. I will be applying to graduate schools--both MA and PhD programs--in Russian Literature at the end of this year, and I will be taking the GRE in a couple of days. My concern is that it has been almost ten years since I have done any math similar to that which is seen on the GRE, not to mention that math is something I have always struggled with. Assuming that the practice tests are an accurate gauge of how I should perform on the actual test, I am looking at landing in the mid-700's for verbal, and somewhere between 500-550 quantitative (yes, this is even after a considerable amount of studying). Being aware that for most reputable graduate schools, GRE quantitative scores are well into the 700's, I am wondering how (if at all) detrimental my less than stellar math score will prove to be when applying to a program in the humanities. Since so many factors come into play when applying to grad. school, I will also say that I already have a degree in English (w/ a 3.58 GPA), and returned as a postbaccalaurate to focus on Russian Lit. (earning a scholarship and 4.3 GPA for the year I have been back in school); I will be studying in Russia for the next year to gain experience and perfect my language skills; I have what I feel (and am told) to be a strong work sample, as well as recommendations from professors who earned their PhD's from two of the strongest universities in the field. I plan on applying to mid- to top-tier schools. Will the programs I am applying to even bother with my GRE quantitative score? If so, should I reconsider which schools I apply to? I feel rather in the dark about this whole thing, and it has become the source of more than a little anxiety. Any guidance/recommendations/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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