this is an interesting thread. well, the majority of my research experience came from the community at a mental health hospital and a childrens hospital i worked with a clinican there........sooo if your a big research keener like me and can't get expereince at labs on campus then there are others places to look
i think the gre for internationals is another thing, i know i had alot fo trouble with it i think mainly because i coudlnt wrap my head around a standardized test for grad school and on topics that weren't relevant to what i wanted to do, iheard your not supposed to study for IQ tests also that iq tests don't show any research potential
one ofmy profs told me american people are more into it because they took the SATS to get into uni so they are trained/edcucated to take tests whereas peopel from other areas arent, also found it biased as some questions were not in the same metric system and referenced american political/ historicla things.......