hypervodka

I'm trying very hard to keep my list of schools to 10. I am currently in a program that I like a lot, but the funding could be better, so I'm only applying to places that have two of the following criteria: better funding, better placement, and/or a standout POI in my area of specialization. This left me with about 17 programs I was interested in, but 17 is just not feasible on my current budget, so I had to find ways to narrow my list. There was a fairly complex process that went into narrowing the list, but among the criteria I used to make these cuts (never to add a school) was proximity to a team in a sport I care about. I will defend this decision to anyone. (And, yes, I have been asked to defend the decision. )
 
Final list looks something like: Penn, UC Irvine, WUSTL, Pitt, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan, Alberta, UBC, and Illinois State.

Does anyone have anything to add to what omensetter said about time?
 
For my part, when I took the practice tests, I typically finished about 35 minutes before time; during the actual test, I finished maybe closer to thirty, so not a large difference at all. There was nothing surprising about the formatting for me, and the reading was actually a little easier for me than taking the practice tests (probably because I practiced on the computer--on paper, it's a lot easier to stay focused and to viciously cross out wrong answers). For anyone taking the October date, I recommend taking at least one test a week until then... a lot of things will really stop surprising you.

The GRE is no where near the most important part of your application. There's absolutely nothing you can do about that now, so please try not dwell on it. Focusing on crafting an extremely strong writing sample. If you have an excellent GPA, I wouldn't address the GRE in your SOP. Professors are well-aware that this exam is a bit of a crapshoot anyway--they've accepted students with extraordinarily low scores, rejected students in the 90th percentile.
 
Sorry, and good luck.

I took (if I remember correctly; I sat the exam almost a year ago) three practice tests, and I scored a good 50 points less on all of them than I did in the actual test. A lot of people, though, seem to have the absolute opposite experience; the stress of test day, which can never be properly replicated at home or in a library, really can have a big impact. I finished all the practice tests I took with some time to spare; in the actual test, I had about 20 questions unanswered when I ran out of time.
 
I found that the test I took was somewhat different from the practice tests in both format and content. The formatting stuff is (again) difficult to remember, but I think there was just generally a bit more stuff to read, and some styles of question I'd not seen before. It's very possible that because of nerves it just felt different, but I'm pretty sure that while the questions still asked you to do the exact same things as in the practice tests, there were some differences in formatting that slowed me down. I came out of the test feeling not that I'd done badly, but that I'd done less well than in the practice tests. I got lucky, however, in terms of content: the test I sat had lots of theory stuff on it, which is kind of my thing, so I ended up getting a decent score.
 
I guess I'd just say that while the test has obviously evolved since the practice tests were written, everybody who sits it is using pretty much the same practice material, so any changes are probably not hugely advantageous or disadvantageous to anyone. I'd mostly emphasise the importance of timing: I think this is probably the main thing you can control when it comes to any standardised test, especially such a purposefully gruelling one as this, so even if the practice tests are slightly different, their use value lies in allowing you to practice answering stuff quickly. I found the dearth of any written experiences except awful ones pretty worrying when I was preparing, so thought it might be helpful to share an experience that, while certainly not fist-pumpingly awesome, was kind of okay in the end.

I'm going through one test now. This is from GR9964, so skip this if you were saving that one.
 
One question asks:
 
 
It doesn't even matter the context of the passage. As I said before, we're looking for some archaic, unfamiliar usage of the word "abroad." That's the only reason they would ask this question. The answer choices are:
 
 
(A) should be eliminated immediately, without reading the context, because that is the contemporary usage. (D) is extremely similar, so I'd strike that out as well.
 
Now, the referenced sentence is,"Reform was in the air--political, social, religious; there was even a feeling abroad that our great public schools were not quite all that they should be, and that some change or other--no one precisely knew what--but some change in the system of their management was highly desirable." This is a very egocentric sentence. Reform was in the air--not foreign air, our air. It doesn't make sense for non-English speakers to be invested enough in the English education system for any solution whatsoever to be "highly desirable." Again, (A) and (D) just don't fit.
 
(B ) and (C ) are virtual synonyms. I've noticed that a lot of questions of the kind match the answer choices in "pairs," and the odd one out is the correct answer. Both (A) and (D) kind of sort of mean "foreign" and both (B ) and (C ) kind of sort of mean "off-base." Just think of this from a technical standpoint: the test-writers would not make the correct choice too similar to any other erroneous answer choice. There won't be a passage about Mr. Rochester, and then both Emily and Charlotte listed among the answer choices. They're not trying to trick wrong answers out of you.
 
(E) ("prevalent at the time") makes the most sense in the sentence, which, again, is very egocentric, but also emboldended with a sense of general urgency. Everyone had opinion about changes in the school system, even though "no one knew precisely what" that change would entail. This answer choice makes sense in the sentence, and in the passage. It is also the answer choice furthest from the contemporary definition, which seems to often be the case.

I'm going through one test now. This is from GR9964, so skip this if you were saving that one.
 
One question asks:
 
 
It doesn't even matter the context of the passage. As I said before, we're looking for some archaic, unfamiliar usage of the word "abroad." That's the only reason they would ask this question. The answer choices are:
 
 
(A) should be eliminated immediately, without reading the context, because that is the contemporary usage. (D) is extremely similar, so I'd strike that out as well.
 
Now, the referenced sentence is,"Reform was in the air--political, social, religious; there was even a feeling abroad that our great public schools were not quite all that they should be, and that some change or other--no one precisely knew what--but some change in the system of their management was highly desirable." This is a very egocentric sentence. Reform was in the air--not foreign air, our air. It doesn't make sense for non-English speakers to be invested enough in the English education system for any solution whatsoever to be "highly desirable." Again, (A) and (D) just don't fit.
 
(B ) and (C ) are virtual synonyms. I've noticed that a lot of questions of the kind match the answer choices in "pairs," and the odd one out is the correct answer. Both (A) and (D) kind of sort of mean "foreign" and both (B ) and (C ) kind of sort of mean "off-base." Just think of this from a technical standpoint: the test-writers would not make the correct choice too similar to any other erroneous answer choice. There won't be a passage about Mr. Rochester, and then both Emily and Charlotte listed among the answer choices. They're not trying to trick wrong answers out of you.
 
(E) ("prevalent at the time") makes the most sense in the sentence, which, again, is very egocentric, but also emboldended with a sense of general urgency. Everyone had opinion about changes in the school system, even though "no one knew precisely what" that change would entail. This answer choice makes sense in the sentence, and in the passage. It is also the answer choice furthest from the contemporary definition, which seems to often be the case.