waiting 1

I've been away from math, any kind mind you for 20 years. Yep 20. I recently completed my masters and have applied to a PhD program that is in social sciences/humanities given the direction of institution. They want both theorists and policy wonks as well as true quantitative researchers. That said, they required the GRE - aka: Great Ripoff Exercise. I, too, did very well on verbal and writing. However, I bombed, and I mean bombed the math. Problem is, I studied for several hours every night and attended PRIVATE F*%&%ing tutoring w/a (big name company) tutor for TWO MONTHS PRIOR TO TAKING THIS damn thing. It is nothing more than an exercise in recognition and traps (quant portion). YOU CANNOT DO WELL IF YOU CANNOT RECOGNIZE AND PROCESS THE PROBLEMS IN UNDER TWO MINUTES. For you math weenies, I'll challenge you to essay duel anytime but will gladly wave the white flag for the math. Anyway, after I bomb, my tutor apologizes, feels bad, and says that someone with more experience teaching/re-teaching forgotten concepts would have been better for me....uh,....er...can I have my $1,100 clams back? Moreover, he/she asks me if I have ADD. To which I reply, why yes f'er, I was one of the early ADD'ers in the early 70s but have dealt with it and overcome it. To bad he/she replies, ADDers qualify for an additional 45 minutes on the quant section. WTF!!!!!!! My problem was that by the time I got through question 10, I only had 16 minutes left for the last 18. Can you say guess fest. It just simply takes ADDers longer to process the question. I knew I was doing well because the early problems kept getting harder but once I became aware of the time....panic. He/she then proceeds to tell me that they know of instances of kids getting themselves classified purposefully as ADD by family doctors or whatever to dupe the system. Great. Anyway, the purpose of my angry rant is to advise you that it's ALL about recognition and then attacking in under 1.5 min per question. Yes, for someone like me if I have to retake the test I'll have to study for months to account for slow recognition skills. The test if particularly evil if you have been out of school for quite a period of time and are used to rational thought processes regarding everyday math skills. Good luck to you an keep beating on the door. A GRE score does not make the man, or woman, but it sure can make you feel like a troglodyte ---look that up weenies.