Anyone froze up on a GRE section?

[pea-jay]

Ok today was GRE day. I felt pretty good about the Analytical sections, all organized and to the point. Then came the verbal and I bounced around, ending slightly lower than expected (got hit with time killing reading comp questions) but ok I guess.

Finally came quantitative. Hoh-boy, what a mess. I struggled out of the gate, couldnt remember formulas and blew time on items that shouldnt have taken time. At one point I stared at the screen, looking at all those x's and y's and wonder WTF it all meant. SO the questions got easier (I know what that means) and got harder again, stopping me dead again. I half expected the next question to ask me 1+1 = a. 0 b. 1 c. 2. d. 3. e. 4. Ugh. Ive aced a grad level stats course. I can do math but not without formulas or a lot of time. Unfortunately I have neither on the GRE.

Still in the end I got a 470 which is EXACTLY what I got on my first practice text. So much for test prep.

Any other GRE disasters or meltdowns out there?

[captiv8ed]

Sort of. You know the whole computer tutorial part? I was so nervous about the test that I could not read or understand or follow directions on that part. I thought for sure I was sunk. If I would have been hit with verbal first thing, I would have been sunk. Luckily in the writing section, I was able to settle down.

I am so sorry about your score. It sucks on so many levels, not the least of which is the time and money you invested in a second go round.

[Anastasya]

Yeah... That happened to me too. I totally screwed up on the analytical, and I almost ran out of time on the verbal. Somehow I did incredibly well on the math. It was luck, though, because I guessed for at least a third of the questions... Unfortunately I am applying to Humanities programs.

[Sparky]

Heh. First time around I had a seizure during one of the analytical essays (Complex partial seizure = the lights are on but nobody's home). So that one was pretty much a waste--I think that I wrote, like, one paragraph. It might have been in English.

Now, a *normal* person would think, "Oh, I just had a seizure, I am not going to be thinking clearly, there is no reason to finish this test and accept my scores, thus making them a part of my permanent record." *My* thought was, "But if I cancel my scores, I will feel guilty for missing a class for nothing."

Fortunately, the GRE does not test for common sense.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Sparky

[wolfentinus]

My brain totally froze during the Verbal section. All the words look familiar to me, but I couldn't remember any details about them at all. All I could think was, "that look familiar. I studied it... now what does that freakingly mean?" Ended up making guesses for most of the verbal questions.

Didn't manage to finish the Maths section too.

[BlueSwedeShoes]

I did relatively fine up until the last quant section.

Since ETS only offer the (paper-based) GRE test twice a year here, I knew I only had one chance of getting the scores in on time. It was a horrible date for me, and I ended up having to take a night bus to another city a few hours away. So I had to get up at 0230 in the night, take that bus, my breakfast was a cup of coffee and a pre-packaged industrially manufactured pseudosandwich which I ate while waiting outside the testing center for two hours in the Swedish October cold.

The test eventually got started, I did the analytical section and then expected that one minute cool-down-between-tests-break, but no. The guy who managed our tests just got up and read the instructions (i.e. turn to the next page, you have 30 minutes, go!" and then it was the next section.

Needless to say, the last section, quant...yeah, x has never looked quite as foreign to me as it did then. All my energy was gone, and I did my best. When we got the "One minute remaining!" call, I decided to look through the answer sheet quickly. And saw a question I hadn't filled in. Panicking I just picked a letter and marked it, kept looking down the sheet...there's another unanswered one, and one more...and one more...yeah, somehow I completely missed filling in 5-6 questions out of the 30

But I got an ok score 50 points higher than the powerprep put me at, so I guess I'm awesome at guessing quant questions blindly...

[flower power]

All these stories sound so familiar in one way or another, le sigh. It's such a nerve wracking experience that I hope to never have to go through again. I scored way lower than I thought I would on the verbal section (took many practice tests) and scored low on the quant section, which I thought would be the case. Anyway, I am going to apply to schools and hope for the best...I feel for all of us bad test takers! Good luck everyone!

[Takoyaki7]

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that froze up during the test. Verbal wasn't so bad, but on the quant. section I ended up spending 15 minutes on the 7th question... I have no idea why. I finished the quant. sections on PP with at least 10 minutes to spare (which is probably why I thought I'd still be okay after spending 15 minutes on one question)... Too bad I'm applying to an incredibly quant. heavy field. BAAAAAAH.

moral of story: only spending one week prep'ing by looking at vocab = really stupid mistakes on quant. section

At least it's all over.