I missed the GRE thanks to traffic. What now?

[julianorts]

The worst situation possible happened to me today. After studying for the GRE for three months, I left an hour and a half before my exam time to get to a testing center that normally takes about 30-45 minutes to get to. Due to unwarranted traffic, my dad drove me around the city for over two hours with no luck. We never made it. I even called to see if I could come a little late, since 12:35 was approaching, and they said I had til 1:05. At 1:05 I was still 20 minutes away and there was no chance. Now I'm out $205 and pissed that I still have to keep studying because I've been looking forward to freedom for weeks. 

 

I managed to schedule an appointment for August 4th at 8am. Next time, even though it's only a half hour from me, we're booking a hotel so this can't happen again. I'm absolutely heartbroken and more angry than I've ever been in my life that I have to keep studying since working a full time summer job and studying is not a fun situation to be in. 

 

So I guess my question is, what would you suggest I do to keep studying and make something out of this awful situation? My motivation is pretty low at this point. I know I should take another practice test or two so I will, and I'm definitely going to study more vocabulary since I only got through about 400 words. However as far as math goes, should I just keep doing practice questions every day? I don't want to lose everything I just spent so much time learning. If it helps, I scored 154 M and 157 V on a Magoosh practice test. Today, I felt like I'd get a little higher on math and probably a little lower on verbal. I'm going into speech pathology.

[eieio]

I'd give yourself at least a week completely "off" --don't even let yourself think about it at all.

Then after a week, with another 2 weeks/ish before the exam just go back and refresh everything you already did. Try to learn a few new words and stay sharp. Honestly a complete break, followed by 2 weeks refresher probably won't do anything but help you. 

 

That said I feel your pain on expecting it to be over, only to be sitting in purgatory another 3 weeks. 

[julianorts]

5 minutes ago, eieio said:

I'd give yourself at least a week completely "off" --don't even let yourself think about it at all.

Then after a week, with another 2 weeks/ish before the exam just go back and refresh everything you already did. Try to learn a few new words and stay sharp. Honestly a complete break, followed by 2 weeks refresher probably won't do anything but help you. 

 

That said I feel your pain on expecting it to be over, only to be sitting in purgatory another 3 weeks. 

That's what my friend told me to do too! I don't know if I can handle that anxiety of not studying though even though I don't want to study :/ Would it be good to just study MWF from now until the test, just by doing practice questions and studying vocab those three nights a week? Or will that be too little/too much?

 

Thanks for your help!!!

[eieio]

I think it really depends on your situation. If not studying makes you more nervous, then definitely study. For a situation like this I'd think that keeping nerves and anxiety down, however that is achieved, is the best road to success. Being burnt out can end up doing a lot of damage. I took the GRE last year and after awhile I caught myself starting to not even care anymore--I was so far in the weeds and so stressed out I just wanted it to be over. That was a bad state of mind to be in. 

Anyway a good balance might be, like you said, just doing review 2-3 times this next week. That way you feel like you're staying sharp but it's (relatively) mindless and hopefully less depressing/dreadful. You can review vocab or practice questions you got wrong in the past. Stick to the study schedule you set for yourself, no more no less. I find the study plans helps relieve my guilt during my time off.

After that you could go back to trying to learn new material, which always takes a lot more mental effort. Hopefully even a mild break will help the time go by faster without getting too far out of that state of mind. 

 

Good luck!

[julianorts]

12 minutes ago, eieio said:

I think it really depends on your situation. If not studying makes you more nervous, then definitely study. For a situation like this I'd think that keeping nerves and anxiety down, however that is achieved, is the best road to success. Being burnt out can end up doing a lot of damage. I took the GRE last year and after awhile I caught myself starting to not even care anymore--I was so far in the weeds and so stressed out I just wanted it to be over. That was a bad state of mind to be in. 

Anyway a good balance might be, like you said, just doing review 2-3 times this next week. That way you feel like you're staying sharp but it's (relatively) mindless and hopefully less depressing/dreadful. You can review vocab or practice questions you got wrong in the past. Stick to the study schedule you set for yourself, no more no less. I find the study plans helps relieve my guilt during my time off.

After that you could go back to trying to learn new material, which always takes a lot more mental effort. Hopefully even a mild break will help the time go by faster without getting too far out of that state of mind. 

 

Good luck!

Thanks so much! Just reviewing this week sounds like a great idea. I haven't reviewed my previous learned vocab in a while. And yeah, that's the state of mind I've been in lately too. I really just wanted to get in done today and I was sooooo angry in the car.

[fuzzylogician]

Listen, this sucks and you have a right to be angry. I think the best thing you can do is take at least a day off, maybe two, and allow yourself to just be upset and do whatever you want. Then you need to regroup and come up with a new game plan for what to do given these new circumstances. Reviewing some of the material you've already learned is a good idea, and you can spend a bit of time on vocab every day, but you can also afford to slow down for a few days and then get back into serious prep mode for the last 7-10 days. Do the same thing you did before: some practice exams simulated in a real-like environment, go over tips, solve problems in areas where you know you're struggling more. You've got this -- you were ready before and you'll be ready again, and even better than before because you have this extra time. Don't stay mad at yourself, things happen that are outside your control. All you can do is react to them well, but you can't always change them. So allow yourself time to process, and then choose to put it behind you and do the best with what you have. Once it's over, it'll be all the same if you took the exam in July or in August. This is not a major obstacle, and you shouldn't think of it as one. 

[julianorts]

6 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

Listen, this sucks and you have a right to be angry. I think the best thing you can do is take at least a day off, maybe two, and allow yourself to just be upset and do whatever you want. Then you need to regroup and come up with a new game plan for what to do given these new circumstances. Reviewing some of the material you've already learned is a good idea, and you can spend a bit of time on vocab every day, but you can also afford to slow down for a few days and then get back into serious prep mode for the last 7-10 days. Do the same thing you did before: some practice exams simulated in a real-like environment, go over tips, solve problems in areas where you know you're struggling more. You've got this -- you were ready before and you'll be ready again, and even better than before because you have this extra time. Don't stay mad at yourself, things happen that are outside your control. All you can do is react to them well, but you can't always change them. So allow yourself time to process, and then choose to put it behind you and do the best with what you have. Once it's over, it'll be all the same if you took the exam in July or in August. This is not a major obstacle, and you shouldn't think of it as one. 

This is what I needed to hear. Thank you so much. It's such a nuisance but in the end, I will take this exam in a few weeks.