This is the “let’s become friends” stage of the process. Your 3-Part Plan to Dominate the GRE! STAGE 2: Friendship level They may alert you to specific pitfalls to avoid. They may well have some tidbits of advice for you. Learn even more by surveying and requesting feedback from others who have taken the exam.Many programs will only review complete applications. Advance and careful planning is necessary to meet these deadlines so that you do not find yourself in a situation where your application is not complete by the deadline date. Keep in mind that while the GRE general test has multiple test administration sites and dates, the GRE subject test administrations are often scheduled only two or three times per admission cycle. Determine which tests are required by the schools/programs of your interest.Ĭheck the admission criteria and the application deadlines to determine which tests are required and the application deadlines so that you can schedule the appropriate exams to meet all of the criteria of the school/programs of your choice.Research the GRE general test and the discipline-specific subject tests especially in terms of available test administration dates, time limitations on retakes, score delivery options, etc. Here’s what you need to accomplish during this stage: This is the “getting to know you” stage of the process. Here’s how we did it: STAGE 1: Acquaintance level We were going to “Make Friends with the GRE.” In other words going from the acquaintance level to friend level to intimate level. I asked her to think about the GRE process like the development of a relationship. A 3-stage strategy for GRE successĭuring our next conversation, I told Janelle that I had developed a three-stage strategy to position her for success. I was planning to use cognitive restructuring – changing the way we think about something.
I decided to “borrow” some of the techniques I use to deal with speaker anxiety in the public speaking classes that I teach at the undergraduate level.
I told her that I would brainstorm some options and we scheduled a follow-up meeting. She said that she already felt better just by having someone listen without judgement. My first step was to listen carefully as Janelle shared all her feelings and fears. It was clear to me that I would need to develop a somewhat different plan of action to successfully help Janelle perform at her very best on this exam. However, Janelle took “anxious” to a whole new level. I was not surprised that Janelle was nervous as almost all prospective graduate students are a bit anxious about admissions’ tests. “I can’t stop trembling…I can’t eat…I cry for little or no reason…I am just so nervous.” All of this from Janelle, a prospective graduate student on her response to scheduling a GRE test date.