The Five Stages of GR(I)E(F)
searching for witty tumblr posts about the GREs > studying
T-Minus 2 Days until the GREs. This test is like the SATs, but so much worse. This is my own experience dealing with the five stages of GR(I)E(F):
- Denial: “I feel fine.” This prep book is a nice paperweight! The GREs are just like the SATs, and I did pretty okay on those. I’ll be fine!
- Anger: “Why me? It’s not fair!” Okay, so I need to get cracking and hit the books. But why do I have to do this god-awful arithmetic by hand? Why are you making me remember how to FOIL and solve for x and determine how probable it is to pull one red, one green, and one blue marble out of a bag? WHY???
- Bargaining: “I’ll do anything…” Alright fine, I have to take this dumb test, and I will even begrudgingly devote hours of my time preparing for it, but just spare me from having to settle upon the best possible antonym for that ridiculous word that no real person has ever used and I’m sure you just made up.
- Depression: “I’m so sad; why bother?” I have been doing so many simple calculations on paper that numbers have lost all meaning. Seven times six is somehow always working out to be 43. Every time! There is no point.
- Acceptance: “It’s going to be okay.” It is what it is. I may very well have to spend forty-five minutes writing an essay explaining why every cloud has a silver lining. I also accept the fact that I may or may not be dumber than I was when I was 17. Such is life!
