Countdown to the Revised GRE!
On August 1, your chance to take the current GRE ends, my friends. If you've studied and prepped, strategized and practiced for the current GRE, then you'd better hurry your pants up and take it before August 1. Why? Things are changing. Big time.
The Verbal section, for example, is getting a major face lift:
Current GRE Verbal questions:
- Analogies, antonyms, sentence completions and reading comprehension
- 1 section
- 30 questions
- 30 minutes
- Current GRE Verbal practice quiz
Revised GRE Verbal questions:
- Text completions, sentence equivalence, and reading comprehension
- 2 sections
- 20 questions per section
- 30 minutes per section
See anything different? Yep. I said it was a major change. So, if GRE antonyms are your thing, then you'd better take the test and prove it, friends. They're going away on August 1.
Great Summer Read #4: The Truth About Forever
Great Summer Read Selection #4:
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Typically, I try to stay as far away as possible from books with "forever" in the title, but this one definitely caught my attention. Sarah Dessen truly delivers a touching, yet witty story in The Truth About Forever. She has a firm grasp on the angst suffered by teenage girls, and definitely knows how to showcase the comedy and tragedy of denial, grief, and first love.
Check out the plot synopsis, straight from Sarah Dessen's website:
"Macy's summer stretches before her, carefully planned and outlined. She will spend her days sitting at the library information desk. She will spend her evenings studying for the SATs. Spare time will be used to help her obsessive mother prepare for the big opening of the townhouse section of her luxury development. But Macy's plans don't anticipate a surprising and chaotic job with Wish Catering, a motley crew of new friends, or ... Wes. Tattooed, artistic, anything-but-expected Wes. He doesn't fit Macy's life at all-so why does she feel so comfortable with him? So ... happy? What is it about him that makes her let down her guard and finally talk about how much she misses her father, who died before her eyes the year before?"
Dessen paints Macy's resilience into a beautiful, fragile portrait, and shows the readers how the depths of love can carry us when we're too weak to take another step.
Interested? Buy it here!
Coming up next week: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
More Reading Comprehension Help:
This Week in Test Dates
What's going on this week July 10 - 16?
Wednesday, July 14
- Registration ends for July 28 MCAT
- MCAT 101
Friday, July 15
- Registration ends for July 29 MCAT
- What's a good MCAT score?
Saturday, July 16
- MCAT administration
Countdown to the Revised GRE
This is it! There are only three and a half weeks before the Revised GRE takes over for the current GRE. August 1 is the deadline. What in the world do you need to know? How different is the new test from the current test? What about scores?
Here is some info that should help you decide if you should hurry up and take the current GRE or wait until after August 1 and take the revised GRE:
- If you need your GRE scores before November 1, register to take the current GRE before August 1
- If you'd like to compare your GRE scores to other people's scores, then take the current GRE. Schools won't be reporting new scores until later in the year, so if you want to know averages, then you need a baseline to compare.
- If you've studied and practice for the current GRE Quantitative, Verbal, and Analytical Writing sections, then take the current GRE! Each section is going through a major overhaul, so you don't want to waste all your hard work.
Next week: The Revised GRE; What to Expect!
Great Summer Read #3: The Fortunes of Indigo Skye
Great Summer Read Selection #3:
The Fortunes of Indigo Skye by Deb Caletti
Deb Caletti is one of my all-time favorite YA authors. I have devoured almost every one of her books, mostly because of her supreme mastery of language. If you want text rich with lovely descriptions, truly unique imagery and figurative language, then pick up a Caletti, like this one.
Bina Williams, from Booklistonline.com, offers a great plot synopsis of the book:
"What would you do if you were to come into two and a half million dollars unexpectedly? That's the question facing Indigo Skye, a high-school senior whose life has consisted primarily of�spending time with her boyfriend, navigating her family (Dad has left the family to sell surfboards in Hawaii), and working�mornings at Carrera's restaurant in Seattle.
Indigo can tell what people are like by what they eat for breakfast, especially the regulars. But when a well-dressed stranger on an orange Vespa comes in and orders�only a cup of coffee, Indigo finds him hard to figure out--even after he becomes a semiregular.�After the stranger gives her a fortune, Indigo's search for answers takes her to Hawaii to confront her benefactor and also to�ritzy Hollywood suburbs, where she learns that being rich is not all it is cracked up to be.
Caletti's story with an infinitely likeable heroine and realistic supporting characters�makes a�fine counterpoint to the ubiquitous rich-girl series books."
Like what you read? Buy it here!
Coming up next week: The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen
More Reading Comprehension Help:
This Week in Test Dates
What's going on this week July 3 - July 9?
Monday, July 4
- Happy Independence Day!
Wednesday, July 6
- MCAT Administration
- MCAT 101
- What's a good MCAT score?
Thursday, July 7
- LSAT scores available via Internet for the June LSAT
- What's a good LSAT score?
Saturday, July 9
- TOEIC Administration
- What is the TOEIC?
What's a Good LSAT Score?
Attention, LSAT testers! If you took the LSAT earlier this month, then I have good news for you - LSAT scores are available online today.
The question on everyone's mind is this:� "What's a good LSAT score?". I'm sure all of you did a ton of research on scores before you took the test, but getting your score report and actually comparing your scores to those of other law students accepted at some of the best law schools in the country is a different story.
All the score hype begs the question: "Does a good score even matter?" Share your LSAT score (if you dare) and your answer to that question, here!
Great Summer Read #2: What I Saw and How I Lied
Great Summer Read Selection #2:
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
This book kept me up far past my bedtime on a few nights. It's a quick, easy read, but everything kind of just sucked me in. For one, the setting descriptions are killer. For another, the story line tugs at your soul. You simply cannot stop reading before the ending because it will make you question your judgment, your morals, and everything you believe to be true about integrity.
Sarah echoes my beliefs on her blog, "What Sarah Reads:"
" I devoured this one night when I couldn't sleep. �I had given in around 4am, picked this up and sat reading till I finished around 7. �It is a short bite at around 262 pages and is a delightful coming of age teen thriller/romance set in the late 40s in Palm Beach. �Evie is almost sixteen and lives in Brooklyn with her mother, Beverly and her step-father, Joe who has recently returned from fighting overseas to open a chain of electrical appliance shops. �When a mysterious ex GI friend of Joe tries repeatedly to contact him, Joe packs the family into the car and they drive to Palm Beach�for an impromptu holiday. �There family secrets unravel as Evie comes of age, discovers her first love and to what lengths she'll go to for her family.
This book is so well written you're transported to the era just after the war and all the changes within society that�that entails. �Once the family is in Palm Beach, you can feel the heat and humidity alongside the undercurrent of a country and people attempting to move forward. �Evie and Beverly's whimsical descriptions of their fellow guests are charming and their language at all times felt authentic, from their descriptions of 'swells' to Evie's references from 'Every Young Girl's Guide to Popularity'. �The book as a whole is a background of Mad Men style cocktails at 530pm and Lana Turner sexiness. �Evie longs to be as beautiful and alluring as her mother and Mrs Grayson and when Peter comes into their lives, she falls head over heels despite her parents' warning and it is here the story takes a darker turn."
Enough to lure you in? Buy it here!
Coming up next week: The Fortunes of Indigo Skye by Deb Caletti
More Reading Comprehension Help:
This Week in Test Dates
What's going on this week June 26 - July 2? It's a busy week!
Sunday, June 26
- LSAT Test for Asia, Australia, and New Zealand
- LSAT 101
Monday, June 27
- Internet scores released for the June 11 ACT Test
- What's a good ACT score?
Tuesday, June 28
- MCAT scores released for the May 28 MCAT Test
- What's a good MCAT score?
Wednesday, June 29
- LSAT scores available via Internet for the June LSAT
- What's a good LSAT score?
Friday, July 1
- SAT scores mailed for the June 4 SAT Test
- What's a good SAT score?
Saturday, July 2
- Registration ends for the July 16 MCAT
- MCAT 101
Take the GMAT This Summer!
Many people use the "down" season of the summer to take the standardized tests that are just too tough to fit in during the school year. The GMAT is a different kind of test, though, and there are different kinds of people taking the GMAT.
The majority of GMAT testers fall into the late 20's to mid 30's age range - an age where most have full-time jobs and relationships, and many have families. There is no summer break when you have kids, a packed work schedule, and relationships that require attention.
So, how do you fit the GMAT into an already hectic life? Is the summer still a great time to take the GMAT?
The answer is a resounding, "YES!" Here are three good reasons why:
- Although you don't technically get too much time off during the summer, if you have kids, they do. And that means less schlepping from school to soccer to ballet. This translates into more time for you to study for the GMAT.
- Most people take some sort of vacation during the summer. If you're one of them, you can haul along your GMAT prep book and read it on the beach. Nothing like sand in between your toes to help you practice GMAT Quantitative data sufficiency questions, eh?
- Your life may still be nuts in June, but everyone else will relax a bit more in the summer. It may be the perfect time to ask your boss for some time off to study - he or she may be more willing to say yes!
So, if you haven't yet, get the GMAT registration details here and get cracking! The summer is the perfect time to take this test, get into business school, and finally...FINALLY...nab your MBA.