GRE

Have been studying for my GRE the past 24 hours, mainly in preparation of the verbal test. Quantitative test wise, all I did was to do a few rounds of mock tests. But only after I started preparing for the verbal test, including trying some mock tests, did I realise that 24 hours of mugging is not going to expand my vocabulary enough to tackle the 'ridiculously' difficult GRE verbal test. Who would have been guessed the meaning of "pettifogging"?

Nonetheless, I mugged whatever I can over 24 hours (good thing that I took one day leave before my GRE test) and went for it today. The ride to the GRE centre at Burlington Square was surprisingly jam-free, considering that I had to go pass Newton Circus and Bt Timah Rd. So I ended having a last-burst-of-fire memorising exercise in my car while I waited in the Burlington Square car park for 0830hrs to come. 10 mins was all I had.

When I registered for the GRE, which I had to bring my passport along, the lady exclaimed that my passport did not have the name 'Henry' while I registered with that name. She explained that I need to drop an email to GRE to explain this discrepancy so that my score will be valid. That's just a slight hiccup in the scheme of things. :)

As I was talking to the lady at the registration counter, she asked whether I did my tertiary education overseas, as she insisted that local graduates won't speak English as well as I did. I was flattered by her compliments, but I explained to her that my English is really not that good even though my spoken English may sound fluent. I was to later prove this point with my verbal test score :o

So I took the test and got my scores. Attained full marks for my quantitative test (which I am very happy about) but barely made it above 500 for my verbal test. The overall of 1310 was acceptable to me, since I have to admit that I did not really give myself much time to prepare. A few more weeks of mugging could have pushed my score above 600. But oh well, excuses are just excuses. My English is just not that terrific and I did not prepare hard enough for it. It's actually the latter that frustrates me more, as I know very well that I could have done better if I had spent more time preparing for it.

Anyways, it's over now. And 1310 is enough for me to apply to both Cornell and U Mich-Ann Arbor (both requiring a minimun of 1250). So that rounds up all the university application process I need to go through for now. If I come to know that my MIT application is unsuccessful by end Feb, I would need to prepare the application for U Mich-Ann Arbor by 15 Mar.

So, a fruitful morning in general. Cleared my GRE with mixed feelings - happy for my quantitative results, disappointed with my verbal score. What's new? :P

And afternoon was fun. We had our branch's CNY lunch outing at Crystal Jade, followed by karaoke session together, during which we blasted the windows of the K-box outlet! Ha ha.