Yet another one of those GRE questions

[mysticblossom]

So, for about the past week, I've been studying at least two hours a day on my GRE workbook (Kaplan), and so far, while I've improved a little bit, I'm getting nervous about whether or not I'll be ready enough to do well on test day, which will probably be sometime in October.  I do fine on things like the reading questions and sentence completion

Comments

[catseyecordelia]

Nobody gives a crap about the GRE for MFA programs. This has been discussed ad nauseum in previous posts.

Look at www.pw.org/speakeasy or google "Creative Writing MFA Handbook" and its corresponding blog for more information.

[mysticblossom]

Well, that certainly does make me feel better :) I'm concerned, though, about the cases where one needs to be accepted into both the program and the school itself, like at many larger universities. The program might not care, but I'm also wondering whether or not the graduate school cares.

[catseyecordelia]

Iowa has enormous pull with the graduate school. I know people who have gotten into the workshop with an 800. Combined. Minimum officially set forth by the grad college is 1000. Seriously, just have an excellent writing sample.

[mysticblossom]

*Nods* Thank you very much.

[springheel_jane]

freerice.com for vocab words.

[mysticblossom]

Wow. This is pretty awesome. Thank you!

[springheel_jane]

Freerice has *some* good words but the relevance of a lot of the words is debatable. See link for a bit of discussion.

http://forum.thegradcafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=18941

[marilyn_may]

mind sharing the vocab and word a day sites you're signed up for? im also taking the gre in october! i like using things others have found helpful

[mysticblossom]

I signed up for the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam Webster ones. I prefer Webster so far, because most of the OED words have been words I already know (like grocery).

[dolorelei]

Merriam-Webster has a book called "Vocabulary Builder" that offers groups of related roots followed by excellent and sometimes obscure example words. It will also strengthen your knowledge of words borrowed from mythology and Latin. It's small, fairly cheap, and handy for 15 minute increments of studying while you're waiting for the bus or whatever. It even has wonderful little quizzes at regular intervals in the book, if that is what you need to really cement the stuff into your nog.

[mysticblossom]

That sounds really useful. One of the problems I have is that even if I've read the words dozens of times in books and such, I don't retain it well unless I use it a lot myself, so this sounds like it would definitely teach me the way I learn.

[anonymous]

how is your vocab lacking if you are a writer? You should have been reading "wordy" book all along.

[mysticblossom]

Oh, I so knew this was going to come up.

[anonymous]

Its a valid point though init

[mysticblossom]

Not really. I read plenty of books. The problem with vocabulary has nothing to do with that. There are other factors involved, such as the fact that I didn't take enough German or Latin in high school, so I didn't retain much of it. A stronger education in a foreign language, I've discovered, would have helped me memorize vocab words a lot quicker, because I would have learned root words. As it is, I struggle to remember exact meanings unless I see them in context, which, on the GRE's, you don't.