u/Lost-Community-1906

Hi all,

I had my GRE today and it went better than I expected. I scored a 160Q and 158V.

My scores were a big surprise because my PP2 mock and other mocks put my Verbal right around 165, with a 155Q. Something I noticed only now was that I worked on the wrong things for my Verbal prep and the right ones for quant. Please don't make the same mistake by negating certain areas completely like I did!

For Quant, I went from barely being able to do basic questions to a 160Q which seemed in the realm of impossibility for me, I have flunked math all my life! I was able to do this by doing three things: firstly, using prepswift to drill fundamentals. Secondly, maintaining an error log to identify which areas are weakest. Thirdly, drilling medium and hard questions for each topic and then spending a lot of time understanding my mistakes. An error log is everything!!!

On Verbal, I made the mistake of thinking my RC was my weak point, whereas I was actually also bleeding away crucial points on SE and TC. My SE and TC are very strong but I seem to bleed away a couple of points on them here and there, enough to decrease my score.

Overall, I'm surprised and relieved at the score I have obtained. It has shown me that even someone like me, who has been the worst at Math, can succeed! If you're unsure whether to take the GRE for the first time or to take that retake, please do! The GRE journey is ultimately not just an exam, it is transformative in the fundamental skills it can endow you with over time, something that will come in handy not just for your academic but professional life too !

Growing up I never really had a lot of friends. Not because I wasn't social but really only because I relished in having fewer and deeper relationships. Unfortunately, I never seemed to have met many others who shared such a tendency.

I always felt my interests were reasonably varied. I thoroughly enjoy movies, books, art, and video games of all kinds. An insatiable curiosity also makes me highly fond of history and all aspects of life.

I suppose that my hobbies reflect the manner of someone often forced to be on their own. Sometimes I lament that. It is almost embarrassing to consider that I, as someone, almost crossing his mid-20s, has never learnt to ride a bike or to even skate. It never appealed to me do so on my own. And I often wonder what it might have been like to share such a moment with someone, even if it ended in failure, to simply have that memory.

For too long in my life, I sought myself in other people. I told myself that surely, there is someone for everyone. There truly are wonderful people out there. Part of me feels guilty to think that I should ask of anyone to aid me in having the experiences I never did.

Although more and more often, I find myself passing by a restaurant and wondering how nice it would be to sit down there with someone who actually feels fulfilling. Or to finally play Zelda all these years later, under the auspices of someone who is a well-versed veteran.

It seems, I always live in the hope of meeting someone capable of being as varied as me- and I mean that not in the slightest in a pompous sense. I only ever hope to meet someone as whimsical, exciting, and engaging as the next person, and in that way I suppose I write not only to elucidate myself but a universal struggle.