Do You Think Carb Loading Would Help?

The spring term ended last week. I only had two finals, fortunately on two different days, so the studying wasn't too terrible. I'm extremely glad to put the microbiology class behind me. It required a tremendous amount of tedious memorization with little context. I hate that sort of class. No learning was involved.

You'd think I could take a break now. Nope, I'm now preparing for the GRE, which I will take on June 19. It's computerized now. I'm sure that makes it easier to prevent fraud and to change the questions frequently but I'm pretty old fashioned when it comes to calculating and critically reading text. I prefer to put pencil to paper in both cases. 

I have two practice exams that I got for free when I signed up for the GRE. I just completed the analytical part of one of them, and to my great distress, I ran out of time! I randomly marked three questions towards the end because it was clear they would require more time to solve than I had left. I've still got some time to condition myself--it's a lot like an athlete running a marathon. I need to find my pace. More practice will do it. Fortunately, I've given myself a reasonable amount of time, and there are exams available on the internet (for a small fee, of course).

A new part of the GRE is two written essays, each to be completed in 30 minutes. I don't have any particular problem with this sort of thing in general, but to be honest, when I compare my essays to the ones in the study book that I purchased, they sort of fall flat. Despite my best efforts, I write like a scientist. I qualify (could, would, might). I avoid flowery adjectives and adverbs. My sentences tend to be short and reasonably declarative. I absolutely refuse to use the passive voice, however, so there is at least that in my favor. And I can use punctuation correctly. So perhaps I'll muddle through on the essays.

There won't be much time to catch my breath after the GRE, though. I have to begin my vet school application right away. I've heard over and over that it takes weeks to complete. Ghastly. The online application opened on June 2 but I decided to focus on one task at a time. I suppose this continuous cycle of studying and prepping is good practice for vet school.