Frank Rahimi

4-11-2014
GRE Practice Test
Well to properly start this paragraph off I will start by saying that the GRE practice
test was very difficult. It was a whole lot more difficult than I presumed it would be.
The score that I was able to get was a131 out of a possible 200. According to a
conversion table which I acquired online, it translates to a 200-210 on the old GRE
scale, a 135 on the new grading system. Performing a simple calculation, I am able
to determine that my percentage correct scored on the Biology GRE was
approximately 65.5% which well just say 66%. Superimposing this score on a A-F
scale, I made a mid range D on this exam. This means that I have approximately
34% to which I could and should improve on. On the Organism Biology portion, I
scored a 56 which translates to a scaled score of 91. On the Ecology and evolution
portion of the exam I scored a 44 which translates to a scaled score of 73. The
portion of the exam that I managed to score the highest on was the Molecular and
Cellular Biology portion with a 65 and a scaled score of 112. Areas that I need to
substantially improve on include, in my opinion, absolutely everything. I find it
rather strange that probably 90% of the questions all consisted of content which
looked really familiar; furthermore, it is all information that I have gone over in the
past eight semesters as an undergraduate. I think that finally the clutter, of old
class binders and notes, are going to really come in handy for reviewing the basics
of each class. Genetics, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Ecology, Animal Biology,
and Immunology are going to be my primary focus in studying for the real Biology
GRE. I will note that it is intimidating for me, with the vast amount of knowledge
required to score well on the text, to try to find a good place to start studying. But
as the old saying goes, If you want to acclimate to the cold water quick then your
best bet is to just jump right on into it and start swimming. My swim will begin
quite shortly I anticipate.