Bah....

Well after I made that lovely list on my last post, guess how many of those things I did every day? None... Several of them I did fairly regularly and a few of them I didn't do at all so the rest of this post shouldn't come as a surprise:

I took the GRE on Friday AND... I didn't do very well. I won't receive my official scores until November but they gave me a range based on the old test's scoring system and I will more than likely have to take it again. You can only take the test once every 60 days now so I can't take it until the end of October at the earliest... And scores will still not be available until November. I can take the prep class at the U as much as I want for the next three years and not be recharged. Or I can wait and see what my scores are and if some school out there will take pity on me and let me in. Another option is to find a grad program that does not require the GRE, one of the few I've seen is Social Work. Or find a second bachelor's degree that has better job prospects than the one I have and go for that... Ugh...

I won't lie to you, when the screen showed me my score, I was very disappointed... So much so that I cried the entire drive home. I really did not want to have to take it again. My verbal score will probably be okay but the quantitative was horrible. If I score in the upper part of the range I might be okay, although based off of the average scores from grad schools I'm looking at, my score is still below it.

I blame myself for sure. I definitely did not study as much as I should have and didn't follow the tips I learned from my prep class at the U. BUT many people have to take it more than once so it shouldn't make me look like a total idiot... right???

Motivating???

So I have still been having a hard time studying for the GRE. I know, shocking right? Thursday I finally made a list of all the things I need to do before I'll be prepared for the test. This has helped a little bit, as now I can see it spelled out and know what to do each night, although wanting to do it still has not happened.
Here it is, as you can see, I have plenty to do in the next 3 weeks (eek!):
1- Watch Algebra iTunes videos (iTunes U has free videos of many different subjects.)
2- Finish Geometry book (I ordered "Geometry: Tutor in a Book" from Amazon.com after I couldn't figure it out. It has helped out quite a bit and was definitely worth the investment!)
3- Read "Vocabulary Builder" (I got this from the GRE prep class I took at the U.)
4- Do more practice problems from the ETS GRE book. (Another book I received in class.)
5- Obtain list of root words and study their meanings. (I plan to look for these online. I also believe there's a list in some of the materials I got from the class.)
6- Read the New York Times every day. (One of the ways to prep for the test is to read lots of new material. I have been trying to read the NY times daily but with our current economic situation, this has become increasingly difficult.
7- Begin making flash cards of the important math formulas. (I will use the ETS GRE book to help determine what those might be. Also, internet searches)
8- 5 paragraph essay (Since the test starts with two writing questions, I will use the High School method of writing papers or the 5 paragraph essay. I mostly remember how to do that but I'll need to look it up just to make sure I have the formatting correct.)

So that's what I'll try to do between now and August 26th. I may ask for the 25th off as well so I can have an extra day to study. I do actually feel better seeing all laid out so I know what needs to be done. I will also be limiting my extracurricular activities as I clearly need to study a LOT...

Also, I have been back in Utah for a full year now. Sometimes it feels like forever, other times it feels like I've been back for a week. Even though I lived in Denver for 15 months, there is plenty of stuff I never did that I may have to go back for.
Here's my list for that:
1- Finish the Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder. My friend Amanda got really sick right at the beginning.
2- Eat at Snarff's in Boulder. They even put one in Denver and I never ate there! I blame you Chipotle!
3-See Pike's Peak. Apparently you can drive up to the top if you want but there are also other ways to get there however I still never went there. I did see Garden of the Gods (which is basically like hanging out in Southern Utah) so I did spend a little time in Colorado Springs.
4- Go to Red Rock's amphitheater. I seriously can't believe I never did this. When there were no events going on you could go hike, run, walk, etc. They also had cheap movies there in the summer.
5- I wanted to go to Elicht Gardens until I went to Lagoon a couple of weeks ago. I have apparently developed motion sickness because I wanted to die when we got home. Maybe if I can find a decent motion sickness pill I will go to Elicht's...
6- Go to Aspen. Nothing more specific, I would just like to go there.

That's all I can think of for now. If I ever go back there, I'll have to try and cross some of this off my list.

I'm thinking I will also have to make a similar list to my GRE one involving my fitness goals.