Standardized tests and lessons learned

Twenty six months and twelve days after the last time I sat for an examination, I had to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) today. The last time I took an exam, it was 24 hours before college graduation, for the class that was at the very bottom on my list of my priorities that semester. So, I don't remember studying or even caring about the outcome of that Geology 101 final. As far as I was concerned, I was done with all the finals for my major classes and was getting a degree the next day. Geology 101 was the very last thing on my mind. On that day, in the lecture hall where I took my exam, I was staring at the Scantron paper while planning out my graduation cap decorations and the perfect hijab to go with the gorgeous gown I'd picked out for my grad walk! I hardly knew that the next exam I'd take would be two years later or that it'd be an incredibly tiring, yet highly important standardized test. The experience I had while preparing for the GRE was quite different from experiences I've had with exams before and it'd be unfair to let that experience go undocumented. So here is a list of things I observed and learned while preparing for and taking the GRE:

1. You might think that spending a mere three days preparing for the SAT would've taught me never to repeat that. But seven years later, I found myself making the same mistakes.
2. The day after I registered for the test, way back in May, I started "studying" and gathering study materials. These study materials however, disappeared only to reappear two days before I was due to take the test.
3. I found myself drawing a blank while revisiting certain Math concepts for the test, that I'm pretty sure I'd spent hours studying while in college. Only after the test today, I remembered that I minored in Math while at college. I don't even know how to feel about that.
4. A major part of the GRE is vocabulary study and knowing how to use them in sentences. I had no idea that the English language had about 20 different words that meant the same.
5. Talking about vocab study, if I had studied for finals in college this efficiently, I'd have graduated with a 4.0 GPA.
6. I spent days staring at a list of 800 words that appeared most frequently in GRE tests and tricked myself into believing that I was actually learning those words. 
7. Finally, I realized I needed serious help. So my younger brother and sister were pulled into the prep team. We realized that learning (don't ask me how effectively) 817 words in a day is quite possible if you let your siblings make jokes about the words, correlate every other word to Harry Potter (that is how I passed every History test I took, ever) and let your fiance quiz you. We made a pretty good team.
8. In spite of having a good 60 days to prepare, the studying gets done only in the last weekend before the test and two after work evenings.
9. Studying while at work is quite possible and pretty efficient too. I found myself running to the car to solve a few practice tests, run back to my desk and repeat the above two steps multiple times a day. I must confess that I did get a lot of studying and work done that way! 
10. You can trick yourself into believing that you'll get a good 7 hours of sleep the night before the test, but then you find yourself staring at the clock multiple times that night - at 1:18, 3:20, 4:32.
11. If you have a strong gut feeling about wearing your eyeliner boldly the morning of the test, listen to that gut feeling. I found myself in front of the bathroom mirror, applying eyeliner at 5:30 in the morning, wondering what I was doing. Then I realized that it's best to not ask questions that can't be answered.
12. The best breakfast on test day? Little sister's chocolate waffles (with additional chocolate sauce because life is better with chocolate sauce for breakfast) and a huge cup of strong, bitter coffee. Trust me, it works wonders!
13. Lesson learned - While appearing for standardized tests, make sure the hijab isn't tied too tightly or else it gets supremely awkward trying to lift it on either side so that the proctor can make sure that you have no listening devices on your ears. It's best to avoid looking at the proctors at this time since they're trying hard to not look at your struggle with your headscarf and looking at them would just make the situation embarrassing for everyone.
14. I never thought I'd say this about myself but I had to use ear muffs during the test because I found the sound of other people's keyboards, annoying. For a self-confessed "I can't do without any noise" person, this was quite a revelation about myself. Oh and by the way, if you have a helix ear piercing, ear muffs can be quite uncomfortable (important lesson that I learned today).
15. When you hear people talking about a 9 hour long exam that will require them to stay at the testing center from 7 in the morning to 4 in the evening, it is perfectly okay to stop worrying about your own exam for a moment and ask them what test they're taking. This kind of half information will bug you for hours!
16. Four hour long exams can be a pain and not so much fun! But they are timed and one must remember not to get distracted by their engagement ring, or the pretty colored pencil on the table or the cover of their passport.
17. Another lesson learned - wait for a good half hour or so to get the excitement and giddy relief out of your head before you start driving! You deserve that half hour of rest after going through this kind of an experience.
18. Finally, when the brain furiously protests against sleeping at the end of the most tiring day in forever and insists on writing, one shouldn't give in too easily.