Seven years ago almost to the day, I took the GRE. Living in rural Poland, I had to get up at five in the morning to take a bus to Krakow in order to take the blasted test. Arriving, I had to wait about two hours to take the test.
Not the best start.
I scored decently — over 1800 — but found my analytical score to be about 100 points below what I’d been making in practice tests at home.
One of those silly dress rehearsals I had a perfect score in the analytical section. With a catch: I ignored the time limit and simply worked the problem.
I’ve never understood the point of putting a time limit on a test like the GRE. It means that the exam measures how well you do on silly riddles, geometry problems, and the like under severe time pressure.
And given all the courses and books designed to “help performance,” the whole test is a ridiculous joke.