I completely bombed the GRE's tonight.

I scored lower than I did on  my practice tests.

Shit to consider:

• The fact that I just got back from my week long trip to Korea for my grandmother's funeral. The time zone changes man. I'm telling you. It's terrible. I'm awake from 11pm-8am but can hardly keep my eyes open at noon. 
• I caught the flu halfway towards the trip. During the exam today I couldn't breathe without at least 5 chest rattling coughs. I was physically and mentally dead throughout the entire exam. I couldn't understand a single question. 
• I started my lovely monthly this morning! I thought I was going to start during the trip so I packed about a Walmart's worth of tampons and pads and yet, nothing. It wasn't until early this morning I started, and you know what that means! Cramp city bitch. I couldn't sit at the cubicle during the exam without pain radiating through my uterus, back, thighs, and kneecaps. Taking 5 things of Advil didn't help either. 
• Also, I probably didn't prepare as well as I thought. 

Oh well, at least I know how the test goes, and how much harder it is than the Kaplan practice MST's. I've looked at the reviews online and everyone says that Kaplan and Barron's give you questions that are way easier than what will show up on the actual GRE. That's what I sort of thought too during the exam. I kept thinking how hard every single fucking question was. Weirdly enough, I scored a lot higher on my math, which is strange, because I haven't done a single preparation for math. At all. And I mean, at fucking ALL. 

I'm just taking tonight's exam as a practice run, and at least I have the option to cancel my score and take it again in 3 weeks. I probably will cram a bit more, and I signed up for a 7 day trial with Magoosh, which I kept seeing rave reviews for on the Internet. Consumers have stated that Magoosh really helped them score higher on their second attempts at the GRE, and that the practice questions they give you are way harder than the ones on Kaplan or even the actual test. I really hope so.

I'm going to take a practice Powerprep test at the end of the 7 days, probably on the 18th of October and see how much of an effect Magoosh has. If Magoosh helped a lot, I'm going to buy their $79 package, which is 20 bucks off their original price of a 30 day plan filled with test questions, resources, study material, etc. Honestly the problem with me was that I didn't take enough practice tests, and I was really running out of time so I'd rush and guess the rest of the questions on each section. I didn't manage my time well, and that killed me. I should learn to time myself and pace myself appropriately every section. When I study out of the Kaplan book, I take as much time as I need for every single question, and that's what probably kills me. I need to learn how to focus and scope out the main ideas or understand what the question is asking a lot quicker. 

Here's to hoping I keep being diligent and not neglect studying. I definitely know I could've studied more. And tonight has really shown me that. I kept thinking the GRE would be a piece of cake, but lo and behold, I was in for a rude awakening. It was so much harder than the practice tests!