standardized tests

What do they actually serve to measure? After thirty+ hours of preparation, I took the GRE exam yesterday afternoon. As two of the three sections are instantly graded, I had immediate feedback as to how I "measured" up. The thing that struck me the most about the whole process of preparation and examination is how much of a rite of passage it is to the privileged classes in this country, and to those in the world who are taking it as a ticket to the opportunity for post-graduate studies in the United States. A doorway of entry into the upper echelons, guarded by alegebraic madness, and vocabulary like excoriate, or opprobrium.

Of course, the knowledge of that information is not truly the key to this examination, and those that make the mistake to simply study the information covered will be sorely dissapointed with their scores. The test seems to actually be designed to test ones mental fitness under pressure, as time is a key factor in the exam. It is also not so subtely a test in comfortablity in the culture of western academia .

In the end, I did well. I was actually pleasantly suprised at how well considering the sweat on my brow during the examination when I barely was able to finish a math section in the time alotted. How much the result influences my ability to get into Phd programs remains to be seen.