Students prepare for grad exams

Applying to graduate school involves time management, decision-making and preparing for various graduate entrance exams.

Standardized tests that are taken by students are the GRE for graduate school, MCAT for medical school, PCAT for pharmacy school, GMAT for business schooland the LSAT for law school.

Emily Davis, assistant director of USC Student Orientation and Testing Services, said students interested in graduate school should look at what programs require.

Educational Testing Service administers the GRE, a computer-based test, on USC’s campus. The GRE is structured much like the SAT, with verbal, quantitative and writing sections. The orientation office also coordinates GRE subject exams, which are only offered in written form.

Davis said the GRE is the exam most students will take when preparing graduate school. However, the office also offers the Miller Analogy test, a computerized, multiple-choice test which uses analogies that can be drawn from any subject.

Unlike the GRE, which is offered four days a week and twice each day, the LSAT is only given at certain times a year. Students should make a plan, Davis said. “Are you going to put the time forth to studying? We have some people take the exam on what they know, whereas other people will plan it out further in advance. It is up to the individual’s level of comfort and what they see need for preparation.”

Rickey Evans, a first-year professional pharmacy student, said in order to apply to pharmacy school he had to take the PCAT, which is offered only three times a year.

“In order to prepare for it I just took practice tests online,” Evans said. “I wanted to take a class, but it was too expensive. I just studied at home, took like one practice test a week and that was good for me. I just took  [the PCAT] once.”

Evans said students should not wait until the last minute to apply for tests.

Litsa Orban, a first-year higher education and student services graduate student, used a book to prepare for the GRE.

“I decided not to take a class because it was so expensive,” Orban said. “People that took the class got improved scores. I bought the book and went over practice problems occasionally. I didn’t prepare as much as I should have. They have tips in the back of the book and the last tip said: ‘don’t cram.’”

Orban said students that know ahead of time that they are applying for graduate school should have conquered most of their core classes. Treat your grad school application like a class, Orban said.

Student Body President Meredith Ross, a fourth-year political science student, said she is taking the LSAT on Saturday in order to prepare for law school.

“I’ve spent the past few months preparing with a couple of different study books at my own pace,” Ross said. “I’ve take a bunch of practice tests and timed sections. At this point there’s not much I can do other than calm down and try to relax before Saturday.”

Sevario Jenkins, a third-year public relations student, said it is hard trying to start studying for the GRE and “still adhere to the demands of my professors, especially with this being my junior year and now really getting into my major.”