“A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.”
-Nabokov, On Good Readers and Good Writers
Today marks the beginning of the semester! (Does anyone know why Berkeley starts its semester on a Thursday?) That’s right–it’s back to skool for me. Back to learning. Back to reading and writing. Back to everything great under the sun.
Fall 2010 Class List!
- English 166- Nabokov
- Comparative Literature 155- The Modern Period
- Environmental Science, Policy, and Management- Introduction to Environmental Science
- Environmental Design 101a- Writing about Environmental Design: Short Composition
- Plus ballet
At first I thought that my classes wouldn’t bode well for my GRE studying, because I kind of have a lot on my plate. But to tell you the truth, I’m super stoked about this schedule. It’s heavy on the reading/writing aspect, sure. And I am a little out of my element on certain subjects (uhh, I dont know anything about Environmental Science, but it’s cross-listed with English as well) ((and UHH, I really don’t know anything about architecture but it sounded GREAT on the course description so I’m diving right in)). But despite these little setbacks I think I’ll be okay.
You see, with all of these writing classes I feel like I’ll have a strong grip on the writing section of the GRE. The GRE requires you to write about a particular idea–be it a potential law or a current issue–and argue for/against/quality it. You don’t know what you’re writing about before the test and you don’t know whether it’s something you know off the top of your head or not (in fact, I hear it’s better to not know about the topic beforehand so that you can use the evidence provided).
I think it’s this preparation for the unknown that particularly frightens me. However with all of the crazy random classes I’ll be taking, I’m certain there will be some days that I will have to write about something I know nothing about. And it’s those crazy, whatthehellamitalkingabout?!?! moments that’ll really test my reading and writing skills.
So in a way I feel like with the crazy schedule I’ll be stretching my reading skills every which way. Now all I have to do is focus on math!
“whatthehellamitalkingabout?!?! moments”
I remember writing a ten page paper on HMO's and PPO's. To this day I have no clue how I got a decent grade on it.