Meh.. the GRE

I will be taking the written portion of the GRE this coming Friday.  Originally, when I signed up for the GRE, I wanted to take about a month and a half to study for it.  The verbal/math portion of the test is on June 12th so when I looked into officially signing on my general goal seemed reachable (I signed up for it about 5 days ago).  What I was not aware of, however, was that in Asia one must take the writing portion of the GRE one month prior to the verbal/math.  This flies in the face of the American version of the test to prevent cheating (it was a bit of an epidemic in China a few years ago).  So I went from having 6 weeks to having 8 days because the last day to take the written portion is May 7th (I'll be there at 11 AM and ask for some good vibes if you are able to figure out the time change because Evan Don't Need No good vibes at  1 AM the next day ^^).  Korean, and generally Asian smiley by the way ^^ . 

The written portion is broken up into two separate essays.  The first is an "Issue" task where the test taker is given two general statements and tasked with choosing one and being either for or against it with a rainbow of possibilities in the middle.  You can take it at almost any angle as long as the logic flows smoothly and there is sufficient evidence to back it up.  The "Issue" task comes with a 45 minute time allotment.  The second essay is an "Argument" task where we are given a prompt and must critique it's soundness of logic, use of evidence and general efficiency. 

Today I spent my time on the latter half and because I (a) have no classes today, (b) feel deep shame over a lack of steady posts and (c) figured "why not?", I will upload a practice prompt and my general outline in regards to the "Argument" task.  I wrote an outline rather than an actual paper since none of my readers are GRE graders and I am not really focusing on polishing my writing at this point - that's what the blog is for!

::::PROMPT::::
Six months ago the region of Forestville increased the speed limit for vehicles traveling
on the region’s highways by ten miles per hour. Since that change took effect, the number
of automobile accidents in that region has increased by 15 percent. But the speed limit in
Elmsford, a region neighboring Forestville, remained unchanged, and automobile
accidents declined slightly during the same six-month period. Therefore, if the citizens of
Forestville want to reduce the number of automobile accidents on the region’s highways,
they should campaign to reduce Forestville’s speed limit to what it was before the increase.

::::MY OUTLINE::::

• Short timeline, 6 months, makes it difficult to gauge the true impact.
• +15% accident rate seems like a convincing statistic but doesn't shed much light.  Huge difference between +15% if we are talking about a yearly accident rate in the 300's and one in the 3000's. 
  
• Most importantly, (the bread and butter), speed limit goes up on highway, spike in accidents don't indicate where the accidents take place or the type of accidents that occur (things other than speed related?).
  
• Using Elmsford, a neigbhoring "region", helps to negate general seasonal changes as a result of this spike and serves as an efficient example in this regard.  One must exercise caution, however, when using a completely different region as the control for a study.  There is no indication of either region's greater historical trends in regards to motor accident history so it might be unwise to base a decision on Elmsford.
• Finally, switching back may intro more damage with two willy-nilly shifts in such a close timeline.  Drivers who might be adjusting to this new change must now readjust and this could cause accident percentages to further increase.  Also, there would be a reintroduction of whatever problems initially motivated the speed limit to go up 10 MPH in the first place (traffic??). 

So, hopefully I do well so I can go on to study that major in that place to get that job.  I'll replace the "that's" when I come up with a better answer.