iamgenius

I appreciate all the responses. I actually do know about the adaptive computer testing. I read about it in the guide books. But, I didn't really realize that it is super important to answer the first questions correctly, although it was explicitly stated. One would think answering them all correctly will make the rest of the section super difficult, which is disadvantageous, right or no? Anyways, I guess I'll take it again and give it one more try. Which one is better? Continuously studying and preparing for it till the test day(Everyday) OR studying from time to time(few days each month for 6 months for example) and then do the test once you feel that you have done enough practice? Don't get surprised about this question, it depends on how much my job will allow me to study and I have a family with kids.And yes, i'm only talking about the Q part here. In fact, if i'm planning to also increase my V and AW score, then that will take much longer because I'm not a native speaker and the nature of the GRE questions require a knowledge that has been accumulated over a long period of time(Years). AW and V scores can't be easily improved in a matter of few months, specially if you are a not a native speaker.

I like this sentense. It is something I wanted to say in my OP, and I couldn't have said it in a better way. I find it hard to motivate myself for something that doesn't have a real value. But, like somebody said, its value comes from the fact that you need it if you want to continue your studies. It is unfortunate that this is the truth. I guess if good schools that doesn't require GRE can be found, then it is safe to say that GRE is worthless in some sense. Is it like most/all grad schools require it? OR many respected programs can be found without the need for it?

Thanks for your input. I can see most of the points you mentioned. It even makes it more stupid to learn special ways of doing problems much quicker just for the test. That's why I'm hesitant to take it again. It is worthless. In how many years does the score expire? So, what's the typical score required for a master of science in electrical engineering for example? I thought 155 is good.

I don't know how to start this thread, but I have to get this out of my heart, and sorry for the title but I'm pissed. I decided to take the GRE test because some of the grad schools I'm considering require it. I'm an engineering major so many of the schools don't care too much about the AW and verbal scores. They are mainly cocerned with Quan score. That's good for me because I'm not a native speaker, and I can just skip long hours of preperation for the the two sections which will naturaly be harder for me. So, my main concern is the Quantitative section which is fine because I'm a math lover. I always got an A during school years and also in all calculas courses I took during college. There was no time, and I registered for the earliest test I found which was only about 8 days ahead. I began to familirize myself with the test and did a review on math. I took the test and got 153 in the Quan part even though I left out about 6 questions because of time. It was little less than what was required(155), and I didn't feel bad because I only spent a week preparing and skipping 6 questions isn't little. I didn't like the test design and I don't see how it can measure your competance in math. I really thought it was stupid. Anyways, I had to skip a semester and I planned on taking the test again with more studying this time thinking that with more preperation and time control I'll definetaly get the score I need. And so it happened. I kept on studying for about 3 weeks before taking the exam again and here is how it all went: I didn't really learn a new thing or gain a new rule because I just remember them all mostly. It is all high school or less math. The rules are too easy for me to understand and use. Using ETS powerprep tool or whatever it is called, I got 18 out of 20 in both Quan sections in the untimed test. However, in the timed one I got 156 in the Quan section and I had to leave out 5 questions because time ran out. This was the night before the test! I went to take the test the next day and didn't do very well in the first quan section(felt like I missed quarter of the questions), but I felt like I answered all the 20 questions in the next quan part correctly. I felt like my score will be 159( I only left out one question). To my surprise, my unofficial quan score came out to be 153 again !!! I was so pissed and I felt like I wasted my time and money on this stupid test. And here is why I think so: 1- The rules and concepts you are tested on are just too easy and too basic, but the questions are NOT. The questions are more like puzzles than actuall questions that tells the whether you understood the rule or not. In many cases, the only way to really know the answer is to do substitution or plug in all available answers. It is a very tedious process and serves no pupose and can only exist in a pure mathmatical setting. 2- There is NO time. Yes, time is just not enough. Long computations are often required to know the answer, and you merely have one and a half minute for each question. If you do commit a human error, then that's it for you. If you do the computation again, you will get the answer right, but you will steal from the time allocated for the rest of the questions and you will be running out of time. And human errors are very likely to happen with that very useless stupid unpractical on screen calculator. I frankly don't see the reason why an actuall scientific calculator is allowed!!! They just want you to lose more time. 3- Some questions are so tricky that you have to consider the very unexpected to solve them correctly. 4- The data analysis problems are a killer. They need more time. I mean, you will need some time to comprehend the tables present in front of you, and in spite of that, they don't have a problem asking you how much more did company A sales precentage increase from 2010 to 2012 compared to company B sales percentage increase from 2009 to 2013. 1/n^2 or 1/(n+2)^-2 and n < 0 How can you know which one is larger in one minute? It is obvious that it is a double case and the answer is that it can't be determined from the info given, BUT you need time to reach this conclusion. The GRE quan score doesn't tell how much you understand math concepts....It just tells how well you did in that particular test day or how much focused you were during the test or maybe how fast you are with numbers. Luck does play a role also! Me, I didn't have problems solving integration and differentiation problems, so how can I have a problem with simple algebra and arithmetic? It it way the test is designed. And yes, I think it is designed to make you think that you are stupid. I'm not really concerned about it, but if we take the verbal section for example, I just don't see why some words that are very rarely used (and maybe are not present in some dictionaries ) are common in there. I seriously don't see how this test can gauge your readiness for a grad school. I'm sorry if I'm bashing, but that's how I really feel. Now, I don't know if I should waste more time and money on this test and try it one more time or just forget all about it and look for good universities that don't require it. Sometimes I think that studying for some CompTia or Cisco certificates will be much more worth it than learning how to solve two simultaneous equation in 2 seconds. I just don't know, but I feel better now because I got this out of my chest. And sorry for the language, I did this quickly.