ChickenPotPie

I think it depends on what one considers the meaning of the grade to be. Is it a measure of a student in relation to his peers or is it a measure of mastery of the subject? If it's a measure of mastery, I'll bet there would be a lot fewer A's. I personally would like to see hard work rewarded to some extent because achievement is based on a combination of intellectual potential and hard work. Hard workers are very capable of high achievement because they can overcome their limitations. Hard work can overcome a lot and should be rewarded some, but it can't overcome large intellectual limitations. I think it would be nice if more courses offered meaningful extra credit (and not cake EC), that could impact one's grade by maybe half a letter grade.

The only good thing about it is that it compares students from different universities. Other than that the general test is based on vocab, tricky math, and the ability to write good fast which might not be the best criteria for comparing students.

I thought the test was stressful, too. I'm glad I got solid scores the first time and was done with it.

After viewing several websites I can tell that Marine Biology programs are very competitive. I would classify myself as a good student, but maybe not very good. Biology major with overall 3.37 and 2.8 major, based on 3 courses and a lab (on pace for a 3.1 after Fall courses) at a tier 4 university. The strength of my profile is probably my GRE - 650V, 780Q, 5.0A. I don't have research experience either. Am I aiming too high based on my profile? Should I just major in biology at a moderately competitive university or maybe aim at some of the less competitive marine biology programs?