Rachel B

I will admit I didn't study much for the GRE the first time I took it. I thought I could slide by and land in a decent percentile. Not the case. I ended up in the 30th percentile for the verbal and the 40th percentile for the math. The second time around I knew I had to study and I committed a month to review the material and relearn concepts I hadn't seen since sophomore year of high school. Needless to say studying greatly improved my scores. I nearly doubled my percentiles for both sections and now I'm well within the range I need to be. While not studying may have let you slide by, I think it's ignorant to offer this kind of advice. And if you're a slacker, should you really being going to graduate school anyway?

You mean the cutoff for certain programs? I was told by a program director that they were expecting 300 to be the new 1000. Which I now find hard to believe consider 500 and 500 were both rather low percentiles on the old scale. Any thoughts?

Verbal Given Estimate (510-610) Score: 154 (64%) Math Given Estimate (680-780) Score: 154 (67%) Essay Given Estimate: None Score: 4.5 (72%) Both my V & Q scores were on the lowest end of my estimated percentiles. I took the test 8/17.

I have to say I don't think it matters at all. The selection committee isn't going to double check their mass email list, thats probably generated by the graduate school instead of a specific department, to see if your's is there. Also, I bombed the first GRE and still got recruitment emails from some pretty prestigious schools, like Johns Hopkins. Schools just want to get the word out and using ETS is a great way to reach out to students.

If you pre-address all the envelopes and create one deadline for them (well before the actual application deadline and one deadline for all the schools to make it easier!), it shouldn't be an issue. All they have to do is print out several copies.

It would be helpful if you listed the questions.

Yes and no. Princeton Review explains it the best. The calculator is a liability and ETS will use it against you. They will give you long, drawn out calculations and they'll want you to use the calculator for in order waste time. Your best bet is to try and visually eliminate and then calculate. If you calculate every possible answer, I guarantee you will run out of time.

I'm entering my senior year next week and already graduate school has me very nervous and overwhelmed. A lot of the programs I'm looking at are very vague and have a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 and GRE of 1000. However, what I'm worried about is whether or not my academic background is considered "competitive." I really don't want an admission committee to laugh at my application even though I'm not applying to any top 10 programs. I have an overall undergrad GPA of 3.21 and am majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Biology. I received a 3.20 GPA my freshman year. I sort of slumped sophomore year due to some personal family issues and got a disappointing 2.9. I got my stuff together last year (junior year) and received a 3.44 for the year and a 3.6 for last semester (I even made Dean's List). I took the GRE twice this summer and received a crappy 960 the first time, but did much better the second time (Q: 680-710, V: 510-610). I also have done a bit of research and fieldwork, am doing an internship this fall, and am involved in an academic honor society. My main concern is that the numeric aspects of my application (GPA and GRE) aren't that impressive. Could outstanding recommendations and a focused and committed SoP put me on a competitive level? Any advice or input would be much appreciated.

Some colleges will not even look at your application unless you have found an academic advisor, so if you are absolutely dead set on that specific school I definitely encourage contacting and finding an academic advisor to work with. However, some colleges don't require this, so just double check with their department.

I can't answer all your questions, but I did take the GRE a week and a half ago. Kaplan, Princeton Review, and ETS all have free timed practice tests on their website. Utilize those free resources! You're given the option of noise-cancelling headphones once they seat you at your desk. And studying in a library is best, especially if they have private study rooms.

Keep doing practice problems. On practice tests I ran out of time often and it was because I was using the calculator for easy calculations that really consumed time. Remember that you don't need to calculate everything and you can eliminate answers by just looking to see if they fall out of the range of what you're looking for. Practice might not mean you score 800, but it certainly will help. The first time I took the test I received a Q-score of 540. The second time I received a 680-780, which means I practically doubled my percentile. All I did was buckle down and do problems!

The first time I took the GRE I bombed. I was under the impression that I would just do a little bit of study and do well enough. Not the case, so I took it as a practice. The second time around I buckled down, studying my butt off, and my scores nearly doubled in percentiles. It pays to study, trust me!

I did better on the revised exam, but I also studied more for this test than the old test, so I believe that played some part in my better score.

ETS doesn't report this data and since they're completely revamping the scoring scale they are recalculating the percentiles. In actuality it doesn't matter how many questions you got wrong it matters how many more you got right in comparison to others who took the test.

They don't tell you which section is experimental because then it wouldn't be experimental... Obviously you received an experimental Q section, but if could have been any of the three. And I'm not sure what you mean by "800 or higher" since 800 is the highest score you can get.

It only looks like they're booked until November. I think the reason they block out all the other dates is because you have to wait 60 days to take the test again so when you go into your account the test finder knows when you're scheduled and won't show you any available dates until 60 days after. In fact, my test was scheduled at 11:30 a.m. yesterday and they actually called me at 9 a.m. saying they had an open seats at 10 a.m. and I could come in early if I wanted to. You might want to call ETS to see if Deerfield or Lombard has open spaces

I actually took my first test in Lombard and my second test (yesterday) up in Deerfield. I just didn't want to have to deal with any stressful city driving before the test! I took a total of six practice tests before the actual exam: the two practice tests in my Princeton Review book, one practice test in my ETS book, and then one online test each from ETS, Princeton Review, and Kaplan. Seriously, utilize the free online tests, especially since they offer timed versions. Also, I bombed the Q-section of the first exam (~40th percentile). The second time around I committed myself entirely to improving my Q-score since I'm going into a science program and I did rather well on the AW score of my first exam. Plus, it's way easier to study for the math part than the verbal since it's more likely that what you're studying will be on the actual test. I studied every single page of Princeton Review's Math section and I improved my score by 140-240 points. On top of that my V-score still improved, obviously not as much as my Q-score, but every little bit helps.

My Q score was exactly the same on the revised GRE I took yesterday and the ETS practice test I took the day before. My V score was a bit higher than I was expecting, but maybe I just guessed a little better. I was wondering the same same thing though, people keep saying unusually high but it's not like I got scores in the 95th percentiles after expecting them to be in the 70s.

So I took the GRE this morning and I have to say that I'm concerned about the score ranges I received at the end. I saw in the forum that someone commented that the scores some people were receiving were unusually high. Now I'm wondering if people who have taken the revised exam so far believe this is the case? I studied my butt off for the Q-section since I'm planning on going into a science program and the Q 100-point range I got on ETS' practice test was exactly the same as I got at the end of test today. The V-section is where I feel the most unsure, but I still might just be doubting myself. Any feedback or reassurance is much appreciated!

I'm guessing they will weigh them the same since it's really the only thing that puts all potential candidates for admission on the same playing field. I spoke to a graduate program director for a school I'm considering and they told me they were in favor of the way the Verbal section was restructured because it puts further emphasis on meaning in context and reading comprehension as opposed to just knowing the definition of the word.

I just took the test this morning! I did all my studying at home, but the library (and your phone turned off) is also a really great place, especially if they have private study rooms. I don't recommend any specific drinks. I made the mistake of drinking a whole bottle of powerade before the exam and Prometric is very strict about breaks!

Hi all, I'm taking the GRE next week and was curious if you receive your V&Q scores at the end like on the previous version of the GRE? I know the revised test is on a brand new scale, so I was curious if someone who has already taken the revised GRE could answer the question. Thank you!