wildviolet

Sure. I'm 32, but in my field (education), the average age tends to be older because most people have had some experience teaching in K-12 schools before they attend graduate school. Anyway, people are living longer and healthier--there's no reason to feel like it's too late, especially if you are passionate about your studies.

Hi crater21, Of the two sections, the quantitative section was more difficult for me, despite the high score! On the practice tests, I was missing lots of questions and my scores were in the 600-700 range. However, as I mentioned in my post, the real test seemed a lot easier than the practice tests. There weren't any difficult geometry, probability, or permutation questions. That doesn't mean that you won't get them on your test, but I didn't see them on mine. I didn't run out of time, but I certainly used every last second. During the test, I would skip the hard questions by marking them. When I reviewed them again, sometimes they made more sense, and I was more relaxed because I knew I had already taken care of the easy questions. That's one of the key strategies in Princeton Review. Also, I felt like the Princeton Review Math Review was extremely helpful for me. I have a science/math background, so I understood the explanations. Depending on your background, you may need an additional resource that provides better explanations of the concepts. What I needed was a refresher and strategies about how to approach the question types, such as quantitative comparison. I didn't use the Math Review in the Official GRE book. Also, I used all six pages of the scratch paper they gave me. I would copy the equations or whatever onto my paper and work from there. When I first began studying for the GRE, I didn't worry about timing. But, the week before the test, I timed myself as I took the practice tests, so I already knew how fast I would have to go to get through all the questions. Good luck!

I'm applying to UT Austin as well (for education), and I didn't know about the minimum score. Many schools proclaim to not have a minimum score while others, like Stanford, state that they will not provide average GRE scores of applicants or accepted students. I guess my philosophy is... you won't know if you don't apply!

The score range I received on the verbal section was almost exactly what was predicted by the practice tests. Out of 20 questions, I would miss only 3 or 4 questions. I did better than I thought I would on the quantitative section, but I also thought the real exam was easier than the practice tests.

I took the Revised GRE today, and my preliminary score ranges were: 670-770 Verbal and 750-800 Quantitative. After the writing section, I received the first quantitative section. The questions seemed easier compared to the practice questions I had seen in the Princeton Review and Official GRE Prep books. The next section was verbal, which also seemed relatively easy, except for the reading comprehension questions. I had to be very careful because I received several science topics, and since my background is in science, I had to be aware of the influence of my prior knowledge on the topic versus what was actually in the reading passage. Then, I took advantage of the 10-minute break to get a drink and stretch my legs. When I returned, I received the second quantitative section, which was much harder than the first one. Thus, I reasoned that I had done fairly well on the first section. There were some very tough questions, which I saved for last and basically guessed on towards the end. The next section was verbal. Again, the second section was much harder than the first one, especially in terms of vocabulary. I was definitely not as sure of my responses and double-checked all my answers. I think the last section I received was an experimental quantitative section because the time was set for 35 minutes and the questions were very basic and straightforward. My strategy for both sections was to skip the questions that seemed hard--the "mark" for later feature was an excellent tool for this. On the other hand, you could leave it unanswered, and it will show up as such when you click on the "review" button. For the verbal section, I skipped the reading comprehension questions because I knew they would take more time, and I wanted to get the other question types out of the way first. I studied on and off for about two months prior to taking the exam. My primary resources were the Princeton Review and Official GRE books and Kaplan's vocabulary cards. However, the vocabulary you will actually see on the exam is very limited. If you are a fluent English speaker, I'm thinking that you can use your knowledge of how the words "feel" or "sound" and be able to select the correct answers. Of course, this is a disadvantage for international students or non-native-English-speakers. Like others, I am concerned about how the score ranges will translate into actual scores and percentile rankings come November. But, for now I am glad that it's over, I think I did pretty well, and I can focus on other areas of my life again! Good luck to all.