amlobo

I'm planning to submit a few weeks early, simply to be sure there are no problems. That way, if for some reason a file didn't go through or something, I can find out before the deadline and still get everything submitted on time. I also took the GRE with extra time to retake if necessary... so maybe this is just because I'm a planner and a worrier. Also, I am telling my recommenders that I'm planning to submit a few weeks early, so hopefully this will prod them to get their letters in on time...

^This. I got the same "score" on verbal and quant, but here's the weird thing: my verbal percentile was 3% higher than my quant... and on the old scale, I would have maxed out the quant, but gotten in the high 600s on verbal. Looking at my scores, they are the same number, but obviously they mean very different things. The ETS website has some charts that are really helpful, if you haven't looked at them yet. One has the percentiles for the scaled scores on each portion of the test (http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf), and another actually has them broken down by intended field of study (http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table4.pdf). You can see how other people applying for Sociology programs have done. For quant, the Sociology average is a 148. So, your score really isn't as "ouch" as you might think

Glad to help!

I had one Kaplan that I completely BOMBED, and it was so far below my other scores, I just ignored it. It was like... 10 points lower on quant than normal. It's amazing, the difference between some of the exams...

I think they are longer because they aren't "adaptive." I would assume that they maybe need a larger question pool to give a good variety of different question difficulty since the test can't adapt to how you did on the first section. I could be wrong, but that's my thought.

I wanted to score high on the GRE because I've been out of undergrad for over 6 years and had a 3.4 GPA (though from a top 20 school). So, I felt like I needed to compensate to be able to apply to top PhD programs. My goal was above 90th percentile for each section, and I was able to get there by the time I took the real thing. If you get in the 160s on Verbal, I don't think a Quant in the 150s will hurt you. The 160s in Verbal will work to your advantage. I think a Quant in the 150s is neutral in your situation. I feel like Quant doesn't hurt you so much in social sciences, but if you score highly, it can definitely help. The unknown state school should not be held against you. Of course, adcomms take an institution's reputation for grade inflation into account, but going to an "unknown" school will not prevent you from getting into a "known" grad school. It also makes a difference whether you are applying to Master's or PhD programs since Master's are less selective. Many schools will post their average GRE scores online, so maybe check out the programs you're interested in. I felt like I needed to put my GRE far above the averages to balance out the GPA being far below, ha. We'll see if that works...

Kaplan and ETS have adaptive online tests (which is what the actual GRE is). Kaplan Premiere has an online access that has a ton of practice problem sets and 5 or so practice tests. I found the online content for Kaplan very helpful.

If you are not working or in school, I think one month is adequate time to prep. If you have a full-time job or are a full-time student, two months should be OK. I work full-time, and I studied for the GRE for two months before taking it. I was able to raise both scores about 6 points. However, I started out pretty high in math because it was something that just stuck in my brain for some reason... so I would think someone with more room for improvement could bring his score up more. I think Quant is an area where you have the best chance of improving because it requires concrete knowledge moreso than Verbal. The previous poster is correct in that you need to learn the math before you can really take practice tests effectively. After my first practice test, I knew there were a few areas that I really needed to learn and some that I didn't need to spend time on. So, I taught myself those topics and did a lot of practice problems, then started taking more practice tests. Reading the explanations of the answers was really the best thing for me because it taught me how to do the problems better than the generic lessons. I am a social sciences person too, and I would think you need at least "above average" on the quant to be a candidate for top PhD programs (that would be something above 150). If you get your verbal into the 160s, a mid 150s or higher on quant will be sufficient for most programs.

I know you can pay test prep companies to review essays for you, but I wouldn't recommend paying someone to review your AW essays. I personally think self-scoring is adequate for the AW portion. Sorry to be blunt, but at this point in your life, you probably know how well you can write. You can work on structuring your essays and reading the "tips" from the test prep companies, but in large part, your writing ability is what it is. I didn't practice the AW portion at all because I knew writing was a strength of mine. I would just skip it on all of the practice tests. I looked at the "sample" essay answers and could gauge where my writing would fall... and I was pretty spot-on as to my score on the actual GRE. If you feel that you cannot objectively gauge your own abilities, just have a friend whose opinion you trust look at a practice essay and give you some feedback. Basically, I would focus on the Verbal and Quant portions and not worry as much about the AW. And, just FYI, some programs say that they absolutely do not look at the AW score, so I'd check out the programs where you are applying to see if they say anything about it before putting too much effort into the AW portion. Best of luck! The GRE is annoying, but you will feel so good when it's over

Try taking the ETS practice tests on their website. They give you a scored result. Or, buy the Kaplan Premiere book, which has access to quite a few online scored tests. All of the workbooks are different levels of difficulty, so I think it's really impossible to gauge based on a raw score. Try one of the adaptive online tests - they were very close to my actual score.

I thought you might chime in! It seems like education is a main focus for these programs, which is what drew me to them. They look like great programs, but of course I am just stressing all the details at this point! After completing a JD, I cannot imagine that a JD/PhD program would be an enjoyable experience... yikes.

Well, here's hoping someone has some advice! I know I am stressing and thinking way too much about everything...

Just to clarify - I am referring to PhD programs, not Master's.

My test went: V, Q, V, Q, V I did better on Verbal than Quant, percentile-wise... but got the same numerical score on both. My practice tests had put my Quant far above my Verbal. So, I don't really know if the experimental section does anything as far as affecting your score...?

I am thinking of applying to Princeton's and Harvard's joint degree programs in Sociology and Social Policy instead of applying to their "regular" Sociology programs. Does anyone have any first-hand information on applying to these joint programs? I am mostly wondering if I am lowering my chances of admission by applying to the joint programs. My interests relate mainly to inequality and education, and I feel like the joint programs are a better "fit" for my interests. In that vein, maybe my chances of admission are better on the joint degree programs since they are a better fit. But, who knows? There are no admissions/applications statistics on the joint programs that I can find, other than results on GradCafe. I kind of feel that if I am more interested in the joint programs, I should apply to them even if they are more competitive (which, as I said... I don't know if they are). But, I keep going back and forth. FYI - for all other schools, I'm applying to Sociology only. I was just interested in these particular joint degree programs. Any input is appreciated!

I don't think there is probably a "way" to find out which section is experimental on the real GRE because you never actually find out which particular section was experimental. Like, I know mine was a verbal because I had 3 verbals... but which of them was experimental... who knows! They all felt pretty evenly difficult to me. I just remember silently pleading for a third verbal section before my last screen came up because I didn't think my brain could compute another math section, lol.

I am very happy with my scores I don't want to say it wasn't stressful, but it wasn't nearly as stressful as law school or my job. I was surprised at how relaxed I was in the actual test. Didn't psyche myself out, thankfully!

Going off Shostakovich, I agree that Kaplan and Powerprep questions were very close to actual exam questions. It just so happened that my score fell kind of right between the scores for those two companies and very close to my Princeton Review score. I used Kaplan Premiere 2013, and I loved the online content - tons of practice exams and practice sets. You could also download the book onto your iPad, which was nice for portability's sake. I noticed that the first 3 Kaplan tests I took were close to my real score, and the 4th was so ridiculously low, I didn't even take the next one because I was depressed by it, lol. So, even within the same test company, the scores can differ a lot! Princeton Review had the best "test strategies" and math review, in my opinion (though I did not take their online test - and the one in the book had errors that I could luckily recognize - so I would recommend the review, just not the tests). Kaplan wasn't thorough enough on the math for my liking. But, their practice sets were incredibly useful in getting in a ton of practice on my computer. And, their exams were very good, for the most part. All in all, I was glad I bought a ton of materials because each had its strengths. I did not find the McGraw-Hill book helpful at all, so I might advise against that one.

Well, I took the "real" GRE and am not taking it or thinking about it again! Unless I bombed the AW somehow... ok, nope, not even then!

Ok, took the actual GRE today. My "unofficial" scores were 165V/165Q. Lol. I had been scoring 162V/167Q on most of my tests, so that's pretty dang close. I'd say Princeton Review or ETS were closest to my actual scores. Needless to say, I am NOT taking again. I wanted above 90th percentile on both, and I got it... so I'm done! Good luck to everyone! One thing I noticed was that some of the questions (in both sections) were types that I had never seen on any of my practice tests. So, I would stress just doing a lot of practice questions. I did get a few vocab words that I learned from my Barron's flashcards... so I feel that was money well spent!

Well, it sounds like I'll be contacting each school to verify what they require. I am just crossing my fingers that I don't have to get all of those transcripts because I don't think that I get any of them for free. And, applying to 10+ programs makes that add up quickly! Thanks for all of the tips and advice!

Ok, these feel like really dumb questions... but here goes! 1. Name on transcript. A lot of schools specifically state that the name on your transcript must readily identify the name under which you are applying to the program. I've gotten married since undergrad, so my name on the transcript is different. I contacted my registrar about this (whether I can provide a "now known as" name), but have received no response. I know there are some other married people on here, so what did you do? 2. Non-degree institutions. I attended two summer programs at other universities and got credit transferred to my degree-granting institution. The letter grades aren't on my transcript, but the course names and credits are, in addition to the names of the universities from which they were transferred. Am I going to need to get transcripts from those other universities too, even though I was never enrolled as a degree-seeking student? Any advice is appreciated!

I'd say Princeton Review was harder than the ETS, but Kaplan was even harder still. So, if you want a challenge, check out the Kaplan tests I got the Kaplan 2013 Premier GRE that had access to 5 adaptive tests. Princeton Review has an awesome review of the substantive math, though - better than any of the other prep books I've read. Everyone says Manhattan GRE is the best... but I didn't use it because it's not at my bookstores.

Thanks for the info! I am still waffling and probably will continue to do so. Ha. I worry that my law journal article is in such a different format than sociological writing that it might detract from the writing. For instance, my law journal required us to footnote EVERY sentence... so footnotes take up at least half of each page. From what I've read of sociological writings, footnotes/endnotes are not as prevalent as in legal scholarship. I thought my other "writing samples" would not be acceptable because each only had 10 or so sources and very few in-text citations. I just assumed all disciplines were as citation-obsessed as the law, but I guess not! So, maybe turning my education law paper into a "sociology" paper might not be such an onerous task, after all! Guess I'll work on it and see how I like it, so at least then I have the choice.

I would say that most companies do make their practice tests harder than the real thing because some guarantee a score increase... like Kaplan. So, they want you to score lower on their diagnostic test, then better on the real thing. But, I think you should always just be aware that the practice tests aren't 100% reliable as indicators of what you will score under real test conditions... but they are a good way to estimate a score range.