low GRE quant & clinical psyc

[springxsummer]

I'm taking the GRE in just under 2 weeks and I'm feeling a bit panicked that my quant score will ruin my chances of admission into clinical programs.

I did a practice test today and I scored 163 verbal (93rd percentile) and 152 quant (46th percentile). I have not graded my essays, but I am confident I'll score 5+ on this section.

Does anyone have advice for getting my quant. score up fast in not very much time? Thanks in advance!

Edited June 24, 2019 by springxsummer

[Sherrinford]

You definitely need to get that score up. On the practice exam, were there specific areas you really did bad on (e.g. geometry, algebra)? Focus on those. Also practice problems...keep doing em'. Read the prep books strategies on how to do problems efficiently. I bet if you had all the time in the world you'd do fine, but the test gives you limited time for the problem sets. 

[nimsaj95]

I took a Kaplan course to get mine up and found that their quant materials were really similar to the real test. If you google it, they have a free practice test you can take. If you memorize those question types, the gre will have a ton of the same questions but with different numbers. One thing I remember is there were a lot of those which is bigger? questions where you compare the values in column A and B. Good luck!

[Lenina Crow]

It might also be worth checking out magoosh. They have a ton of video lessons on basic math principles and test taking strategies, and they also provide video explanations for all of their practice questions. 

[springxsummer]

12 hours ago, Sherrinford said:

You definitely need to get that score up. On the practice exam, were there specific areas you really did bad on (e.g. geometry, algebra)? Focus on those. Also practice problems...keep doing em'. Read the prep books strategies on how to do problems efficiently. I bet if you had all the time in the world you'd do fine, but the test gives you limited time for the problem sets. 

Agreed.... I'm pretty bad at everything to be honest, but geometry and perms & combs are particularly bad for me, so I'm trying to focus more on those. Time is a huge issue for me. I've been doing tons of practice and I'm definitely improving, but my mental math is pretty lacking.

I'll try re-going over the strategies for efficiency. 

To the other posters, I am using magoosh for prep and I find it helpful. 

Edited June 25, 2019 by springxsummer

[hopefulgrad2019]

On 6/23/2019 at 5:06 PM, springxsummer said:

I'm taking the GRE in just under 2 weeks and I'm feeling a bit panicked that my quant score will ruin my chances of admission into clinical programs.

I did a practice test today and I scored 163 verbal (93rd percentile) and 152 quant (46th percentile). I have not graded my essays, but I am confident I'll score 5+ on this section.

Does anyone have advice for getting my quant. score up fast in not very much time? Thanks in advance!

These are similar to my scores and I got into a R1 clinical psych PhD program. If the rest of your CV is strong, one weakness is not going to make them throw out your entire application. Good luck! 

[springxsummer]

On 6/25/2019 at 12:46 PM, hopefulgrad2019 said:

These are similar to my scores and I got into a R1 clinical psych PhD program. If the rest of your CV is strong, one weakness is not going to make them throw out your entire application. Good luck! 

That makes me feel somewhat better. What was your other background, if you don't mind me asking? 

[KyloRen]

I also had pretty similar scores and got into an R1 clinical psych PhD. My other background included 2 years as a research assistant post-bac in a lab closely related to what I applied in and an honors project in an unrelated area of psychology. It is definitely possible! I wish you the best of luck!

[YONO]

I had similar scores on the GRE (91st percentile on verbal) but a terrible math score (149) and still got 3 interviews—the highest ranked program being #11. My point being that I was accepted to an R1 clinical program despite my low math scores. However, having good GRE scores really makes the whole process much easier, because most top-ranked programs use the GRE as a weed-out tool. With my research experience (2 years coordinating a large-scale trial and 5 publications), I believe that I would have gotten more interviews had my math GRE score been higher. 

I tried getting my math score up really quickly between the first and second time i took the GRE but just wasn't successful—but it sounds like you have plenty of time to study and take it later on! I would recommend taking it again if you don't get the score you want (even though it's expensive!!). 

Hope this is helpful.

[springxsummer]

On 6/28/2019 at 10:00 AM, KyloRen said:

I also had pretty similar scores and got into an R1 clinical psych PhD. My other background included 2 years as a research assistant post-bac in a lab closely related to what I applied in and an honors project in an unrelated area of psychology. It is definitely possible! I wish you the best of luck!

 

On 6/28/2019 at 10:27 AM, YONO (You only need one) said:

I had similar scores on the GRE (91st percentile on verbal) but a terrible math score (149) and still got 3 interviews—the highest ranked program being #11. My point being that I was accepted to an R1 clinical program despite my low math scores. However, having good GRE scores really makes the whole process much easier, because most top-ranked programs use the GRE as a weed-out tool. With my research experience (2 years coordinating a large-scale trial and 5 publications), I believe that I would have gotten more interviews had my math GRE score been higher. 

I tried getting my math score up really quickly between the first and second time i took the GRE but just wasn't successful—but it sounds like you have plenty of time to study and take it later on! I would recommend taking it again if you don't get the score you want (even though it's expensive!!). 

Hope this is helpful.

Glad to hear there's still hope haha! If I can't score above the 60th percentile I'd definitely consider re-taking. 

It's annoying because I usually test well, but quant is really throwing me through a loop!

[ResNol]

Impressive verbal and writing scores!

From what I gathered from this last cycle was that programs are putting less and less stock in GRE scores. I scored much lower than you on the quant (somewhere in the 30s for percentile) and lower on the verbal section as well and still managed to get interviews and acceptances. As others have suggested, if you can't get the score up to the 60s you still can get into programs, even your top choice.  I even saw programs interview me and others even though they said they had high cutoff scores. 

Just make sure the other parts of your application are really strong and you prep for the interviews which can make or break applicants. 

However, if you can focus on getting that score higher it will make your application cycle a lot easier and less stressful. 

[springxsummer]

5 hours ago, ResNol said:

Impressive verbal and writing scores!

From what I gathered from this last cycle was that programs are putting less and less stock in GRE scores. I scored much lower than you on the quant (somewhere in the 30s for percentile) and lower on the verbal section as well and still managed to get interviews and acceptances. As others have suggested, if you can't get the score up to the 60s you still can get into programs, even your top choice.  I even saw programs interview me and others even though they said they had high cutoff scores. 

Just make sure the other parts of your application are really strong and you prep for the interviews which can make or break applicants. 

However, if you can focus on getting that score higher it will make your application cycle a lot easier and less stressful. 

I ended up with 160 verbal & 155 quant (AWA not yet scored). Assuming the AWA went well, do you think these are good enough scores to be a competitive applicant? It's definitely below some school's average scores for quant, but the only hard cut off I've come across is the 50th percentile.

While I have quite a lot of research and clinical experience, I do not have any publications and I did not write an undergraduate thesis, so I'm always hesitant to take risks. I'm applying to Canadian Clinical Master's, if that helps.

Edited July 7, 2019 by springxsummer

[higaisha]

8 hours ago, springxsummer said:

I ended up with 160 verbal & 155 quant (AWA not yet scored). Assuming the AWA went well, do you think these are good enough scores to be a competitive applicant? It's definitely below some school's average scores for quant, but the only hard cut off I've come across is the 50th percentile.

While I have quite a lot of research and clinical experience, I do not have any publications and I did not write an undergraduate thesis, so I'm always hesitant to take risks. I'm applying to Canadian Clinical Master's, if that helps.

Canada isn't as hard on GREs, I've seen people admitted to clinical masters with scores below yours. Your scores are pretty decent.

Edited July 8, 2019 by higaisha

[hopefulgrad2019]

On 6/26/2019 at 11:24 PM, springxsummer said:

That makes me feel somewhat better. What was your other background, if you don't mind me asking? 

2 years in a neuropsych lab after undergrad, I had a year of research and clinical experience from undergrad, 4 poster presentations, 2 manuscripts either in revision or under review, and 1 encyclopedia chapter in prep. I’m 1st authored on the posters and encyclopedia chapter, 2nd on one manuscript and 5th on the other.   

[springxsummer]

On 7/9/2019 at 6:37 AM, hopefulgrad2019 said:

2 years in a neuropsych lab after undergrad, I had a year of research and clinical experience from undergrad, 4 poster presentations, 2 manuscripts either in revision or under review, and 1 encyclopedia chapter in prep. I’m 1st authored on the posters and encyclopedia chapter, 2nd on one manuscript and 5th on the other.   

Impressive! Sounds like it was a productive 2 years!

I finished with 160 V, 155 Q, and 5.5 AWA so I'm feeling okay about it   Thank you everyone for all of the replies and insight!