Recent GRE Experiences

[Arcadian]

I just took the general GRE today, and the experimental section was an identified Quantitative section at the end (with the $250 prize offer).

[chocolate_blanche]

I took the GRE on Thursday Oct 7 and Writing was the experimental section. I was too tired to be even tempted by their prize.

Now after I clicked Yes to the question whether I wanted to see my score, I saw a screen with Verbal score on the first line and Quant score on the second line.

Did you guys all experience the same thing? I did not remember seeing a combined score anywhere or the writing score (which must take time to process) and am now very paranoid: would the score on the official report look the same??? (it was good so I am nervous that I saw it out of mistake and lack of sleep)!!!

<br />I just took the general GRE today, and the experimental section was an identified Quantitative section at the end (with the $250 prize offer).<br />

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[schoolpsych_hopeful]

Now after I clicked Yes to the question whether I wanted to see my score, I saw a screen with Verbal score on the first line and Quant score on the second line.

Did you guys all experience the same thing? I did not remember seeing a combined score anywhere or the writing score (which must take time to process) and am now very paranoid: would the score on the official report look the same??? (it was good so I am nervous that I saw it out of mistake and lack of sleep)!!!

No they don't show you the combined score, just verbal and quant on separate lines.

I had a similar experience (did way better that I thought I would) so I was nervous to get my official score report. I just got it yesterday, and it's the exact same score I saw on GRE day. Congrats on your score!

[chocolate_blanche]

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

<br />No they don't show you the combined score, just verbal and quant on separate lines. <br /><br />I had a similar experience (did way better that I thought I would) so I was nervous to get my official score report. I just got it yesterday, and it's the exact same score I saw on GRE day. Congrats on your score!<br /><br /><br />

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[selina420]

i gave my gre in august 2010, and my experimental section was an AWA.... analytical essay...But they did mention that it was the experimental section.

[blackshirt]

My experimental section was an Analytical Writing section. Didn't bother doing it, but it was essentially the argument writing task, except they had 3 points that you had to talk about in the essay..

I took it yesterday and got an identified AW section at the end as well. No way in hell was I going to write more, despite the enticing possibility of winning the award, so I couldn't tell you much about it. It did look similar to the argument essay.

[Argonaute]

"Present your Perspective on an Issue" writing was the experimental section when I took the GRE last month. It was indicated that it was an experimental section with a $250 prize offer.

[chocolate_blanche]

I was extremely nervous about the score on saw on the screen. By the time I clicked View score at the end of the test all my neurons were officially fried so I did not trust what I saw.

I decided to shell out 12 bucks to hear the score again, just to calm the nerves. And I was relieved. They are exactly what were reported on the test date: 670 Verbal (95%) and 800 Quantitative (94%), 4.5 AW. I predicted correctly my AW score because I did not like nor felt that I did a good job with the topic I chose.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and encouragement. If anything I think I failed my test of patience today.

I am international student.

Edited October 16, 2010 by chocolate_blanche

[DrFaustus666]

ARE YOU KIDDING?

Those are excellent scores; I'm sure the 670-Verbal must be in the upper-90th percentiles for Engineering majors; and the 4.5 AW is definitely well above average for practising engineers (I KNOW from whence I speak; I've made my living from time to time as a technical editor, and the majority of practising engineers, those with whom I've worked at least, are not good writers at all).

I think you did a superior job!

John

Edited October 16, 2010 by DrFaustus666

[chocolate_blanche]

By failing the test of patience I mean I could have waited, just another week but I could not.

I am very humble by your encouragement. We'll all have to see where this takes me. I have seen multiple applicants with above 1500s in GRE being turned down at top schools. This year I only apply to schools where I have a chance to talk to the faculty.

<br /><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>ARE YOU KIDDING? </b><br /><br />Those are excellent scores; I'm sure the 670-Verbal must be in the upper-90th percentiles for Engineering majors; and the 4.5 AW is definitely <b>well above average</b> for practising engineers (I KNOW from whence I speak; I've made my living from time to time as a technical editor, and the majority of practising engineers, those with whom I've worked at least, are not good writers at all).<br /><br /><b>I think you did a superior job!</b><br /><br />John</font></font><br />

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[Baudrillardist]

I know there is a research section that is supposedly identified, but you all are saying that now you do your AWA, Verbal, Math, (in whatever combination they appear) and then you have the identified expirimental section, instead of it being embedded in the normal test??

If that is true, that is really awesome since you know all the sections you are working on are counting toward your score.

[Henry Hudson]

well, it seems that not everyone is getting the announced experimental section; a few people seem to get the hidden experimental section.

also, those of us getting the announced version don't get them until the end. Thus you still have to do the regular sections not knowing whether they'll count or not; only with the 4th section might you find out the earlier ones are the real deal.

so it doesn't really cut the edge very much, except that you get to relax on the experimental section.

[Alette]

I wish I had read this thread before I took the test! I had an identified experimental section at the end of my test (which seems a much fairer placement). It was an essay (much, much better than multiple choice questions!) As much as I hate funding and preforming the ETS's research, in a fit of thankfulness and test-induced delirium, I wrote the essay.

[mmm]

"Present your Perspective on an Issue" writing was the experimental section when I took the GRE last month. It was indicated that it was an experimental section with a $250 prize offer.

Same for me, too.

[Bukharan]

I got an identified Quantitative section at the end. It was actually way harder than Quantitative is usually. I hope they do not include this in the future tests. Also, have you seen the clause that only those are eligible for the prize who scored higher on the identified section than on the marked one. Good clause. I am not eligible.

I only spend half an hours doing the identified part because I was absolutely terrified to look at my score. Thank God, I was wrong.

[gogodancer]

Hi, folks,  Got GRE test on 6th of OCt. Still waiting for official results. Called today to ETS phone-scores service, scores are the same as it was on test day, but AWA shocked me... 3.0... I cant believe that i wrote on 3.0.  I think that it is a phone-computer error. it said that my test day was 2nd of Oct, but it was 6th of Oct, and maybe it mixed AWA scores with Research score? Has anybody faced this situation? Hope official scores will be OK.

Edited October 20, 2010 by gogodancer

[Comet7777]

My experimental section came up at the end of my exam and was clearly identified as a second quantitative that would not count toward my score. I was bleary-eyed and exhausted by that time, but since ETS actually offered a cash incentive to the highest scorers on that section (yes, seriously - I believe it was $250), I gave it a shot. There were a lot of numeric entry-type questions (the ones that'll appear on the new GRE) plus some other kinds - unfortunately, I don't remember what those were.

This is my experience almost verbatim. I last took the GRE December 2009

I find that scary! POE is such a useful tool when taking any standardized test. I'm glad I'm done with the GRE for good

Yeah I start applying for PhD programs next fall... I think I'm going to have to nail a great score the summer before they administer the new one. That wont leave me with a lot of wiggle room if I decide to have to retake the exam. Either that or I also have to learn the new variant, I don't like this position

Edited October 20, 2010 by Comet7777

[DRT23]

I took the exam a few days ago and the parts were in order of writing, verbal, quantitative and the last one was the experimental task which was identified. It was an analyze of argument writing with some differences from the conventional task. I think I wrote such a good analysis that it was probably better than my real (counting) essays. But, the reason was not probability of getting the $250 prize, but it was because I was very calm and relaxed after finishing counting sections.

[Alcoori]

Took the test on the 18th of October.

Writing, Quantitative and Verbal followed by the experimental Quantitative section that I found honestly easier than the current format, especially because you have a little calculator on the screen that really do speed up the process if you know what you're doing.

[securitynut]

I took the test on Oct. 23 and had a clearly indicated experimental verbal section as the last section.

[KineticKid]

For any of you who took the GRE recently (last few months), what was your experience as far as the experimental sections? Was it identified or unidentified? Did you get a second quantitative or a second verbal? Did you find it overwhelming, or that it adversely affected your concentration/mental stamina?

I'm particularly bad at math, though the last two months of intense studying have managed to get my practice scores in the 700 range. I'm worried that I'd be unprepared for the surprise and additional intensity caused by an unidentified quantitative section. If it has been common for recent test-takers to get an additional quantitative section, I'll probably just start adding another quantitative section to my practice sessions.

Second, did you find the difficulty/structure of the quantitative section to be comparable to the Powerprep? I have heard mixed accounts of the actual GRE quantitative questions being more "tricky" or convoluted. If this is the case, which test prep company offered more representative questions? I've been studying from Kaplan, Barron's and the Powerprep software.

I'm taking the GRE in two and a half weeks, and just trying to fine tune to the actual GRE and correct minor performance issues.

Thanks in advance!

I took the General GRE this past September. My experimental section was an essay one, not a quant or verbal.

Personally, I felt the verbal section was easier than any practice test I took. Of course, I had a strategy: race through the antonyms and sentence completions--which I almost always got correct in practice--and spend significant portions of my time on the three reading passages. I did just that and got 800.

However, I completely blew the quant. I didn't keep track of the number of data information problems I had seen and so I thought I had plenty of time to finish the section. Nope. I ended up with 9 problems remaining and only 5 minutes left to do them in. I totally effed it up, running out of time and selecting my favorite letter for the last few problems. I ended up with a 770 instead of the 800 I should have gotten.

[KineticKid]

I took the GRE on Thursday Oct 7 and Writing was the experimental section. I was too tired to be even tempted by their prize.

Now after I clicked Yes to the question whether I wanted to see my score, I saw a screen with Verbal score on the first line and Quant score on the second line.

Did you guys all experience the same thing? I did not remember seeing a combined score anywhere or the writing score (which must take time to process) and am now very paranoid: would the score on the official report look the same??? (it was good so I am nervous that I saw it out of mistake and lack of sleep)!!!

<br /><br /><br />

My two scores were reported on separate lines. I had to add them up myself. And, yes, the scores were reported individually on the official ETS report: 800 Verbal, 770 Quantitative, 5.0 Essay Writing.

[Piblokto]

I took it yesterday and had an identified Quantitative at the end. Skipped it, too exhausted. I probably would have done it if it were Verbal, though.

[truckbasket]

I took it over the summer and got an identified section.

It was the model they are introducing and it was VERY easy.

[neuropsych76]

I retook the GRE this week and had an identified writing section. I wrote about a paragraph and finished because I wanted to leave. I thought I completed bombed the quant part (the part I retook the GRE for) so I just wanted to leave ASAP.

As it turned out I got a 630 (from a 520 the previous month). I felt like I guessed on the majority of questions and many of the questions were in a format or had a concept I didn't cover in my studies. Also, I thought the last few questions were incredibly easy.

However, somehow I increased by 110 points and was shocked/ecstatic.

So, even if you think you might be doing terribly, you might actually be doing well.