GRE disaster, free retake...what to do now?

[DrOrpheus]

I have a bit of a conundrum. Here's my background: History major/Classics minor, 3.78 overall & 4.0 major GPA's, I've presented at conferences and one of my professors is incorporating my senior thesis into his forthcoming book. I've done archaeological excavations, and I'm also a participant in a research program that's getting a lot of international attention right now. I think I'm a pretty solid candidate, but I know the GRE can make or break me. Right now, it's busting my (proverbial) balls.

Because I'm an idiot outside of the academic world, I've taken the GRE twice in the span of a month; 6/30 and 7/16. That was my second mistake. The first was that I didn't study for the first go-round because I wanted to shake off the jitters and get a baseline score to work from -- 620V, 570Q, 4.0AW. After studying hardcore, I got annihilated with the very first question on both verbal and quantitative, and ended up with a 600V, 580Q on the second test. I just got the AW score today, and despite my studying and reviewing tips I've found here, I only managed a 4.5. On practice tests, I'm managing mid-600's for both Verbal and Quantitative, with a final score of about 1280-1330, which I'd be thrilled with if I actually got that on the test itself.

Here's where it gets interesting: the day after I sat for the 2nd attempt, I got both my official score report plus a free-retake-'cuz-our-software-sucks letter...for verbal on the first test. I've done the free GRE diagnostic for my first test and looked at the difficulty shifts, and it simply does not make sense that they're offering the retake on the verbal. What I'm seeing on the verbal, the difficulty shifts are mostly in line with how I answered. On the quantitative though, I got a difficulty 2 for the first question, 5 for the second, and never dipped below a 3 after that, with the remainder being mostly 4's and 5's. I barely got half the questions right, and didn't even FINISH (I left 3 questions unanswered). In short, I feel blessed to have gotten a 570. If this is really a computer adaptive test, this doesn't make sense to stay at a sustained high difficulty despite multiple wrong answers in a row at that level. I really feel like any retake for that test should be on the quantitative.

Obviously, I'm going to have to retake it again, and give myself a bit more study time. I've met the minimums for the programs applying to, but I want to be competitive for funding. Plus, I'm totally embarrassed by these scores. I'm planning on a Hail-Mary final attempt in late September/early October (UNC's my earliest deadline, Dec. 1 for funding consideration).

I have a few concerns that I need to address before this final attempt, though. Should I use that free retake as additional practice for verbal, or let it go and concentrate on one last shot in about 6-8 weeks? Also, I feel my second AW score is very, very low for what I submitted, and this isn't just an ego thing. I think it's total BS that ETS has gone to one human-one computer scoring system. I'm seriously considering requesting a re-score, but would it be worth the money and risk? Finally, I'm considering paying for a total review (where they explain what you did wrong) of all sections, because I really would like to know what happened on that second attempt, other than getting shafted on the very first questions. Has anybody done that, gotten useful info, and improved their score on a retake?

Any advice would be fantastic! Sorry for the rambling rant, but nobody IRL really gets how frustrated and worried I am about this situation.

[fuzzylogician]

I think I'm a pretty solid candidate, but I know the GRE can make or break me.

No, it really can't.

Conference presentations, publications, solid recommendations, a good writing sample, research experience -- those are all SO MUCH MORE important than your scores.

And, as far as scores go, you GRE scores are not high but are not terribly low, and they are offset by your high GPA.

I have a few concerns that I need to address before this final attempt, though. Should I use that free retake as additional practice for verbal, or let it go and concentrate on one last shot in about 6-8 weeks? Also, I feel my second AW score is very, very low for what I submitted, and this isn't just an ego thing. I think it's total BS that ETS has gone to one human-one computer scoring system. I'm seriously considering requesting a re-score, but would it be worth the money and risk? Finally, I'm considering paying for a total review (where they explain what you did wrong) of all sections, because I really would like to know what happened on that second attempt, other than getting shafted on the very first questions. Has anybody done that, gotten useful info, and improved their score on a retake?

Any advice would be fantastic! Sorry for the rambling rant, but nobody IRL really gets how frustrated and worried I am about this situation.

You are not the first to get an almost insultingly low score on the AW section. Search for outraged threads from previous years.. The first thing you'll learn from reading those threads is that the AW score is the least important of all the GRE sections, because your application will have direct evidence of your writing abilities (SOP, WS). Many people (myself included) have been very successful in previous years with low AW scores. As for getting a total review, re-score, etc - those all feel like overkill to me. I think my suggestion to you would be to prepare for this Verbal retake as if it is the real thing and aim for a +700, which from reading your post sound to me like a reasonable expectation. In that case, your total score will be high enough to get you past any cutoffs. Before you worry about the GRE scores being used for funding purposes, maybe you could try to ask around to find out how funding really works in your field? I can tell you that all of the departments I applied to offered equal funding to all accepted applicants regardless of any scores.

Aiming for a late-September test date sounds reasonable. If you then feel you want to take the whole test again, you could do that in late October and still have the scores in time for early December deadlines [though the universities will still see your older scores, so you had better be sure you'll do significantly better the third time around]. But honestly, the GRE is not nearly the most important part of the application. I'd urge you to spend your time on your SOP and WS, not on the GRE.

[DrOrpheus]

No, it really can't.

Conference presentations, publications, solid recommendations, a good writing sample, research experience -- those are all SO MUCH MORE important than your scores.

And, as far as scores go, you GRE scores are not high but are not terribly low, and they are offset by your high GPA.

You are not the first to get an almost insultingly low score on the AW section. Search for outraged threads from previous years.. The first thing you'll learn from reading those threads is that the AW score is the least important of all the GRE sections, because your application will have direct evidence of your writing abilities (SOP, WS). Many people (myself included) have been very successful in previous years with low AW scores. As for getting a total review, re-score, etc - those all feel like overkill to me. I think my suggestion to you would be to prepare for this Verbal retake as if it is the real thing and aim for a +700, which from reading your post sound to me like a reasonable expectation. In that case, your total score will be high enough to get you past any cutoffs. Before you worry about the GRE scores being used for funding purposes, maybe you could try to ask around to find out how funding really works in your field? I can tell you that all of the departments I applied to offered equal funding to all accepted applicants regardless of any scores.

Aiming for a late-September test date sounds reasonable. If you then feel you want to take the whole test again, you could do that in late October and still have the scores in time for early December deadlines [though the universities will still see your older scores, so you had better be sure you'll do significantly better the third time around]. But honestly, the GRE is not nearly the most important part of the application. I'd urge you to spend your time on your SOP and WS, not on the GRE.

Oh man, that makes me feel so much better! I was on another board (not gradcafe) where I was explicitly told that I didn't have a shot in hell at getting in with such bad scores, hence the panic attack. I'm going to take your advice and contact the 4 schools I'm applying to in order to get a feel for the funding situation. If they don't use the GRE as a determining factor, then I don't think I'll waste my time/money taking it again. I have CLEP tests in math to take so I can graduate on time (stupid noncountable transfer credits) and I'd much rather work solely on those. If I do decide to take the GRE again it will be after the CLEP tests so I assume my Q will go up significantly. I think, at the end of the day, my GRE scores are going to look really strange and I'll probably have some explaining to do!

Thanks again, I needed a bit of reassurance.

[fuzzylogician]

Oh man, that makes me feel so much better! I was on another board (not gradcafe) where I was explicitly told that I didn't have a shot in hell at getting in with such bad scores, hence the panic attack. I'm going to take your advice and contact the 4 schools I'm applying to in order to get a feel for the funding situation. If they don't use the GRE as a determining factor, then I don't think I'll waste my time/money taking it again. I have CLEP tests in math to take so I can graduate on time (stupid noncountable transfer credits) and I'd much rather work solely on those. If I do decide to take the GRE again it will be after the CLEP tests so I assume my Q will go up significantly. I think, at the end of the day, my GRE scores are going to look really strange and I'll probably have some explaining to do!

Thanks again, I needed a bit of reassurance.

Meh, I hate categorical advice. Someone with your background and credentials should have a decent shot at acceptance, if you get past initial cutoffs. I guess the worry people on the other board you mentioned had was that you would not get past that initial stage. You obviously only stand a chance if your file gets forwarded to the admissions committee which will look at all you've done and decide if you fit in their department. If you're already planning to contact the schools about funding, try to also get a feel for whether or not they have an (official or unofficial) GRE cutoff. You're hovering around 1200, which is the most common cutoff I read about on this board (you even get there if the school takes your highest score in each section); maybe the DGS/faculty/current students can tell you if that's enough. It's also interesting to know if, in case there is a cutoff, there is someone who still sifts through the "rejected" pile to make sure no outstanding applicants were ignored. Again, in my opinion words like "disastrous", "no shot in hell", "panic attack" are exaggerations for your situation; if you do end up retaking: I think the Q score isn't that important for history grad school.. people in the history sub-forum should be able to tell you for sure. Study to improve your V score, if anything.