Will GRE retake help me to get into top schools?

[adinutzyc]

I got a 750, which I'm sure most on this forum would also think is awful. I also think I am pretty good at mathematics. What relevance do the math GRE questions have to advanced mathematics or computer science? I do very little calculation, and when I need to do calculations they tend to be intractable anyway, so I write a program to do the calculations for me.

I got 750 too, but decided the rest of the application was good enough not to care. But there's a big difference between 750 and 660...

[DamianD]

Agreed. I don't think I could get a 660, as long as I was trying to get an 800. Maybe a 720, but not a 660... Stanford and Rice... uhm, did you have 20 first author papers? Or something? Also, did you apply for Math? Cause although that doesn't make it better, that means you are on the wrong forum .

Reason, I was too slow and guess didn't practice enough with the timing. No it kinda depends on the university but Stanford and Rice CS :-) but even with my low scores I am able to find the right forum.

Edited March 13, 2011 by DamianD

[ramgorur]

that's true, I got 780 in Q, but no luck (rejected from almost all schools) , GRE math is a crap it doesn't tell anything about your math proficiency. If someone really wants to show his math skills, I think Math Subject GRE is the better option.

[gradSchoolBound]

Reason, I was too slow and guess didn't practice enough with the timing. No it kinda depends on the university but Stanford and Rice CS :-) but even with my low scores I am able to find the right forum.

Yes, I completely see that happening. When I first took the test, I got 630 in mathematics, and I have always been good at math. I did college level calculus when I was in high school, double majored in computer science and mathematics, won honorable mention in AMA math contest while participating impromptu, won a national research award in mathematics from MAA. I was so depressed and thought that was the end of my dream of going to a good graduate school. I took the test again after a year - this time with just two weeks of practice (but with a lot of timing practice) and scored 780. When I took test the first time, I did not had the feel for GRE questions and what they are looking to test - I was over analyzing questions, pondering on what is interesting about the question etc. and ran out time in the end. In CBT, I think you are heavily penalized for unanswered questions.

[DamianD]

Yes, I completely see that happening. When I first took the test, I got 630 in mathematics, and I have always been good at math. I did college level calculus when I was in high school, double majored in computer science and mathematics, won honorable mention in AMA math contest while participating impromptu, won a national research award in mathematics from MAA. I was so depressed and thought that was the end of my dream of going to a good graduate school. I took the test again after a year - this time with just two weeks of practice (but with a lot of timing practice) and scored 780. When I took test the first time, I did not had the feel for GRE questions and what they are looking to test - I was over analyzing questions, pondering on what is interesting about the question etc. and ran out time in the end. In CBT, I think you are heavily penalized for unanswered questions.

Finally somebody who understands it :-) also in the usa you already learn to think this way when prepping for the sat's so gre is basically the same idea how the questions are asked and what kind of questions, timing etc.

[Bontrey]

Yes, I completely see that happening. When I first took the test, I got 630 in mathematics, and I have always been good at math. I did college level calculus when I was in high school, double majored in computer science and mathematics, won honorable mention in AMA math contest while participating impromptu, won a national research award in mathematics from MAA. I was so depressed and thought that was the end of my dream of going to a good graduate school. I took the test again after a year - this time with just two weeks of practice (but with a lot of timing practice) and scored 780. When I took test the first time, I did not had the feel for GRE questions and what they are looking to test - I was over analyzing questions, pondering on what is interesting about the question etc. and ran out time in the end. In CBT, I think you are heavily penalized for unanswered questions.

Not to be an ass, but why would anybody think that there's anything interesting about the questions on the quantitative portion of the GRE? The questions are all basic algebra, geometry, etc...

[gradSchoolBound]

Not to be an ass, but why would anybody think that there's anything interesting about the questions on the quantitative portion of the GRE? The questions are all basic algebra, geometry, etc...

I guess I should appreciate that you are not trying to be an ass. Well, my friend, everybody's brain works differently. When I see questions in math and even when I reach an answer, I can't help wondering what could have been a better way of reasoning an answer out. Or, I am easily distracted into thinking what if the figure was changed in certain way, then this problem would be unsolvable without additional information etc. - I hope you get the point. It is harder to explain in the amount of typing I am willing to do. GRE is no place to do that - you try to get an answer in shortest possible time with the least amount of calculation, then forget about the question and move on. Some people are good at taking test - managing time, logically deducing answer quickly and moving on etc. I had to acquire that mindset before doing better in GRE. The case may be different for somebody else.

By the way, questions in GRE may not require advanced mathematical knowledge, but some of them have much more mathematics behind them than just what is obvious at a first glance. Do you know that nobody have been able to prove or disprove if there are odd perfect numbers? Well, I saw a question in GRE which had to with this fact but one did not need to know this to answer the question. Getting answer was just a matter of a few number crunching and logical reasoning, but if you knew little more mathematics behind it, you could not help getting distracted.

Edited March 13, 2011 by gradSchoolBound

[DezB88]

Yes, I completely see that happening. When I first took the test, I got 630 in mathematics, and I have always been good at math. I did college level calculus when I was in high school, double majored in computer science and mathematics, won honorable mention in AMA math contest while participating impromptu, won a national research award in mathematics from MAA. I was so depressed and thought that was the end of my dream of going to a good graduate school. I took the test again after a year - this time with just two weeks of practice (but with a lot of timing practice) and scored 780. When I took test the first time, I did not had the feel for GRE questions and what they are looking to test - I was over analyzing questions, pondering on what is interesting about the question etc. and ran out time in the end. In CBT, I think you are heavily penalized for unanswered questions.

Not to act like Sheldon Cooper and brag about this.

But I got 800 twice.

The second time last month with no preparation for quantitative, I hastily registered after a few comrades here said many profs do look at GRE verbal (anyone remembers the thread about some one with his father a famous prof and he wants to use it?).

I had to retake soon so those 'smart' profs who want to see high GRE verbal wouldn't toss my application to the trash bin when they see my sub-500 verbal.

And believe it or not, the first time I took it I was sick. It was a week with bad weather in the Northeast. I still remember that week when the Metrodome in Minnesota collapsed because of the snow and they had to move the Vikings-Giants game to Detroit.

I never took SAT, so I am not used to this kind of speedy test either.

I am also out of school and working for more than 2 years, and had little exposure to Math during the time.

In addition, I am also double major in Math, took a lot of Math courses to feed up my GPA as

I am no good at programming courses like 'System programming' or OS.

So I am not sure about the part when studying a lot of high level math makes your basic math bad.

[DamianD]

Not to act like Sheldon Cooper and brag about this.

But I got 800 twice.

The second time last month with no preparation for quantitative, I hastily registered after a few comrades here said many profs do look at GRE verbal (anyone remembers the thread about some one with his father a famous prof and he wants to use it?).

Blablabla...

Just curious, where did you apply and where did you get accepted?

[DezB88]

Just curious, where did you apply and where did you get accepted?

This is the part that you can laugh at me LOL

And there is nothing I can do but embarrassingly bow down and retreat

I have not got (which realistically means 'will not get') admit from my top choice schools (Rice is one of them)

The other school has a taste for near perfect GPA, and top of the class (or close to it), so my sub-3.9 GPA was enough for me to be tossed away.

They would probably admit you if you applied there.

To make it less embarrassing, I have not got any reject though

I emailed the prof at my top choice but my email was ignored, so I imagine I do not fit into his taste, being no where near competitive area

I withdrew my application right before they unleashed their tidal wave of rejects. LOL. Still perfect scores at the moment

I guess I have to go to my safety school now, so

Rice and Stanford with fellowship.. you ARE the man!!!

(and I mean it, no sarcasm intended)