Retake with unanswered Quant?

[nbk1qxm]

The ETS website says that if you do not answer any questions in a section it does not give a numerial score, but will instead mark the section as NS or not scored. I just took the "old version" of the gre and was quite happy with my quant score- however scored 80 lower than my lowest practive test score and well below where I expected to score on verbal- This was an unfortunate testing blunder. (This is because I was so focused on getting every question right on the actual test I ran out of time to do the second half of the verbal...) Long story short I am absoulutely confident that I would score well above my current score even on the new formatted test.

What have you heard about totally opting out of a section to improve only the other section?

Thanks

Edited July 22, 2011 by nbk1qxm

[lyonessrampant]

You have to check with the programs you are applying to. Some schools will only take one complete test, so they might take a higher verbal and a 0 or whatever on the quant. Some schools will let you take the highest score on each section no matter whether you got it on multiple versions of the test. In short, email the grad sec or DGS and ask their GRE test report policy.

[jblsmith]

The answer is absolutely, unequivically, 100 percent yes. Retake the test. I'm not sure how the new version works but failing to answer questions in the old version is by far the fastest way to lose points.

To your second point, about skipping one section to improve another, it sounds like complete bullshit. First, I'm not sure how it would work. Do you really think twittling your thumbs for an hour during the verbal section will improve your quant score? If anything, I suspect the anxiety of waiting would only get you more flustered when the time comes. Second, even if you do manage to score an 800 on the quant section your 0 on the verbal is going to raise some major red flags with the adcomms. Just take both exams, if you are really more concerned with one over the other simply allocate more time to studying to the more important section.

Edited July 22, 2011 by jblsmith

[nbk1qxm]

Thanks-- I have no prob taking both again- I'm sure I'll do significantly better on verbal I just dont want quant to slip....