Stupid Question Time

[dimanche0829]

Hi Everyone,

Just to give you some background: my major GPA is 3.8-ish (total cumulative gpa slightly lower), I'm part of my school's honor's college, graduating in December, will be getting LOR from the department chair, assistant department chair, and my honor's project advisor, and I'm published. I have also received very positive feedback about my SOP and writing sample. So far, I think I'm a fairly solid candidate.

That darned GRE, however, landed me a 440V and 500Q (I swear I'm not that dumb! Really!), and I've been giving a lot of thought about whether I should retake. While this should be a no-brainer, I am a horrible standardized test taker and fear that a re-take will land me a score equal to, or worse than, my first try. I still have to do my subject test, though, which is scheduled for October, and I have no doubt in my mind that I can do well on it.

In fields where a subject test is required, do schools give more weight to the subject test than the standard test? If I score really well on the subject test, is it even worth the hassle of trying to retake the standard?

This forum has been such an immense help to me since I joined last week. I am forever grateful for any advice you can offer!

[Eigen]

In the scheme of things, the GRE isn't a "huge" part of the application package- it won't make or break your application, assuming you meet the minimums required for wherever you're applying. I don't think any adcoms look and say "oh, this applicant scored a 1420 while that one there scored a 1400- let's take the one with the higher score". They look and see that both of the applicants have good GRE scores, and move on to the meat of the application.

The thing that I would worry about with your scores is that you will not meet "minimum requirements" for admission- either those set by the program as cutoffs, or possibly those set by the college or the school.

I would specifically ask schools where you plan on applying- some will be able to tell you that you would not make consideration or not.

[eklavya]

given that your major is english, and you scored pretty low in the verbal section, i recommend that you take it again. if you browse through the english sub-forum in this site, you will see how people have been doing in the past, and get an idea of how you compare with them. although admission depends on a lot of things including gre, you might not want to apply if you are not feeling confident about your whole application packet.

[ZeeMore21]

Hi Everyone,

Just to give you some background: my major GPA is 3.8-ish (total cumulative gpa slightly lower), I'm part of my school's honor's college, graduating in December, will be getting LOR from the department chair, assistant department chair, and my honor's project advisor, and I'm published. I have also received very positive feedback about my SOP and writing sample. So far, I think I'm a fairly solid candidate.

That darned GRE, however, landed me a 440V and 500Q (I swear I'm not that dumb! Really!), and I've been giving a lot of thought about whether I should retake. While this should be a no-brainer, I am a horrible standardized test taker and fear that a re-take will land me a score equal to, or worse than, my first try. I still have to do my subject test, though, which is scheduled for October, and I have no doubt in my mind that I can do well on it.

In fields where a subject test is required, do schools give more weight to the subject test than the standard test? If I score really well on the subject test, is it even worth the hassle of trying to retake the standard?

This forum has been such an immense help to me since I joined last week. I am forever grateful for any advice you can offer!

Hey dimanche0829! I'm in English...I would say that you definitely should retake the GREs if it is at all possible. GREs may not be as weighted compared to the other aspects of your application, (namely your personal statement and writing sample...these are very important in English) a GRE Verbal score in the 400s might raise some eyebrows in the admissions committee. I think that getting at least a 600 Verbal score would be great...a couple of my advisers gave me this advice in addition to faculty members I had spoken with at the schools I had planned on applying to. But I will say that even scoring in the high 500s might not be that bad.

Not only would a higher GRE make you a more competitive applicant, but it might help you earn fellowships in your program on top of your stipend. So again, I would plan on retaking the GREs. I'm assuming that you have only taken the GRE once, so I'm thinking that your score will increase the second time around.

Edited July 28, 2011 by ZeeMore21

[Coyolxauhqui]

I definitely agree with what has been said. A low GRE score can feel like the worst thing in the world. I am a horrible standardized test taker too and bombing the GRE the first time was like a huge blow to my already fragile ego/self-esteem. I would recommend that you take it again, but before doing so buy/check out and utilize some study prep material (books, workbooks, CDs, flashcards). I did and my score drastically improved. So it can be done. I would not suggest taking one of those ridiculously expensive prep courses. After having prepared thoroughly you will be much confident going into the exam and bet your score will improve too. Best of luck to you.

[ZeeMore21]

I definitely agree with what has been said. A low GRE score can feel like the worst thing in the world. I am a horrible standardized test taker too and bombing the GRE the first time was like a huge blow to my already fragile ego/self-esteem. I would recommend that you take it again, but before doing so buy/check out and utilize some study prep material (books, workbooks, CDs, flashcards). I did and my score drastically improved. So it can be done. I would not suggest taking one of those ridiculously expensive prep courses. After having prepared thoroughly you will be much confident going into the exam and bet your score will improve too. Best of luck to you.

Very helpful post. I actually scored a 490 the first time around. I made it a point to memorize a lot more vocab words during my preparation for the 2nd exam in addition to practicing strategies such as process of elimination and making an intelligent guess. I ended up getting a 620 verbal on the second exam after all this...a pretty significant increase. A 620 may have not been the perfect score, but it was more than enough for most of the schools I applied to.

[dimanche0829]

Thank you so much, everyone! It's tough to see the silver lining right now because this was such a major blow to my "plan," but it's good to know that I'm not the only one that's dealt with this before. On the bright side, I don't have to worry about those darned analogies on the new test...that alone should raise me up some more.

[CageFree]

Hey, a lot of people get major test anxiety with standardized tests. It's pretty normal! That said, someone said your verbal score is awfully low for an English major and I agree.

If I were you, I'd take a practice test for the new GRE and see where I score. THEN, I'd focus on improving those skills. When it comes to test-taking, it's really about knowing where your strategy is failing... what kinds of mistakes you are making. Maybe there's a type of question that you just have a really tough time with! Maybe you're approaching questions incorrectly. Standardized tests are about learning to think like the test makers. It's a game.

[dimanche0829]

I studied for over 3 months before taking the test and scored well, consistently in the high 600s. The second I sat in that exam chair, my mind just went blank. I over-thought everything, took too much time on certain questions, changed my answers, etc. It was uuuuugly. Give me a paper to write and I'll knock your socks off; give me a bubble to fill in and I'll vomit. Le sigh.

I worked too hard for this to let a test score ruin my efforts. Argh.

[ZeeMore21]

This is a sidenote dimanche, but my birthday is also 8/29!!! Just got excited for some reason lol. But please let me know if I can give you any information about studying material that might be helpful.

[dimanche0829]

Ha, awesome!

And thank you! I've been using Princeton Review and Kaplan for studying, but if you have other prep-book suggestions, do share!

[CageFree]

I studied for over 3 months before taking the test and scored well, consistently in the high 600s. The second I sat in that exam chair, my mind just went blank. I over-thought everything, took too much time on certain questions, changed my answers, etc. It was uuuuugly. Give me a paper to write and I'll knock your socks off; give me a bubble to fill in and I'll vomit. Le sigh.

I worked too hard for this to let a test score ruin my efforts. Argh.

Sounds like you answered your own question. Don't second guess yourself... cardinal rule of standardized tests.

Just curious, and trying to help: Have you ever taken a class on STRATEGY? Not studying material, but HOW to approach these things?

[dimanche0829]

Believe me, I appreciate the help! I'll be honest, I didn't focus much on strategy; I was more worried about studying the vocab and math formulas. I think I definitely need to integrate more strategy study into my repertoire.

[ZeeMore21]

Ha, awesome!

And thank you! I've been using Princeton Review and Kaplan for studying, but if you have other prep-book suggestions, do share!

Sure, I would recommend Barron's GRE workbook, it has a master vocab list that is pretty extensive. I'm not sure if it was the actual vocab that tripped you up during test time, but if so, you might want to look into this. The master list may be online, if you don't feel like forking over some more money...study aid material can be so expensive!

[CageFree]

Believe me, I appreciate the help! I'll be honest, I didn't focus much on strategy; I was more worried about studying the vocab and math formulas. I think I definitely need to integrate more strategy study into my repertoire.

Strategy really is a HUGE part of it. Things like... formulating an answer in your own head before you look at the choices (for example, for sentence completion). Not second-guessing yourself. Eliminating choices based on educated guesses or because they don't match what you came up with. That's just a little of it.

Also, if you have an Android phone, there's a Kaplan GRE app for vocab that's FREE.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Teacher4PhD

[runonsentence]

I'd also suggest that, when you study for the next time around, that you not study (or minimally study) for the math section and concentrate all your efforts on the verbal. English programs aren't going to give a hoot about your quant scores, as long as you're at any cutoff scores set by the university.

[dimanche0829]

I'd also suggest that, when you study for the next time around, that you not study (or minimally study) for the math section and concentrate all your efforts on the verbal. English programs aren't going to give a hoot about your quant scores, as long as you're at any cutoff scores set by the university.

Thank you!

[e i j i]

Believe me, I appreciate the help! I'll be honest, I didn't focus much on strategy; I was more worried about studying the vocab and math formulas. I think I definitely need to integrate more strategy study into my repertoire.

Luckily the new format will get rid of a lot of the vocab, so antonyms and analogies won't be on the new format! I think you should try to retake it if your field is English (unless there are not cut-offs for your desired school, of course), because your other qualifications sound really strong.

As for strategy, I'm also a really bad test taker and I tried to apply Kaplan/Baron's strategies with only mild success. I think doing a lot of practice exams (I took about 15 full-length exams) under timed conditions really helped me get out of my test-taking anxiety. I was more familiarized with the format by the time I was in the actual test room, so even though I was jittery, there weren't major surprises.

Also, were you having trouble with the passages? A buddy of mine was studying at the same time to take the MCAT, and the MCAT verbal reasoning passages are very similar to the GRE, only they're a bit longer in my opinion. He lent me this one book published by the Princeton Review (it's a few years old), but it had 43 practice verbal passages which were excellent practice. Since it was for the MCAT, there were quite a few dealing with "scientific" texts which were my weakest passages from the practices.

Anyway, good luck!

[Hatem]

Also, were you having trouble with the passages? A buddy of mine was studying at the same time to take the MCAT, and the MCAT verbal reasoning passages are very similar to the GRE, only they're a bit longer in my opinion. He lent me this one book published by the Princeton Review (it's a few years old), but it had 43 practice verbal passages which were excellent practice. Since it was for the MCAT, there were quite a few dealing with "scientific" texts which were my weakest passages from the practices.

Would you please tell us the title of that book or add a link of it ?

Thanks in advance.

[e i j i]

Would you please tell us the title of that book or add a link of it ?

Thanks in advance.

I just checked, and it is called Hyperlearning MCAT Verbal Workbook. I tried finding a link on Amazon, but there are only used copies in various editions. The one I borrowed from my friend was a few years old, so I think that edition no longer is printed.

[Hatem]

Thank you