New GRE Test Scores are up.

[fosgfp]

I think Zea meant that his/her school list is up, not his/her scores

[bluebla]

I think Zea meant that his/her school list is up, not his/her scores

Ohh, yeah, that makes more sense. Jeez, I am so on edge.

[fosgfp]

Haha it's ok! I read it wrong the first time also

[Charming Charlie]

I recognize that this forum is primarily keeners, but there has only been a single score posted so far that was under the 50% percentile. As I understand what a percentile is, GRE test takers score equally underneath 50% as above it. Yet the average percentile is something like 90% here. Can this forum really contain such a huge majority of top score earners? And if so, where are all the people scoring under 50%? Reading this message, too intimidated to post (like I have been until this point), or in some part of the world without regular internet access?

My scores as someone who forgot he took the GRE until a letter came in the mail today:

Verbal: 164 (94th percentile)

Quantitative: 153 (65th percentile)

Writing: 5.5 (96th percentile)

[emmm]

Well, you're probably not in a math/science field, so you fit right in with the average forumite here for your field.

[evilone]

Are there any reports of the perfect 340 out there? Have those of you who have been trawling other forums for comparison seen anybody give that score or read about it in your school paper?

[Lox26]

I recognize that this forum is primarily keeners, but there has only been a single score posted so far that was under the 50% percentile. As I understand what a percentile is, GRE test takers score equally underneath 50% as above it. Yet the average percentile is something like 90% here. Can this forum really contain such a huge majority of top score earners? And if so, where are all the people scoring under 50%? Reading this message, too intimidated to post (like I have been until this point), or in some part of the world without regular internet access?

My scores as someone who forgot he took the GRE until a letter came in the mail today:

Verbal: 164 (94th percentile)

Quantitative: 153 (65th percentile)

Writing: 5.5 (96th percentile)

You are also above 50th percentile. I do not understand the point of your commentary. Your verbal score is high and so is your AW. Do you remember what your ranges were on test day?

[evilone]

You are also above 50th percentile. I do not understand the point of your commentary. Your verbal score is high and so is your AW. Do you remember what your ranges were on test day?

He is saying that the posters on this forum seem to have self-selected so that it is mostly the high-scorers who posted their scores (assuming people are posting their actual scores honestly) which may give people a distorted idea of how good or bad their scores are. His post is entirely consistent with that comment, as he attained a fairly high score, and thus adds to the parade of high scores.

[Lox26]

He is saying that the posters on this forum seem to have self-selected so that it is mostly the high-scorers who posted their scores (assuming people are posting their actual scores honestly) which may give people a distorted idea of how good or bad their scores are. His post is entirely consistent with that comment, as he attained a fairly high score, and thus adds to the parade of high scores.

That is actually not the argument he was making. It was more along the lines of "Gee, everyone here seems so smart and high achieving...I don't even obsess over or care about things like GRE scores...Golly, I still did well though." The bit about forgetting he even took the test and about being intimidated (until he saw his amazing scores) was laying it on a bit thick. He also claimed to not quite understand what a percentile was, further supporting that he wasn't making such a sophisticated argument. He behaves as if he wants people to think he's some slacker savant. My $0.02.

Edited November 9, 2011 by Lox26

[Charming Charlie]

My reasons for posting:

1. Where are the low scores? If this forum is an unusually high scoring subset, where are all the average applicants talking about their GRE scores?

1b. If this forum is not an unusually high scoring subset and somehow represents a more typical graduate applicant, where are all the people driving our scores up? They very well could be non-native English speakers. At the moment I'm assuming so because my google searches seem to demonstrate this forum has the most traffic of all the English places to talk about graduate school. In any case, I haven't found'em.

2. The concept of a "percentile" becomes completely questionable when a majority of people are apparently in the 90th, isn't that weird?

2b. Yes, it is weird. 90th percentile scores are uncommon (1/10th as common) and posters are just being hard on themselves because they're keeners.

2c. No, it's not weird. In many disciplines anything lower than 90th percentile scores is worthless on an application. Maybe instead of thinking of the results in percentiles it's a more accurate concept to think of them as letter grades. 90+ = A. 80- = Not getting into grad school.

3. If you're reading this forum and going "wtf" like I frequently have over the past year, you're not alone. Surely there are others who don't score 90th percentile and worry about retesting. At worst that is alien behavior. At best it is Dunning-Kruger thinking. As a former lurker, reading anything suggesting so is few and far between here. I just want to know if I'm out of touch with reality or this forum generally is.

4. Contratulations, me. I did better than expected, and given my lack of academic support in all areas of my life, turning to the internet and this forum is the best place to celebrate the news.

Edited November 9, 2011 by Charming Charlie

[Lox26]

This was a better post, with a much clearer objective and thesis.

[zea mays]

I think Zea meant that his/her school list is up, not his/her scores

Exactly. I just didn't want people to necessarily get their hopes of early scores up related to that info. I think I'm still in for a wait of another two weeks or so.

[ruuustin]

I just want to point something out to people thinking along the lines of "everyone seems to be in the 90+ percentile." There is going to be a huge selection bias towards not only people posting their scores here, but toward people in general speaking about their scores. You really have no way of telling if that is really what their score is. Plus, the people getting low scores probably aren't out there shouting it from the mountaintops.

I have been talking with a lot of people who have all been waiting on scores. Some have gotten them back and they are less than impressive. I'm talking percentiles of V:<50's and Q:60's. Now, I realize that that is combined probably right in the middle of scores, but I've seen masters programs with a minimum score of 1000 combined.

[bfat]

This was a better post, with a much clearer objective and thesis.

Uh... is this a joke? No wonder Charlie was too intimidated to post. O_o

[Waffle]

I took the GRE today and rather than receiving a range estimate from the old score, I got two specific numbers (V: 163; Q: 158) in the new scale

Two questions:

- Has anyone encountered the same situation

-I know the scores are relatively bad (and I'm still shocked as I never got something lower than 800-750 range for practice tests), but are they still acceptable for top tier International Affairs schools?

[cunninlynguist]

I took the GRE today and rather than receiving a range estimate from the old score, I got two specific numbers (V: 163; Q: 158) in the new scale

Two questions:

- Has anyone encountered the same situation

-I know the scores are relatively bad (and I'm still shocked as I never got something lower than 800-750 range for practice tests), but are they still acceptable for top tier International Affairs schools?

You're aware that your scores, based on the concordance table, are equal to 650V and 740Q on the old scale, right? There is nothing bad about your scores, even if you're comparing them to your practice tests.

I'd assume that the percentiles have now stabilized to a point that you're able to view unofficial scores rather than ranges of the old scoring system. After all, the new test has been in effect for over 3 months.

[Karlito]

Hey all, I took the test yesterday and got some estimates based on the old scale. Could someone give me an idea of what the actual scores are going to be for me on the new scales? Because I have an impression that most, if not all of the time, the actual scores turn out to be on the lower end of the estimate.

I got: V: 640-740. Q: 690-790. What would that most likely be on the new scale for all GRE experts here? Thanks a lot

[Rachel B]

Hey all, I took the test yesterday and got some estimates based on the old scale. Could someone give me an idea of what the actual scores are going to be for me on the new scales? Because I have an impression that most, if not all of the time, the actual scores turn out to be on the lower end of the estimate.

I got: V: 640-740. Q: 690-790. What would that most likely be on the new scale for all GRE experts here? Thanks a lot

Your verbal would be 162-169 and your math would be 154-164. You can find the concordance table here http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/concordance_information.pdf

[Karlito]

Thanks a lot! I just read a bit through the topic and what freaks me out is that some estimates are wrong.

[bluebla]

My score report is unavailable! Today might be the day for third-batchers!

[Rachel B]

Thanks a lot! I just read a bit through the topic and what freaks me out is that some estimates are wrong.

Most of the estimates are right even though they're on the lowest end of the project score. (Both of my scores were on the lowest end).

[Lox26]

Uh... is this a joke? No wonder Charlie was too intimidated to post. O_o

It's not. This is a more well-thought-out argument. I understand his message now, whereas before it was ambiguous. No one need be intimidated.

[Lox26]

Thanks a lot! I just read a bit through the topic and what freaks me out is that some estimates are wrong.

Your practice tests should give you a good idea about your performance. My quant estimate was accurate, but my verbal score fell below the lowest score in the range. In retrospect, my verbal performance was weaker throughout my studying period, and I didn't work as hard to improve my accuracy on verbal. If you were consistently getting harder questions wrong, your score is probably on the lower end of the range or below. If you were consistently improving and missing hard, medium, and easy questions due to careless error, your score is probably mid-to-high-range of your projected performance. I hope you get the scores the need and want!

[Karlito]

Thanks a lot for your explanation! We will see how it goes. When can I see my score? End of the month? I just hope they understand that my verbal score is not top notched since English is not my first language. Hopefully my AW is okay, I do not want to resit the whole thing.

[Missy91]

Has anybody gotten scores that took the test on October 4th?