New GRE Test Scores are up.

[Starlajane]

For those who took the test after ETS stopped doing the 700-750 estimate thing (late November and on), did the score that you saw after the test match the score that you saw online?

Mine didn't. My estimate for verbal was 660-770 and I ended up with a 162 (~630); my quant estimate was also higher than my actual score.

For the most part, I think that the estimates are either accurate or overestimated.

[Berenger]

I took my test on 12th December (London) and my results were available online on 28th December. For those interested I scored: Q168(96%) V163(93%) AW4.5(72%) The unofficial scores displayed at the end were exactly the same as the official ones, and this seems to be the case for most people.

There were two good pieces of advice that I received: 1) focus on the section you need, and 2) ignore all other generic advice! You can only focus on the way you personally like to study, and there are no shortcuts around that. You know deep down when you understand a topic, and you know when you don't.

My own strategy was mainly dictated by time constraints, so I set aside about ten days before the exam to read up on it (a couple of hours per day, after work). I was only really taking the test for the Maths element, so I 'revised' Maths stuff and took three or four practice tests, and I took a practice verbal test just to get a feel for the format. Taking a practice exam early on in the revision period was quite helpful to me, so may be the case for others too.

I only had two prep guides (GRE and Barrons) and I found them both useful for quantitative practice questions, though probably found Barrons the more useful of the two. I didn't practice the analytical writing but I wish I had done, just to get a feel for the timing. The clock seemed to run down quite quickly on the day, and it was a rush to finish the first one.

A final thing that I found useful was the 'review' function for the Maths - dwelling on a question could ruin the whole test! Otherwise I think you just have to be a confident and as calm as you can, and you will get a result that you are happy with.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Berenger

[al-majhul]

Ok..the only reason why I ask is that I have access to my GRE diagnostic (although, ironically, not to my "View Scores Online" link, which still says "absent or not available"), which says I got a total of five questions wrong on Verbal. But my score for Verbal was 166. I was wondering if that was really possible. I suppose it is then.

[anthropy]

Ok..the only reason why I ask is that I have access to my GRE diagnostic (although, ironically, not to my "View Scores Online" link, which still says "absent or not available"), which says I got a total of five questions wrong on Verbal. But my score for Verbal was 166. I was wondering if that was really possible. I suppose it is then.

I got 7 wrong for a Verbal score of 164.

[paradoll]

Wow I did not know the diagnostic site existed til now. Thank you guys. (https://grediagnostic.ets.org/)

Test Date: 9/6/2011

V: 164 (94%) (Estimate 680-780) - (1st section: 19/20; 2nd section 12/20 -- 9 wrong)

Q: 168 (96%) (Estimate 750-800)- (1st section: 19/20; 2nd section 20/20 -- 1 wrong)

A: 5.5 (96%)

There was a technical glitch and I actually had to write this exam over a duration of 5 hours as the computer kept freezing between questions. I think the drop from 1st to 2nd section (there was also a 3rd experimental V section on top of that) reflects the fact that I was hungry and exhausted - there's definitely something to it when people tell you you need to be well rested for this test...

Edited December 31, 2011 by paradoll

[Triumph]

Congratulations everyone on the great scores.

I see many with Verbal scores of 160+.May I know which word list did you study for the revised GRE? I hear the Barron's for the revised GRE has completely done away with the word list. So if anyone of you had learnt a list of words, which one was it?

Thank you.

[Helpplease123]

I got the Kaplan flashcards...theoretically you could probably make them yourself but I think they're worth the $10

[rowlf]

I took the revised GRE a couple days ago. I was expecting to see a range of scores immediately after the test, but rather saw two specific scores. Is that how it works now? Instant gratification/sorrow?

[Tdearr]

Hi Rowlf,

Yes. The new scales were finalized in November of this past year and the GRE is now able to provide accurate "new scale" estimated scores at the end of your exam.

Best,

Taylor

[JoMarie]

Test Date: 09/27/2011

Verbal: 170 (750-800 estimate), 20/20 first section, 18/20 second section. 99%

Quantitative: 167 (750-800 estimate), 20/20 first section, 18/20 second section. 95%

AW: 5.5 96%

I am a non-native speaker, and I prepared for the verbal section just by looking up all those words I usually ignore in books I read. I found it easier to remember them seeing them in context first.

Edited January 11, 2012 by JoMarie

[chronicx]

V: 144 (29%)

M: 153 (69%)

A; 3.0 (11%)

any thoughts?

[conticuere24]

Test Date: 09/27/2011

Verbal: 170 (750-800 estimate), 20/20 first section, 18/20 second section. 99%

Quantitative: 167 (750-800 estimate), 20/20 first section, 18/20 second section. 95%

AW: 5.5 96%

I am a non-native speaker, and I prepared for the verbal section just by looking up all those words I usually ignore in books I read. I found it easier to remember them seeing them in context first.

Do You have a sense of how scoring works? I'm interested in the fact that JoMarie got a 170 with 38/40 total, while I got a 168 with 37/40 total. This is from a native speaker, polylingual, literature student! I'm still angry about this

[kek]

Verbal: 170 (99%), 19/20 first section, 19/20 second section

Quantitative: 166 (94%), 19/20 first section, 19/20 second section

AW: 6.0 (99%).

Like JoMarie I prepared by looking up all the words that I encountered that I did not already know for the last year. I also made dictionary.com my homepage. Perhaps that helped.

[JoMarie]

Do You have a sense of how scoring works? I'm interested in the fact that JoMarie got a 170 with 38/40 total, while I got a 168 with 37/40 total. This is from a native speaker, polylingual, literature student! I'm still angry about this

Maybe it depends on the difficulty of the questions you got wrong? But then I wouldn't know how. On the one hand, it would make sense to be rewarded more for getting the harder questions right, but on the other hand it makes sense to be penalised less for getting them wrong, and the two would sort of weigh each other up... I think my wrong answers were medium difficult.

[Helpplease123]

Do You have a sense of how scoring works? I'm interested in the fact that JoMarie got a 170 with 38/40 total, while I got a 168 with 37/40 total. This is from a native speaker, polylingual, literature student! I'm still angry about this

JoMarie got all of the first section correct which means the second section would've been the hardest level questions - if you got some wrong in the first section, potentially easier ones, that will be why you got a lower score. Do you really thing that any admissions will differentiate between 168 and 170!? Would you want to go somewhere that crazy!? You got a great score and the GRE isn't going to be what makes or breaks your application - focus on the bigger things like SoP and writing samples, you'll be fine.

[lordvader]

V: 158

Q: 168

happy =)

[rowlf]

Do the "accurate estimated" scores differ from the accurate official scores?

Hi Rowlf,

Yes. The new scales were finalized in November of this past year and the GRE is now able to provide accurate "new scale" estimated scores at the end of your exam.

Best,

Taylor

[Tdearr]

Do the "accurate estimated" scores differ from the accurate official scores?

Hi Rowlf,

These estimated scores almost never differ from your official score report. They are only estimates in the sense that a scoring error could be detected before the official reports are sent out, which would result in a score change. However, here at Manhattan GRE, we have never heard even one report of one of our students having an official report different from their end of test "estimate" on the real GRE. The chances of the official score differing are extremely slim.

Best,

Taylor

[secondarydefinitions]

So what is the distribution of difficulty level for the first section of math/verbal? If one does well, what is it for the second?

Also, has anyone taken both the revised and the old version of the test? If so, any thoughts on the old v new? How did your scores compare % wise?

[Kitkat]

JoMarie got all of the first section correct which means the second section would've been the hardest level questions - if you got some wrong in the first section, potentially easier ones, that will be why you got a lower score. Do you really thing that any admissions will differentiate between 168 and 170!? Would you want to go somewhere that crazy!? You got a great score and the GRE isn't going to be what makes or breaks your application - focus on the bigger things like SoP and writing samples, you'll be fine.

I think that schools will probably not be that crazy really, but I think that it will still be interesting to see grad school reactions this year with all of these new changes. Like you said though, GRE scores are not the only things that they are looking at.

So what is the distribution of difficulty level for the first section of math/verbal? If one does well, what is it for the second?

Also, has anyone taken both the revised and the old version of the test? If so, any thoughts on the old v new? How did your scores compare % wise?

I think that the way that it works is that the difficulty of the section is dependent on the first. I don't know how consistant that is since we are still in the early stages of this test at this point, especially after the results from the ranges of the first few months of tests and actual results.

For taking both tests, percentage wise, I did a lot better on the newer version then the older one, but I think that it really depends on what your strenghts and weaknesses are. But I think that overall, most issues are that there are not enough materials to study for the newest test yet. Similar material, more so with the quant section. So I think that quant scores will more similar, with the fact that you will have a finer distiction of percentiles at the top. Verbal, the hard numbers will be less perfect looking, but percentiles will look similar.