GRE Revised Scores: The Lit/Language Edition

[TripWillis]

Hey guys,

This is for those of us who really only probably care about the Verbal, and maybe about the AW.

GRE General scores are going up on ETS 'bout now. Here's my scoring.

V: 165, 96th percentile (Estimate was 730-800, which would've been 98-99% on the old scale -- drag)

Q: 144, 26th percentile (estimate was ?? -- BEAT THAT, EVERYONE ELSE! HA HA HA!) Seriously though, I guessed my way through Q in 2009 and in 2011. In 2009, I got a 150 (54th%); what a score swing! Apparently I was a better guesser in 2009 than in 2011. It's also actually a bit discomfiting that I've never really answered one of these Q questions in earnest, and yet I've still pulled somewhat reasonable scores.

AW: 6.0, 99% - Damn f-ing right. Tip regarding this: My strategy was not to craft a concise and reasonable essay, but to spin a wild and verbose web of complex thought and to make it as long as possible. Length, length, length is the best advice I can give. I thought that might hurt me, because after the test I was thinking, "Wow, I'd never actually turn in an essay like that," but lo and behold, it worked.

[bdon19]

V: 167, 98th percentile (I'm a little bummed that my estimate, 750-800, was within the 99th, but it's really nbd, just an ego thing haha)

Q: 155, 69th percentile (I was also a tad bit bummed about this, simply because my estimate was 680-780, and I felt like that would make me look kinda good, even though math obviously doesn't matter...)

AW: 5.5, 96th percentile (I don't really know what I wrote on that...but I guess I'm just pretty good at bs-ing. That and probably my time as news editor on our paper has helped me know how to write non-Englishy types of essays)

I JUST WANT MY SUBJECT TEST SCORES. RIGHT NOW.

Edit: Hmmm, I just realized that 155 technically is a 700-710 in math. I guess it just looks so much more impressive on the old scale. (Mantra: it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter). I wonder how adcomms are going to feel about the new scoring?

Edited November 4, 2011 by bdon19

[TripWillis]

V: 167, 98th percentile (I'm a little bummed that my estimate, 750-800, was within the 99th, but it's really nbd, just an ego thing haha)

Q: 155, 69th percentile (I was also a tad bit bummed about this, simply because my estimate was 680-780, and I felt like that would make me look kinda good, even though math obviously doesn't matter...)

AW: 5.5, 96th percentile (I don't really know what I wrote on that...but I guess I'm just pretty good at bs-ing. That and probably my time as news editor on our paper has helped me know how to write non-Englishy types of essays)

I JUST WANT MY SUBJECT TEST SCORES. RIGHT NOW.

True that -- we don't get them until like the end of the month, right? I'll be surprised if mine is any better than my Quant...

Even though Quant doesn't really matter, I wish my score were at least normal hahaha...

Killer job on Verbal, BTW. I'm jealous. I got a 730-800 estimate, and it appears that my score fell outside the lower part of the estimate, from the looks of it. I should've been 99th%, acc. to the estimate, right?

Edited November 4, 2011 by TripWillis

[bdon19]

True that -- we don't get them until like the end of the month, right? I'll be surprised if mine is any better than my Quant...

Even though Quant doesn't really matter, I wish my score were at least normal hahaha...

Killer job on Verbal, BTW. I'm jealous. I got a 730-800 estimate, and it appears that my score fell outside the lower part of the estimate, from the looks of it. I should've been 99th%, acc. to the estimate, right?

Subject test scores will be released the 25th, unless we want to pay like 12 dollars to get them by phone. I think that option is available the 14th or something. I'll prob end up spending the money.

I'm still a bit peeved on the Verbal. I know my score is fine, good even, it just annoys me that my estimate was 750-800, and a 167, which I ended up receiving, is equivalent to a 710.

Based on your estimate, you should have been either in the 99th or 98th. (http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/concordance_information.pdf) I mean, our scores are fine, good...It's just annoying that the ETS was so off in so many cases with these estimates.

[TripWillis]

Subject test scores will be released the 25th, unless we want to pay like 12 dollars to get them by phone. I think that option is available the 14th or something. I'll prob end up spending the money.

I'm still a bit peeved on the Verbal. I know my score is fine, good even, it just annoys me that my estimate was 750-800, and a 167, which I ended up receiving, is equivalent to a 710.

Based on your estimate, you should have been either in the 99th or 98th. (http://www.ets.org/s...information.pdf) I mean, our scores are fine, good...It's just annoying that the ETS was so off in so many cases with these estimates.

Yeah, exactly. Not to mention that they were off by about 40 points on the scaled score estimate. My 165 = 690 on the old scale. Still, 96th% is pretty darn good... I just hate that their estimate was off.

[TripWillis]

stupid GRE. stupid stupid GRE :'(

v 169 (99th), q 156 (74th)

and then. 4.5 (72nd) for analytical writing. WTF. :'( I'm sorry, GRE, but I am a great writer, this has always been my biggest strength. I have 100% confidence in my style and I have no idea wtf went wrong and why I didn't score well. I was really sick on the day but I thought I wrote well.

:'( I'm totally gutted. everything is probably ruined

Doubtful. I've heard that the AW is not important and not a reliable indicator of your writing ability.

[lolopixie]

stupid GRE. stupid stupid GRE :'(

v 169 (99th), q 156 (74th)

and then. 4.5 (72nd) for analytical writing. WTF. :'( I'm sorry, GRE, but I am a great writer, this has always been my biggest strength. I have 100% confidence in my style and I have no idea wtf went wrong and why I didn't score well. I was really sick on the day but I thought I wrote well.

:'( I'm totally gutted. everything is probably ruined

Have no fear about the AW, the schools have your writing sample. That is the real indicator of how you write....and your SOP. I've also heard that the AW is not important. If you didn't write a 5 paragraph essay for dummies, your score goes down. So stupid. I was also told in my GRE prep class that this will be the last "fiscal year" the AW is scored by humans. Whenever the next fiscal year starts, a computer will be grading it. How in the hell will that be possible? No idea! I wouldn't let that bum you out AT ALL!

[Ryzhaya]

Don't despair indalomena! I am also totally confident in my writing and consider one of my greatest strengths, and I scored a 4 on AW (48%)! I was honestly shocked to get such a low score; I don't think I wrote great essays by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel like I did what was asked of me well enough. I guess it was a case of overconfidence . . . ah, well. There is certainly no point in dwelling on it now, and I'll third the idea that few programs take the AW score very seriously. Why give any weight to standardized test essay when an actual example of your academic writing is sitting right in front of them?

Anyway, my other scores were 170V and 151Q. So at least I have my verbal score to keep me warm at night!

[0000000000AAA]

They've also estimated how old scores look in the new system.

My Verbal 720 is now an estimated 168

My quant 770 is now an estimated 161 (which makes a lot of sense because a verbal 720 is much higher percentile wise than a quant 770)

I wonder if this information goes out with the score reports.

[indalomena]

thanks for the nice comments I just really hope this isn't going to be a serious problem in my applications. Thankfully I'd prefer to stay in the UK anyway, and obviously they don't look at GRE scores. But it would be nice to have options.

[lolopixie]

I think the schools are probably going to be basing scores off of the percentiles this year versus the scores because you won't be able to compare the old and new otherwise. I'm retaking it agian in December because my verbal was just not high enough; however, I shocked myself by swinging a 6 on the writing. Last time I was 4.5. I know the writing doesn't count for much, but it made me feel good about myself

Edited November 7, 2011 by lolopixie

[Timshel]

I think the schools are probably going to be basing scores off of the percentiles this year versus the scores because you won't be able to compare the old and new otherwise. I'm retaking it agian in December because my verbal was just not high enough; however, I shocked myself by swinging a 6 on the writing. Last time I was 4.5. I know the writing doesn't count for much, but it made me feel good about myself

I wish I could retake, but I just don't have the time. I just squeaked by with percentages, but between all of my grading and working on the other aspects of the application, I cannot devote enough time to studying at this point; I just have to cross my fingers and hope that the other aspects of my application make up for this one negative.

[lolopixie]

I wish I could retake, but I just don't have the time. I just squeaked by with percentages, but between all of my grading and working on the other aspects of the application, I cannot devote enough time to studying at this point; I just have to cross my fingers and hope that the other aspects of my application make up for this one negative.

I wish I didn't have to retake it! Even though I doubled my percentile in the test I took in September as compared to my old one, I am really wanting a higher score. Let's see if I can pull a 6 twice on the writing!

[user_name]

i had my quant percentile drop by 1% and my writing go up by 4% because of this years test takers

[lolopixie]

LOL - you're welcome! Except my scores went up 30% on verbal, so I don't think I helped your verbal score.

[Bayo]

Just checked my scores.

V: 167 (98%). It's good, but, like bdon, my estimate was 750-800.

Q: 145 (32%). LOL. Estimate 410-510, so, again, it was lower. And yeah, I guessed my way through most of it.

AW: 4.5 (72%). Whatev.

I wish I had been reading this forum more closely before taking the test, as I would have followed the general maxim for scoring higher on the analytical writing. But I'm already over it. My sample should be indicative of my abilities.

[TripWillis]

Preface: These scores do not matter and the math score matters even less, but...

Okay, so I took the GRE this year and did pretty well on Verbal (165 = 690) and AW (6.0). However, I did much better on quant in 2009 (630 = 150) than I did this year (144 = 520). I mean, considering I guessed all the way through both times, it's an absolute miracle that I got higher than 500 both times. So, I see a lot of people talking about their combined score, and I'm pretty sure that in the humanities it doesn't matter, but... well, this is my question:

Will the school look at both my math scores (2011 and 2009) and take the higher one, thereby giving me a 1320 equivalent? Or am I looking at a 1210? 1320 would be better.... just saying.

[user_name]

i think its more how the grad school feels than the department. some might have a minimum cutoff, but that you're over 500 shouldn't be a problem, especially to the english department.