Question about GRE Second Attempts

[melissarose8585]

I took my first GRE in December to give myself enough time to prepare for admissions in Fall 2012 (looking at starting for my PhD in 2013). I didn't know how well I would do, so I wanted to give myself enough time to re-study, take a course, and re-take the test if needed. Scores weren't so bad (V=165, Q=154, AW=5.5), and I'm going for World History (with a good bit of Archaeology thrown in), so I needed a great verbal and writing for the schools I've chosen (UPitt, Brown, UVirginia, UArkansas, UDenver).

My question is this: if I take the test again to try and improve my quantitative score, how does it all work? If I should get a lower verbal, do they typically take the highest among the tests, or the highest average score among the tests? I want to make sure that, before I spend the money and time prepping for another round, I won't lose my great verbal and writing score. But I don't want to take the chance of not getting into a good school because my quantitative is low. I know admission depends on quite a bit more than a good GRE score, but I want to look as good on paper as is physically possible.

Edited February 14, 2012 by melissarose8585

[Norman G]

Every GRE test you have taken for the past five years will be reported to the schools you decide to send your results to. This means that even if you should score V=169, Q=169, AW=6.0 on your second test, the schools would receive these scores along with your previous scores. How the schools choose to interpret your GRE scores, however, is not something anyone can answer.

[fanfanfan]

Every GRE test you have taken for the past five years will be reported to the schools you decide to send your results to. This means that even if you should score V=169, Q=169, AW=6.0 on your second test, the schools would receive these scores along with your previous scores. How the schools choose to interpret your GRE scores, however, is not something anyone can answer.

Does this mean that a GRE I took in August 2007 won't be counted if I apply in December 2012?

[bfat]

melissarose,

Your scores are great, and totally acceptable for those programs, especially for a history PhD. For humanities-type programs, your other application materials will be so much more important than the GRE score, which will probably only be used for the initial "cutoff" round, and your scores will certainly pass that. I wouldn't even waste time/money trying to take them again. The GRE just isn't that important, compared to your writing sample and SOP.

Just my advice--I hate to see anyone give ETS more money than necessary.

[modernity]

I took my first GRE in December to give myself enough time to prepare for admissions in Fall 2012 (looking at starting for my PhD in 2013). I didn't know how well I would do, so I wanted to give myself enough time to re-study, take a course, and re-take the test if needed. Scores weren't so bad (V=165, Q=154, AW=5.5), and I'm going for World History (with a good bit of Archaeology thrown in), so I needed a great verbal and writing for the schools I've chosen (UPitt, Brown, UVirginia, UArkansas, UDenver).

My question is this: if I take the test again to try and improve my quantitative score, how does it all work? If I should get a lower verbal, do they typically take the highest among the tests, or the highest average score among the tests? I want to make sure that, before I spend the money and time prepping for another round, I won't lose my great verbal and writing score. But I don't want to take the chance of not getting into a good school because my quantitative is low. I know admission depends on quite a bit more than a good GRE score, but I want to look as good on paper as is physically possible.

They will look at all of your scores - and if you show a tend for improving, it will reflect well. If you show a trend towards dropping, it could be problematic. I agree with the others that you should be happy with what you have.

On a side note - UDenver doesn't have a history grad program - so are you trying to get into their international studies or their archaeology program?

[bythesea]

A related question:

I've noticed that some people who post in the results survey put 'n/a' or 0 in one of the GRE slots (e.g. verbal or quantitative or writing). Does this mean that you can get a score without completing all three sections?

So if I just need to bring up my quantitative score, can I just take the quant sections and skip the others? Or at least skip the writing and still get a score?

[finknottle]

Does this mean that a GRE I took in August 2007 won't be counted if I apply in December 2012?

Yes that is correct, provided you don't order score reports till August '12. If you order score reports before that, they'll send all the valid scores to the universities (either physically or electronically) and it is possible that the universities will copy them to their internal database. So, even if your scores expire in August, they can still be accessible. So yeah, don't order them till August '12. And check with ETS regarding the specifics.

Edit: I assumed that you don't want your old scores to be reported. If it's the other way round, and you want to avoid writing the GRE again and use your old scores, you'll have to write to universities individually to check if it works. If you are planning to apply to a lot of programs, it is safe to assume that you will have to write it again since there will be at least one university that won't accept it. If, however, you are apply to only a few, you can write to them and check. Basically, you'l have to order the scores just before they expire and make sure that they get logged and matched against your application, which is rather difficult to complete by August. Most applications just about open in August or September. All in all, not worth the effort. Write it again.

Edited February 15, 2012 by finknottle

[fanfanfan]

Yes that is correct, provided you don't order score reports till August '12. If you order score reports before that, they'll send all the valid scores to the universities (either physically or electronically) and it is possible that the universities will copy them to their internal database. So, even if your scores expire in August, they can still be accessible. So yeah, don't order them till August '12. And check with ETS regarding the specifics.

Edit: I assumed that you don't want your old scores to be reported. If it's the other way round, and you want to avoid writing the GRE again and use your old scores, you'll have to write to universities individually to check if it works. If you are planning to apply to a lot of programs, it is safe to assume that you will have to write it again since there will be at least one university that won't accept it. If, however, you are apply to only a few, you can write to them and check. Basically, you'l have to order the scores just before they expire and make sure that they get logged and matched against your application, which is rather difficult to complete by August. Most applications just about open in August or September. All in all, not worth the effort. Write it again.

Thanks! You're right in that I don't want to include my older reports haha. I'm just worried because I read somewhere that ETS's testing year is July 1 to June 30. Therefore, it seems that an August 2007 test might appear on a 2012 score report, right?

[finknottle]

You'll have to ask ETS. No point speculating.

[melissarose8585]

Thanks for the advice guys, especially bfat-I figured they weren't the most important part of the application materials, and I definitely don't want to go through all that again just to get a higher quant. if they will see all my scores from the last five years. I'll stick with what I have and beef up my writing sample.

@Modernity-Yeah, U Denver International Studies. They've been really great about talking to me, even this early on, about their program. Definitely a place I'm going to look at; I think it would be great if I went into government, public, or even NGO work.

[Madiha Khursheed]

Hi i am new to the forum.if can give me guidelines for which book should i concider?i want to give GRE this april.which book should i consider for a good score.thanks in advance.