86th percentile in GRE Verbal

[feraleyes]

Hi,

I have my GRE General test on 16th october and so far all of the mock exams I have been giving calculate my GRE Verbal score to be in the 86th percentile while my Quant score is in the 60th percentile. Is this a good enough score for an English Ph.D applicant? I am applying to like Wisconsin-Madison, UT Austin, UVA, Ohio State etc. I'd be grateful for any kind of advice...would love some insight...Thanks a ton

[ProfLorax]

Hi,

I have my GRE General test on 16th october and so far all of the mock exams I have been giving calculate my GRE Verbal score to be in the 86th percentile while my Quant score is in the 60th percentile. Is this a good enough score for an English Ph.D applicant? I am applying to like Wisconsin-Madison, UT Austin, UVA, Ohio State etc. I'd be grateful for any kind of advice...would love some insight...Thanks a ton

Hi feraleyes,

Much has been writing about GRE scores, including their importance in admissions decisions, on this forum. I suggest searching "GRE" in the search box above. Also, the fairly recent thread "Damn you, ETS!" has a lot of discussion about this very topic. You'll find a ton of helpful information!

[Stately Plump]

Yes, look for some other threads.

Also, the practice tests don't always correspond to the real test. My scores didn't match up at all.

[thestage]

The practice stuff is a good way to adjust your approach. Many of the verbal questions are in forms that allow for multiple reasonably correct readings, and if you're smart enough to understand the assumptions behind each of those possible answers, you can trick yourself into either of them. If you choose one particular answering philosophy to apply to the actual test and it happens to be the wrong one, congratulations, you just bombed a test you shouldn't have.

This was my experience, at any rate. Note, however, that I never took an official practice test, I just did all the example stuff on the ETS site (they actually have quite a bit) and a couple of things elsewhere. I kept performing somewhere between 'reasonably poor' and 'awful,' so I showed up to the test somewhat concerned. I got a perfect score. So forget about the actual answers on the practice stuff, just investigate the methodology used in the questions. Read the explanations on the answer sheets. They will help you decide between two or more answers that are reasonable.