Barron's GRE- bad practice scores

[lovephil]

Hi all,

I have lots of things working against me trying to prepare for the GRE, which I take on November 28th. I am currently in a doctoral program in Canada, TAing, tutoring, and working as an RA- which means I am juggling all of this, plus studying and PhD applications! I'm applying to transfer somewhere in the States. I am also terrible at multiple choice exams and didn't take math in high school past the absolute minimum requirement.

So, I purchased the online Barron's prep, and have been studying for just over a month. I'm scoring okay on the verbal practice sets, but not on the practice tests for either verbal or math. I'm scoring around 145 for math and 157 for verbal - I know, terrible. But I will probably score highly on the analytical writing section, and I know I can pull up my verbal in the next month. Math has always killed me.

1. Does anyone know what I can do to prepare for the 28th? I'm terrified that I'm going to bomb it, destroying all chances of getting into a good program.

2. How important is it that I score highly on the GRE? I'm applying to PhD programs in philosophy, and will NOT be specializing in logic. I'm in moral, political, and feminist phil.

Other stats:

Master's degree in philosophy with a 4.3 (perfect) GPA for all 6 courses.

85% cumulative average in my undergrad years 3 and 4 (with Bs in 1st and 2nd year, which I have medical documentation to explain)

Almost all 90s in undergrad philosophy courses.

Paper under review with reputable journal.

Conference experience, including an international conference.

Research assistant/teaching assistant experience.

I work at a university Writing Centre.

I won an essay competition this year (in phil. department), and came in 2nd for another one (university wide).

I have incredible letters, and am using a writing sample in my area of interest- and this is the paper that's under review.

I helped edit two books forthcoming with Oxford Press and McGill-Queen's.

What should I do if I bomb the GRE?

[midnight]

You have a lot of great experience and many other strengths.

Relax a bit about the GRE. Keep studying and try to do your best; that's all you can do.

Focus on things that are more within your control: Your SOP, the profs you ask to write your LORs, the programs you choose, etc.

Barron's verbal seems a *bit* trickier than the actual GRE IMO. Make sure to practice with ETS's Powerprep. A 160+ verbal is within your reach, I think.

[iowaguy]

Make sure you take the free Poweprep computer test by ETS, it simulates the actual test conditions very well & will get you into test-taking mode.

[lovephil]

Thanks! Unfortunately, I have a mac and the powerprep won't work on it. Perhaps I should track down someone with a pc and use their computer before the test.

[ohgoodness]

Thanks! Unfortunately, I have a mac and the powerprep won't work on it. Perhaps I should track down someone with a pc and use their computer before the test.

Install it at your work computer if you work at the university - do the test after hours and it should be good. That's what I did and it worked well.

[lovephil]

Okay- secured a pc for the practice test. Doing the MyGRETutor ones until then.

[Fockatar]

I'm in a similar situation, the Barrons is killing me a little on practice scores. I scored ok on the diagnostics for verbal (171-?) and poorly for the Quant (139!?). Weeks of slogging it out have only slightly raised my Quant (147) and crippled my verbal into the 15Xs.

God, nevermind all the time lost from actually writing SOPs/writing samples. I'll have less than two weeks to get everything else done.

[Instigate]

Just to let people know - I have taken the GRE this october and posted a topic here sharing me experience with different testing materials. Barron's tests are HORRIBLE - they have nothing in common with the real thing, their scoring is flawed, sometimes they would even give you no credit for a correct answer or claim that an incorrect is correct. My advise is get a different test prep company's materials and see how you score there before you panic. Princeton has an online free test you might try it.

[lovephil]

Thanks so much for your help everyone!

Fockatar, I am scoring exactly the same as you on the Barron's quantitative. I'm also scoring in the 140s in the MyGREtutor tests. It's ruining my life.

My Princeton Prep score: 152 Verbal, 149 Quant (ughhh)

Powerprep score (last night): 156-162 Verbal, 151-159 Quant (???)

It's like slaving away learning math for two months with very minimal improvement. Also, I'm in a PhD program with three jobs (TA, bioethics research, and tutoring), two classes, and applications to prepare. I'm exploding.

Also, I take this test on Wednesday. I would be happy with my powerprep score, but I'll die if I get less than 150 on quant (and it's looking pretty bleak...)

I'm Canadian, and do NOT understand standardized testing. It's ridiculous.