GRE Preparation Study Email

[andrew456]

Did anybody else recently receive the GRE practice invitation email from ETS to perform 7 practice tests "as a research study", each composed of 20 questions from the quantitative section of the GRE? If so, were the actual GRE questions similar to the practice tests? The email said that it is composed of real GRE questions and cover all content areas of the quantitative section of the GRE. Even though they said it "will not affect your GRE Test scores in any way," I have a feeling that it may actually be used to normalize the scores. Therefore, I am nervous about doing well on these practice tests since they may make my actual test harder. I experimented with purposely just answering all questions wrong in a set, but it seems like a multi stage test, as the next set of questions were almost identical to the previous. I may have to answer correctly to get to the hard questions.

[NavyMom]

Did anybody else recently receive the GRE practice invitation email from ETS to perform 7 practice tests "as a research study", each composed of 20 questions from the quantitative section of the GRE? If so, were the actual GRE questions similar to the practice tests? The email said that it is composed of real GRE questions and cover all content areas of the quantitative section of the GRE. Even though they said it "will not affect your GRE Test scores in any way," I have a feeling that it may actually be used to normalize the scores. Therefore, I am nervous about doing well on these practice tests since they may make my actual test harder. I experimented with purposely just answering all questions wrong in a set, but it seems like a multi stage test, as the next set of questions were almost identical to the previous. I may have to answer correctly to get to the hard questions.

 

 

No I didn't... Do you have to have an account on their site?

[andrew456]

No I didn't... Do you have to have an account on their site?

 

Yes. I also have the actual test scheduled within a month, so it seems as though they may be trying to gauge my preparation level.

[Yetanotherdegree]

I did, and I am scheduled to take the GRE on August 31.

I don't know if I will do it or not - I have enough prep to get through without adding in another thing.

If anyone does go ahead with it, please do post here and let us know how it goes.

[perfectionist]

I didn't and I'm taking it in about a week...

[Xanthe]

Did anybody else recently receive the GRE practice invitation email from ETS to perform 7 practice tests "as a research study", each composed of 20 questions from the quantitative section of the GRE? If so, were the actual GRE questions similar to the practice tests? The email said that it is composed of real GRE questions and cover all content areas of the quantitative section of the GRE. Even though they said it "will not affect your GRE Test scores in any way," I have a feeling that it may actually be used to normalize the scores. Therefore, I am nervous about doing well on these practice tests since they may make my actual test harder. I experimented with purposely just answering all questions wrong in a set, but it seems like a multi stage test, as the next set of questions were almost identical to the previous. I may have to answer correctly to get to the hard questions.

 

I think you are overthinking this just a tad.  It would be extremely unethical for them to use this study to somehow increase the difficulty of your actual GRE without you knowing.

 

For the record, all the tests seem to be some variation of similar questions (I've done five now) and none of them seem particularly easier than the other.  I've got wildly different numbers correct (18 to 11) and I haven't seen a change in the difficulty.

 

What I do not like about the format is that it is rather difficult to understand when it comes to rounding.  I've gotten at least half of my wrong answers wrong because I was confused over what number to actually put in.  This is what leads me to believe this is some type of test of how well you respond to awkwardly phrased questions and completely wide open answer choices.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Xanthe

[NavyMom]

I am still studying the flashcards.  I've taken a couple of "practice" tests but quickly feel discouraged because I am no where near where I want to be.