170V / 164Q - MS Computer Science

[jrmcgee]

I just took the GRE and I got a 170 on verbal and 164 on quant. Is that quant score good enough for a top 5 MS computer science program? I feel like they expect close to a perfect quant score, but I think my score works out to roughly 89th percentile.

 

I was surprised and overjoyed to have gotten a 170 verbal score, but isn't it true a MS CS admissions committee would care more about the quant section? Does the 170 buy me anything?

[SportPsych30]

I have no idea how people get 170 on verbal...

[obviousbicycle]

I have no idea how people get 170 on verbal...

me neither...

[sacklunch]

uhhh....your score is good enough for ANY masters. You're fine. 

[Icydubloon]

About 22% of "CS applicants" get 165 or higher on the quant (some PhD are included). Although this isn't the exact body of students that apply, it should serve as a good starting point to answer your question.

http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table4.pdf

Edited August 31, 2013 by Icydubloon

[Lingchick]

What was your strategy for studying the verbal section? 170 is a fabulous score, I envy you! BTW, I'm sure your scores are just fine and will land you a slot in a great program! 

[RevieRiver]

Wow, verbal score 170, unbelievable thing! How did you do it?  

[jrmcgee]

I took a bunch of practice exams and never got a perfect score on them. I usually got one or two reading comp questions wrong, and maybe a couple incorrect "fill in" questions.

 

I brushed up on my vocab with the Manhattan Prep flash cards, which I found really helpful. Really, really good stuff. I think just filling in the gaps made it easier to eliminate answers in questions, as I was always pretty good at it, but now encounter fewer words I don't know. I also think I got somewhat lucky on the reading comp questions, which I thought were all easy and unambiguous, unlike during practice exams I took. But that might have been actually using my extra time to re-read the passages, as I usually have 6-8 minutes left at the end (which I would just skip to the next section on the practice exams rather than really using every minute).

 

I'm not a huge bookworm, but I do read constantly online and I read things like NYT, WSJ, Economist, etc. I think that helped me in the verbal section.

Edited September 18, 2013 by jrmcgee