taking the GRE multiple times

[talons1025]

Do schools know if you have taken the test more than once? Are they submitted BOTH scores if you take it once and another time 6 months down the line?  I take the test this coming saturday, but I am not actually applying to grad schools until the fall 2014 semester starts.  I wanted to take it to get a feel of what it was like, especially since i have not taken a test like this since the ACT several years ago.  I am going into it semi-prepared, but not as prepared as I plan to be when when i take it later on. 

 

My point is, I dont want to take it, do horribly, and have schools actually SEE that. 

[TakeruK]

On the day of the test, you are allowed to select four free schools to send your report to (plus your undergrad school). If you do this, then you cannot later decide for these 4 schools to not see your test score this weekend. That is, on test day, your only options are "submit this test score and all previous test scores" or "submit this most recent test score only".

 

After test day, you have a 3rd option when purchasing "Additional Score Reports". You can choose to submit a specific set of scores from a single test date instead. So, if you want full control over what schools see, then do not submit any free test scores at all (this weekend or 6 months later). After your second test, you can look at both scores and then submit just the best one.

 

However, this means you have to pay more money and submitting two scores is not necessarily worse than one. I think you might get to see your V and Q scores before choosing the schools? So, if they are acceptable, then perhaps use your 4 free score reports this weekend for the 4 least competitive schools on your list? 

[talons1025]

So essentially, I can take the test this weekend to get a feel for it, and not send my scores to anyone.  When I choose to take it down the line after extensive preparation, I can send the new scores and no one will have ever seen my first time scores?

 

It sounds stupid and perhaps a waste of money to take the test this weekend, but this testing environments are not something I react favorably towards.  I really would feel comfortable 'testing the waters' of the test taking environment before diving into the real deal.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

All my takes show up on my transcript regardless of if I choose to send them to schools or not.

[TakeruK]

So essentially, I can take the test this weekend to get a feel for it, and not send my scores to anyone.  When I choose to take it down the line after extensive preparation, I can send the new scores and no one will have ever seen my first time scores?

 

It sounds stupid and perhaps a waste of money to take the test this weekend, but this testing environments are not something I react favorably towards.  I really would feel comfortable 'testing the waters' of the test taking environment before diving into the real deal.

 

Yes, if you leave all of the free score reports blank then no one will see this weekend's test scores except for you. Your online GRE account and your own score report that you get in the mail after the test will show all of your scores. However, when it's time to actually send scores to another school, you can select which test date to send your score from. Just to be clear, if you took tests in Nov 2013 and April 2014(just an arbitrary date for example) then...

 

On the day of your test this weekend, you may choose to:

1. Send this test score to your 4 free schools. (you have a "most recent" choice too, see below, but if it's your first test then "most recent" is the same as "all")

2. Don't send any free scores at all (pick this if you want the most control over who sees what).

 

On the day of your test in April 2014, you may choose to:

1. Send ALL of your scores (Nov 2013 and April 2014) to your 4 free schools.

2. Send only the MOST RECENT (i.e. April 2014) scores to your 4 free schools. (If you know you will be ultimately sending your April exam score, then choose this on that date)

3. Don't send any free scores at all (pick this if you want the most control over who sees what).

 

After the day of your test in April 2014, you may pay money to send additional score reports and you may choose to:

1. Send ALL of your scores

2. Send only the MOST RECENT scores

3. Choose either to send the entire set of Nov 2013 scores or the entire set of April 2014 scores. That is, you cannot for example, send your Verbal score from 2013 but your Quant score from 2014!

 

If you pick "most recent" or a specific set of scores, and if you did not send previous scores to a school in the past (e.g. not using the free scores) then the school will only receive that score and they will not know how many times you took the test outside of the scores you sent. Also, note that if you take the test 5 times, you can actually choose to send your best score, your top 2 scores, your top 3 scores, etc. or even your worst score if you choose to for some reason. In the example above, I didn't mention it because if you only take the test twice, then the "top 2" is the same as "ALL".

 

Here is the source: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/scoreselect/

[talons1025]

thanks for your responses.  obviously they conflict, but I appreciate your thoroughness TakeruK.