kind of bombed my gre yesterday?retake?need advise!

[ANVITA]

so yesterday i sat for my gre and i was quite well prepared ..i was consistently scoriing above 320 in all the practice test even the ets power prep ones..bt i dont know i got nervous or something and totally ruined it:(

plus another disaster(which i realized later) was when they asked for the undergrad school i was a lil confused and asked the instructor what to fill and he told me it was for the schools i was applying to ..so i did that!!!i had a feeling something was wrong cause ets didnt ask me to fill 4 choices but it was too late:(

 

please tell me what to do.i am really confused.i am mostly aiming for ntu and nus in singapore .these are my scores..i know they are bad so please doont rub it in anymore as i have already spent one whole day crying over it:(

 

quant 156

verbal 153

 

[Vene]

What you do is take a deep breath and sign up to try it again, there is still plenty of time. It sounds like what you need to do is find a way to counter your nervousness, but that is not something an internet forum can answer for you.

[lyonessrampant]

I agree with the above poster.  The most important thing now is to try to get past this exam, find your confidence, and prepare to take the test again.  It sounds like the preparation part for the next exam should focus on mastering your nervousness and anxiety.  It might be a good idea to schedule a session with a therapist who specializes in testing anxiety, if that's possible.  If it isn't, do some research on test anxiety and you should be able to find a few suggestions.  It sounds like you were prepared and are able to get the score you want, so try to focus on your demonstrated ability rather than on the past exam.  Good luck!

[ANVITA]

thanks a lot..yes i know i need to get over this nervousness issue somehow.i will work on it.i just wanted to get over with gre but looks like i will have to go for another run!

[bsharpe269]

I did the same thing but even worse, the first time I took the GRE. Nervousness can majorly influence your scores so just accept that this is actually very very common and you will retake it and do much better. I have taken the GRE 3 times now, twice a few years ago, before my masters and then again a month ago since I will be applying to Phd programs this fall. Here are my 3 scores:

 

Take 1: 150V, 151Q (a few years ago)

Take 2: 157V, 161Q (1 month after take 1 and there was little studying between the two)

Take 3: 162Q, 168Q (recently, after studying with Magoosh)

 

My recent score is obviously much better than my others but look at the difference between Take 1 and Take 2! I only studied maybe 3 hours total between the two tests. The difference in scores was entirely due to nervousness the first time. Instead of freaking out, just realize that this score does not reflect your true ability and retake. You need to figure out how to get yourself to relax during the test. You need to realize that you can take this test up to 5 times this year if you need to to get the score you want so there is no reason to pressure yourself next time. You can even tell yourself that you probably will not get the score you want next time so just relax and get used to the testing environment and plan on taking it again the next month. Telling myself that and actually planning on taking it again as I was walking into the room took all of the pressure off. I jsut treated it like a practice "real" test. Some other ideas that I used to relax:

Do not study the night before or morning of the test. You cant cram for the GRE so just watch a movie, drink some wine etc and relax.

Schedule the GRE for whatever time of day you are used to studying or working so that it can feel like just another normal day. Keep a fairly normal morning routine.

Definitely take the test next time at the same testing center that you did last time. You will go in knowing what to expect already which will take you way more confident.

If you have a comfort food or favorite soda or coffee, etc then have one in your car before you go into the test. Arrive early enough that you can listen to music and drink it for 10 mins or so before going in.

Lastly, I definitely recommend bringing an engery drink and candy or whatever you like to energize yourself half way through. It will give you the edge you need to come back from break ready to go again.

 

As you can see by my large score increase, these methods worked very well for me! Good luck!

[maelia8]

Another piece of advice: depending on whether you're going for a humanities field or a mathematical/scientific field, your verbal or quant score will be more important to your application. Focus on getting a really good score in the area that counts more for your field, and just aim for a solid, middling score in the other area rather than expending a lot of effort on making both scores stellar. For example, since I'm in a humanities field, I worked hard to get an almost-perfect verbal score (and achieved that goal), but my quant score was lower than yours, OP. Since it didn't matter very much in my field, I didn't bother retaking the test just to bring up a quant score. Especially if you're pressed for time, focus on the area that needs the most work and is most important rather than going for a well-rounded good score that you don't necessarily need.

[YoungR3b3l]

Combined score with 309 and feeling bombed frustrates me. It is like having a 3.70 GPA and feeling concerned that a specific program to dump your application because of mediocre GPA. Op, your score is above average, unless you are planning to apply to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and top tier 1 schools. Your scores are competitve. Ease with the drama.

[Vene]

Combined score with 309 and feeling bombed frustrates me. It is like having a 3.70 GPA and feeling concerned that a specific program to dump your application because of mediocre GPA. Op, your score is above average, unless you are planning to apply to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and top tier 1 schools. Your scores are competitve. Ease with the drama.

I disagree. One of the schools I looked at last year, the University of Minnesota, has lots of nice information on previous year's profiles. I was going to look at their political science data only (as it is your listed interest), but then saw it has information for all graduate programs so I will use that. Unfortunately the data are given with the old score, but I can convert it with this. The Verbal score for 2012-2013 is 564.0, which is 157 with the new test. The Quantitative score for 2012-2013 is 723.6 or 156 with the new test. This is a combined score of 313.  A 309 isn't exactly bombing it, but it's not a stellar score and you'd better hope that you're not applying to a program which has a cut off of 310 combined (because people like round numbers).

 

But, combined score isn't even necessarily the most important as it will depend on program for how much they weigh verbal versus quantitative. A low quantitative score won't mean much for a program which isn't math heavy (such as fine art). Conversely, a low verbal score may not matter as much for a field which is extraordinarily math heavy (such as engineering).

Edited August 10, 2014 by Vene

[YoungR3b3l]

I disagree. One of the schools I looked at last year, the University of Minnesota, has lots of nice information on previous year's profiles. I was going to look at their political science data only (as it is your listed interest), but then saw it has information for all graduate programs so I will use that. Unfortunately the data are given with the old score, but I can convert it with this. The Verbal score for 2012-2013 is 564.0, which is 157 with the new test. The Quantitative score for 2012-2013 is 723.6 or 156 with the new test. This is a combined score of 313.  A 309 isn't exactly bombing it, but it's not a stellar score and you'd better hope that you're not applying to a program which has a cut off of 310 combined (because people like round numbers).

 

But, combined score isn't even necessarily the most important as it will depend on program for how much they weigh verbal versus quantitative. A low quantitative score won't mean much for a program which isn't math heavy (such as fine art). Conversely, a low verbal score may not matter as much for a field which is extraordinarily math heavy (such as engineering).

First: Uni of Minnesota - Twin cities is a prestigious reputable school.

Second: the scores uve stated are true, but they r averages. Which means lower scores have been admitted, and your score is competitive.

Third: do you really think a 310 cutoff would dump a whole application for a 309? This isnt a toefl score nor a gpa. Gre data are mostly illustrated as averages. 310 isnt a cutoff but usually is an average.

Third: your last paragraph is a common knowledge.

[Vene]

First: Uni of Minnesota - Twin cities is a prestigious reputable school.

Second: the scores uve stated are true, but they r averages. Which means lower scores have been admitted, and your score is competitive.

Third: do you really think a 310 cutoff would dump a whole application for a 309? This isnt a toefl score nor a gpa. Gre data are mostly illustrated as averages. 310 isnt a cutoff but usually is an average.

Third: your last paragraph is a common knowledge.

It is a good school, but over here it is one public university out of many and certainly doesn't rank in the same league as Harvard or MIT. You can certainly be admitted there with a 309, but I wouldn't want to be in a situation where my score is below the average unless I have something else in my application to set me apart.

[bhr]

Combined score with 309 and feeling bombed frustrates me. It is like having a 3.70 GPA and feeling concerned that a specific program to dump your application because of mediocre GPA. Op, your score is above average, unless you are planning to apply to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and top tier 1 schools. Your scores are competitve. Ease with the drama.

You telling someone to stop the drama is hilarious.

[vicky25]

It happens to GRE exam where you can face unexpected or unprepared questions and lose focus since the exam is so designed that if you answer a question correctly the next one will be a bit tougher.

[victorydance]

It happens to GRE exam where you can face unexpected or unprepared questions and lose focus since the exam is so designed that if you answer a question correctly the next one will be a bit tougher.

 

This is actually completely incorrect.

[geographyrocks]

Combined score with 309 and feeling bombed frustrates me. It is like having a 3.70 GPA and feeling concerned that a specific program to dump your application because of mediocre GPA. Op, your score is above average, unless you are planning to apply to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and top tier 1 schools. Your scores are competitve. Ease with the drama.

Two days ago you were from Kuwait and your major was Poli Sci...not it's Uganda and bio politics and psych?

OP: do not take anything this guy says seriously. Since you're international, you really want your scores to be higher. If you consistently scored higher on practice tests, then you should definitely take the GRE again if you can afford it. However, you should look at techniques to reduce test anxiety before you test again. My test anxiety got the best of me as well.

And yes, a school with a 310 cutoff could cut a 309 as that cutoff is there to make going through the applications easier UNLESS you have a professor that will fight for you.

[Vene]

This is actually completely incorrect.

I think it may have used to be like that, but has since been changed. Either that or it is one of those urban legends that will never die.

[perpetuavix]

I think it may have used to be like that, but has since been changed. Either that or it is one of those urban legends that will never die.

The old version was adaptive for every question. The new version is adaptive for each section; if you do really well on your first verbal or quant section, the next section of that type will be harder as a result.