GRE Subject Test - International Student

[Clarissa]

Hi to everyone,

 

I am new to this forum and I could really need some advice regrading the subject test that I took today. I am an international student and in my home country the test is administered on the Monday following the regular US testing date. Anyway, the test format was completely different from the format of the practice tests (Princeton review, other practice tests I found on the internet etc.). On the actual test, more than 80% of the questions were indeed reading comprehension!!! The passages were incredibly long and the related questions required a lot of rereading, skipping back and forward etc. As English is not my first language, I do not read as quickly as native speakers and occasionally could use the help of the OED. So this awkward format was definitely not playing to my strengths.

 

I spent about 2 months preparing for the test. When taking the practice tests, I always managed to go over all of the questions and even finished early. Obviously, the practice conditions at home are quite different from the actual test itself, but believe it or not, timewise I did not manage to look at more than 70!! questions on the actual exam. In other words, I probably answered a meager 160 questions. Taking into account that some of my answers will be incorrect and that my score will be lowered even further by the error penalty,  I might end up with a rather mediocre, not to say pretty bad score....;-(

 

Do you think that the fact that I am an international student plays into how schools will evaluate my application? Should I retake the exam in October (I would have to retake before receiving the results from today's tests though)? Should I address a potentially bad score in my SOP? 

 

Any thoughts on this are very welcome!!!THANKS in advance!

[Dr. Old Bill]

Hi Clarissa,

 

First of all -- sorry for your bad GRE experience! That's really unfortunate.

 

Second of all -- and this is even more unfortunate -- you probably won't be able to retake the GRE literature test. For reasons that I cannot possibly divine, ETS has it set up so that the last possible day to register for the October test is the day before the September test is administered. I'm not sure if this is the same for international students (I think it is), but either way, it is doubtful that you can get in for October even if you wanted to.

 

A third problem is that (if I'm being completely frank), you probably should have a firm enough grasp of the language to not require the aid of a dictionary if you're applying to programs that require the GRE subject test. It sounds harsh, and I feel very bad writing as much, but it's somewhat true regardless.

 

All is not doom-and-gloom, however. Since many programs don't require the GRE subject test, you have the option of focusing your application resources on the ones that do not. If you are still planning on applying to programs that do require it, then your best bet would be to include a supplementary note about the format being different from what you studied for. I would not, however, mention that it was a comprehension issue...just more a case of unexpected formatting, as that is certainly true in this instance. Personally, I didn't notice much of a difference between the lit test I took on Saturday and the one I took in the GRE practice guide, but that might be fairly subjective anyhow.

 

The final point worth making is that the GRE subject test seems to not typically be a determining factor in your application. Would it have been better for you if you had gotten a 700? Sure. But if you have a kick-ass writing sample that catches the attention of one or more adcomm members, and a statement of purpose that makes you seem somewhat intriguing as a future academic, there's a good chance that they'll overlook an abysmal GRE lit score.

 

I DO think that thinking about what I dubbed the "third problem" above is worthwhile, however. Just remember that you're competing against people who have mostly spoken, written, and studied English all their lives...usually to a very high degree. It has nothing to do with intelligence or aptitude, but everything to do with general familiarity. I'm not saying definitively that it can't be done, or that you're an inferior candidate...but just that it's worth double- and triple-checking your reasons for graduate study in English. If you have indeed settled on the right course, then more power to you...and good luck with everything!

[hypervodka]

The GRE is no where near the most important part of your application. There's absolutely nothing you can do about that now, so please try not dwell on it. Focusing on crafting an extremely strong writing sample. If you have an excellent GPA, I wouldn't address the GRE in your SOP. Professors are well-aware that this exam is a bit of a crapshoot anyway--they've accepted students with extraordinarily low scores, rejected students in the 90th percentile.

 

Sorry, and good luck.

[Clarissa]

Thanks you two for your feedback!

I think you got me somewhat wrong Wyatt. Probably I'm not the only one who could do with the OED when reading Milton or Spenser :-). I didn't mean to excuse my poor performance with my insufficient language skills. I was far more concerned with the awkward format (I took another version than you guys on Saturday) . Btw I am about to hand in my MA thesis in English Lit. and have completed all of my coursework in English during these last 6 years. I really do think that my English is at the NEAR - native level, with clear emphasis on near. It'll always remain my second language. So what? I think this presumable predicament simultaneously accounts for my unique subject position from which I approach the study of English Lit. (Sorry for being off -track ;-))

Thanks for pointing out that the registration has closed anyway. This way I can just try to forget about it and don't have to ponder anymore whether I should retake or not.

Good luck to all of us! This is a rather stressful and emotionally intense process ...

Edited September 29, 2014 by Clarissa

[hypervodka]

People in the humanities are typically very aware of language barriers and other factors that could lead to poor scores on a timed (and, in a lot of way, useless) exam. The exam is supposed to help demonstrate your proficiency in English literature, and I'm sure you'll prove that in other ways. Good luck!

[lyonessrampant]

Based on your writing just on this forum, it is obvious that you have a near-native command of English (damn well better than most natives!).  I'm echoing a bit, but I would not worry overmuch about this.  For one thing, you're right that your international status will make you more attractive to some programs because of the diverse perspectives you will bring.  My own program has between one and three international students out of an average cohort of 12 every year.  I know we're not alone in that.  Additionally, LOTS of native speakers score really, really low (I'm talking in the teens) and get into excellent programs because they have creative, cutting-edge interests, a provocative writing sample, strong letters, and a clear SoP and research interests.  I'm sure that your regular GRE score is fine and your TOEFL as well, so even if your subject score is low, that quantitative component can be offset by other (supposedly) quantitative measures like GPA and other tests.  

 

Also, even in the US not all test takers get the same version of the test (unless that has changed in the years since I took the exam).  There are various formats and scores are regularized based on the results of all the people taking (and who have taken) that version.  This is why a 600 on a format can be a 75th percentile for some versions and an 80% for others (I made those numbers up, by the way as an example), so it is not unusual that your practice test experience did not match your actual test experience (true for me, too).  

 

Chin up!  Focus on what you can still control of the apps and the unique strengths you bring as an international student.  Good luck

[ExponentialDecay]

unique strengths you bring as an international student

 

I love being eeyore, so I will remind the panel that these benefits of being an international student are highly overstated, and it is not useful to forget this.

 

Additional to your unique strengths (which you may or may not have), you definitely bring the unique non-citizen weakness of not being eligible for most funding opportunities, especially at public universities. That means that the department has to fund you, at a greater expense for itself (see, for example, the UC system, which must pay a surcharge of tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for international students their entire time in the program, since they can't get CA residency). That restricts the number of departments you can expect funding from, and makes you a more expensive candidate at most others, meaning you have to make up for that difference in academic brilliance. Academic brilliance has to be communicated not only to departments, but to detestable administrative vermin like adcomms and deans, and those people understand a) pressure from superiors and b ) dumb quantitative metrics like GPA and GRE. 

 

OP can't do anything about their situation at this point, and indeed there is no reason to suspect that a bad lit score will be an insurmountable hurdle, but equally, the hypothesis that a weakness in the application of an international student entails the same thing as that same weakness would in the application of a domestic student is dangerously and profoundly wrong.

Edited September 30, 2014 by ExponentialDecay

[lyonessrampant]

Okay, so I've got a dissertation to work on, which means I won't be engaging in this long.  At this point, we're both relying solely on anecdotal evidence, which is obviously problematic.  That said, the UC system has all sorts of problems that don't come down to the higher cost of international students.  My public university regularly admits and funds for 5-6 years depending on the program international students in disciplines across the humanities.  Is this the case at all public universities?  Certainly not, nor did I imply that it was.  Indeed, I said "your international status will make you more attractive to some programs." (italics added)  The fact that the OP is an international student fundamentally is a diverse (as in different) perspective compared to someone born and raised in the US.  Will US-born students have their own diverse perspectives?  Again, obviously yes, but emphasizing what a non-native perspective can bring to one's particular subfield or research interests can be deeply appealing to, I emphasize again, some programs.  

I also find interesting your conclusion that the stated hypothesis was that "a weakness in the application of an international student entails the same thing as that same weakness would in the application of a domestic student."  Instead, the stated fact was that many admitted domestic students often have very low scores on the subject test and are still often admitted. [Actual quotation for reference: "LOTS of native speakers score really, really low (I'm talking in the teens) and get into excellent programs.] I then suggested (this would be the only implied hypothesis) that a weakness in one part of the application can be offset by strengths in other parts, again not at all the same thing as what you assumed the hypothesis to be.  Even if your identified conclusion were right, there is no reasoning given to support the claim that it would be dangerous (to whom?  how so?  why?) or profoundly wrong (again pretty much same questions).  What exactly do you mean to say?  Are you saying that an international student's application is assumed weaker from the get-go simply because of her/his international status?  I, at least, find that a dangerous (as in elitist) and profoundly wrong (as in the number of international students already in graduate school, who have secured TT jobs, who publish and conference).  

 

I'm not attacking here, merely pointing out that a low lit subject score is not an uncommon part of an application.  I respond only because I hope that the OP doesn't think that all universities use the logic outlined above, nor think that all domestic graduate students think in the ways outlined above.