GRE Question

[barackobama]

I apologize for another "Are My Scores Good Enough?" post, but here goes. Thanks to anyone who is willing to offer any advice.

 

I recently scored 169V (99%), 156Q (64%), and 5.5A (98%). I was very disappointed with my quantitative, and am pretty sure I could improve it if I rewrote. It is likely that my verbal will drop at least slightly on a rewrite, however. 

 

Assuming I could still find a way to spend sufficient time on my writing sample and other important parts of my application, I am wondering if anyone thinks it would be worth it to go for a rewrite? 

 

I am not sure if this matters, but I am applying to programs strong in continental thought. Some top choices are Boston College, Boston U, DePaul, U Chicago, Stony Brook, and Penn State.

 

Again, I am sorry if these sorts of questions annoy you. Feel free to express your disdain below. Thanks to anyone who replies.

Edited October 9, 2014 by barackobama

[Gnothi_Seauton]

I don't know about how Continental-oriented departments look at the GRE, but I would only point out that your score is identical to someone from last year, MattDest, who was accepted to Arizona, Rice, Syracuse, and a couple others and waitlisted at some really good places as well.  I think your scores are quite solid and I wouldn't bother taking the test again.

[jjb919]

I agree with Gnothi_Seauton. 156Q is a respectable score (average student at U Chicago scores a 158 I believe), and 169V is stellar. I think in taking it again you potentially run the risk of getting a lower verbal score (much more room to go down than up). I'd say relax and don't worry about it. Focus on your writing sample.

[Kantianisms]

What I really want to know is why the president is applying to philosophy programs...

Seriously though, those scores are awesome and the fact that your worried about them makes me more worried about mine. I think you'll be fine.

[philstudent1991]

don't even think about taking it again. that score is excellent, and while sure Q could be higher, that's not going to kill your chances anywhere.

[reixis]

One other question related to the GRE: why institutions ask for a PDF scan of your score reports? I thought the ETS delivery sytem would do all the job.

[MorganFreemanlives]

One other question related to the GRE: why institutions ask for a PDF scan of your score reports? I thought the ETS delivery sytem would do all the job.

if this is new, thats great news, having to pay 30 dollars for each individual score report is open robbery. it makes an already expensive process ,  couple hundred dollars more unforgiving.  if schools started accepting that widely, they would be doing us all favour.

[Infinite Zest]

I think those scores are fine. I have a friend who got into T10 gourmet report schools with those same scores. Continental programs seem to value quant a bit less anyway. I wouldn't retake it.

[reixis]

if this is new, thats great news, having to pay 30 dollars for each individual score report is open robbery. it makes an already expensive process ,  couple hundred dollars more unforgiving.  if schools started accepting that widely, they would be doing us all favour.

 

You still have to pay for each additional extra score. The reason why I asked is that there are some schools that are also asking for the PDF scan of reports. I'm not sure whether this is new, but I found it weird. As far as I know, you have to pay more $27 to have the paper report sent to you.

 

The same seems to apply to TOEFL. I should have had my paper scores delivered 20 days ago, but I haven't seen it yet. I sent ETS an e-mail asking about it.

Edited October 10, 2014 by reixis

[The Pedanticist]

You still have to pay for each additional extra score. The reason why I asked is that there are some schools that are also asking for the PDF scan of reports. I'm not sure whether this is new, but I found it weird. As far as I know, you have to pay more $27 to have the paper report sent to you.

 

The same seems to apply to TOEFL. I should have had my paper scores delivered 20 days ago, but I haven't seen it yet. I sent ETS an e-mail asking about it.

 

Some programs require both a pdf and an official one.  Others do not require an official copy.  Each website should tell you.  I think I read a while back about people having trouble doing the pdf versions since the file sizes would be too large to upload.  I think there also was a thread about how to make the files small enough.  Maybe some else remembers?  Or you might do a google search. 

[Needle in the Hay]

https://www.ets.org/praxis/scores/send

 

"Additional score reports indicate the highest score earned on each test"

 

If you're willing and able to spend the extra money then I think you can just opt to have "additional score reports" sent to each institution you are applying to, in which case it would not matter if you did worse on the verbal reasoning section the second time- in that case, what would be reported as your verbal reasoning score would be your verbal reasoning score from the first time. And if you did better on the quantitative section the second time then this would be the score that would be reported as your quantitative score. Though I do realize that this would be costly. 

Edited October 12, 2014 by Theoldpond0

[wandajune]

I had nearly identical scores last year, and I was admitted into eight graduate programs, a few in the PGR Top-50 to Top-20 range. I would recommend working on other aspects of your application instead.

[TakeruK]

https://www.ets.org/praxis/scores/send

 

"Additional score reports indicate the highest score earned on each test"

 

If you're willing and able to spend the extra money then I think you can just opt to have "additional score reports" sent to each institution you are applying to, in which case it would not matter if you did worse on the verbal reasoning section the second time- in that case, what would be reported as your verbal reasoning score would be your verbal reasoning score from the first time. And if you did better on the quantitative section the second time then this would be the score that would be reported as your quantitative score. Though I do realize that this would be costly. 

 

This is only for the PRAXIS test. For the GRE, see: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/scoreselect/ ; specifically,

• You will select by specific test dates, so your scores are all from the same testing session.

So, you cannot send your best Q score from one date and your best V score from another.

 

Also, be careful about ordering the paper score report and then scanning it because this paper report (that is meant for you only, not to send to schools) will include every test you took and also the other schools you send your scores too. It's way too much info to send to a school. I had to do this for one school because they didn't receive my official score report, so I took the time to edit the electronic file to remove all non-relevant information (I told the school I would do this, so they understand why the file looks altered). A cheaper alternative might be to just take a screenshot of the page from your GRE Account and make it into a PDF. Check with the school to see if this is okay.

[Needle in the Hay]

oh, wow, sorry for the confusion! Is this new? I applied to PhD programs in the winter of 2012 and I really thought I remembered having ETS send a report with all of my best scores. Yes, I'm pretty sure I remember being advised by my GRE tutor that if I was satisfied with my verbal I could simply sit through that section the next time I took the test because I could combine my best scores… am I hallucinating this?

Edited October 15, 2014 by Theoldpond0

[Nastasya_Filippovna]

 

This is only for the PRAXIS test. For the GRE, see: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/scoreselect/ ; specifically,

So, you cannot send your best Q score from one date and your best V score from another.

 

Also, be careful about ordering the paper score report and then scanning it because this paper report (that is meant for you only, not to send to schools) will include every test you took and also the other schools you send your scores too. It's way too much info to send to a school. I had to do this for one school because they didn't receive my official score report, so I took the time to edit the electronic file to remove all non-relevant information (I told the school I would do this, so they understand why the file looks altered). A cheaper alternative might be to just take a screenshot of the page from your GRE Account and make it into a PDF. Check with the school to see if this is okay.

one of the schools I am applying to requires you upload a copy of your own score report in addition to the sending your official scores (why, I have no idea), and I simply made a little fold in order to remove the other test I took out of the paper- should I attach a note to my app explaining that I did this? I don't want it to appear shady, but I don't think I should be required to have my lower GRE scores revealed on my personal GRE report, given that ETS allots for score selection

[TakeruK]

one of the schools I am applying to requires you upload a copy of your own score report in addition to the sending your official scores (why, I have no idea), and I simply made a little fold in order to remove the other test I took out of the paper- should I attach a note to my app explaining that I did this? I don't want it to appear shady, but I don't think I should be required to have my lower GRE scores revealed on my personal GRE report, given that ETS allots for score selection

 

I can't really say what the "norm" is because I've only done this for one single school. What you did sounds fine to me though. I should mention that my edits were pretty egregious--I scanned the file (with a green background) and then went into an image editing program and painted a giant white box over areas I didn't want the school to see) and then added text in that white area saying "Removed for privacy" or something like that. I mostly felt the urge to make that note because the white boxes looked weird. I think if you were able to hide all the non-important info by just folding, then it should be okay? 

 

I agree that you should not be required to reveal anything on that own-copy-of-score-report!

[Nastasya_Filippovna]

I can't really say what the "norm" is because I've only done this for one single school. What you did sounds fine to me though. I should mention that my edits were pretty egregious--I scanned the file (with a green background) and then went into an image editing program and painted a giant white box over areas I didn't want the school to see) and then added text in that white area saying "Removed for privacy" or something like that. I mostly felt the urge to make that note because the white boxes looked weird. I think if you were able to hide all the non-important info by just folding, then it should be okay? 

 

I agree that you should not be required to reveal anything on that own-copy-of-score-report!

haha thanks for the feedback!!

[The Pedanticist]

I can't really say what the "norm" is because I've only done this for one single school. What you did sounds fine to me though. I should mention that my edits were pretty egregious--I scanned the file (with a green background) and then went into an image editing program and painted a giant white box over areas I didn't want the school to see) and then added text in that white area saying "Removed for privacy" or something like that. I mostly felt the urge to make that note because the white boxes looked weird. I think if you were able to hide all the non-important info by just folding, then it should be okay? 

 

I agree that you should not be required to reveal anything on that own-copy-of-score-report!

 

And with my graphic design background I could totally get 170s and a 6...    Jking.

[barackobama]

Thanks for all the responses! I have decided not to retake and will focus the extra time on the writing sample.

[The Pedanticist]

oh, wow, sorry for the confusion! Is this new? I applied to PhD programs in the winter of 2012 and I really thought I remembered having ETS send a report with all of my best scores. Yes, I'm pretty sure I remember being advised by my GRE tutor that if I was satisfied with my verbal I could simply sit through that section the next time I took the test because I could combine my best scores… am I hallucinating this?

 

I know of some applications where you're asked what your highest score in each section is, but that isn't the official ETS report.

[Lutefisk!]

I just scored 170V/153Q on the GRE.  I'm a bit worried that this Q will hurt my chances.  Any thoughts?

Edited November 25, 2014 by Lutefisk!

[overoverover]

I just scored 170V/153Q on the GRE.  I'm a bit worried that this Q will hurt my chances.  Any thoughts?

 

My scores are 164V/154Q, and last time I applied I was waitlisted at three departments and admitted to one (all top 50, one waitlist at a top 25). So your scores at least won't take you out of the running. 

[Lutefisk!]

My scores are 164V/154Q, and last time I applied I was waitlisted at three departments and admitted to one (all top 50, one waitlist at a top 25). So your scores at least won't take you out of the running. 

Thanks, overoverover. I'm glad to hear it.  Anyway,there's nothing I can do about it  now. Well, I suppose I could report my original results (161V/156Q) but that option seems silly.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Lutefisk!