GRE

[Arcanelady27]

I just retook the test for the third time. My verbal went up from 145 to 152 but my Quant score went from 146 to 141!

Should I retake?

The writing score to be determined...

I'm so sick of this test!

[twinguy7]

I would think the Verbal is most looked at for our profession and also the combined score went from 291 to 293 in your last attempt so the total is higher with the higher verbal.

[Arcanelady27]

Twinguy, thanks for the reply

I would think the verbal and writing portions hold much more weight. I hope the schools look at the fact my verbal is over 150.

[MangoSmoothie]

You need to give some more information before people can really comment on this. How much did you study beforehand? If you barely studied at all, all three times, then yeah, why not retake it. Dedicate a considerable amount of time (maybe 1 to 2 months) to solid studying with good materials. Do practice sets every day. But if you feel you studied as much as you could, did as much as possible, or can't dedicate more time to studying, you probably aren't going to do much better, so don't waste your money and time. Unless you had really poor time management or panicked during the test, nothing is going to change, is it? If you studied a lot, you could consider changing the materials you use and studying differently, but do you have the time to do that and can you commit to doing that?

 

If you check out the GRE forum here you can see how much people do put into studying, and it does pay off. Magoosh is highly recommedned, as are Manhattan GRE prep materials. I do not recommmed Princeton or Barron's or Kapplan materials. They're incredibly basic, but good if you're only aiming for a 150. I used Princeton just to get a basic idea of the test, but largely studied with Manhattan Prep materials. For the last month of studying I mostly did practice questions, though, especially for quant. My verbal prep before was reading things and making flashcards of words I came across that I didn't know and also using Manhattan's flashcards. I made my own flashcards with the Anki Droid app, so I could study them anywhere.

 

This field tends to have pretty low average GRE scores, but your quant is particulary low, and your verbal looks about lower average. You can see the ranges for GRE scores for schools on ASHA'S EdFind. Are you comfotable with your GPA, experiences, LOR and SOP? I have a lower undergrad GPA so I wanted to do really well on the GRE to make up for it (I did well enough, although I know I can do better on quant), but if you have a solid GPA, LOR and SOP, you can maybe get away with a lower GRE score, and you should feel confident about those other, more important parts of your application.

 

Now, if you're applying for Fall 2015, unless your deadlines are March or later, I doubt the scores will reach on time. Even if they did, can you dedicate enough time to studying to make a considerable improvement? You might want to step back from the test for now, and hopefully you won't have to take it again for a Fall 2016 application cycle. Your verbal increased and is within the range of average for the field, so that's good. Some schools also take the highest score in each section from each time you took it, so look in to that too. But for Fall 2015, you should probably focus on other parts of your application now.

Edited January 4, 2015 by MangoSmoothie

[Arcanelady27]

MangoSmoothie,

This was my third time taking the test.

I studied for a month. I used the Magoosh flashcard app and the 5lb Manhattan book.

My GPA for my SLP classes is 3.51. I took two classes this fall a a nonmatriculated grad student in SLP. I obtained B and B+ in these classes.

I took the Kaplan class paid $1200 for the second time I took the test. The amount of time I spend studying for second test was far more than what I studied this time around. I did better this time.

You need to give some more information before people can really comment on this. How much did you study beforehand? If you barely studied at all, all three times, then yeah, why not retake it. Dedicate a considerable amount of time (maybe 1 to 2 months) to solid studying with good materials. Do practice sets every day. But if you feel you studied as much as you could, did as much as possible, or can't dedicate more time to studying, you probably aren't going to do much better, so don't waste your money and time. Unless you had really poor time management or panicked during the test, nothing is going to change, is it? If you studied a lot, you could consider changing the materials you use and studying differently, but do you have the time to do that and can you commit to doing that?

If you check out the GRE forum here you can see how much people do put into studying, and it does pay off. Magoosh is highly recommedned, as are Manhattan GRE prep materials. I do not recommmed Princeton or Barron's or Kapplan materials. They're incredibly basic, but good if you're only aiming for a 150. I used Princeton just to get a basic idea of the test, but largely studied with Manhattan Prep materials. For the last month of studying I mostly did practice questions, though, especially for quant. My verbal prep before was reading things and making flashcards of words I came across that I didn't know and also using Manhattan's flashcards. I made my own flashcards with the Anki Droid app, so I could study them anywhere.

This field tends to have pretty low average GRE scores, but your quant is particulary low, and your verbal looks about lower average. You can see the ranges for GRE scores for schools on ASHA'S EdFind. Are you comfotable with your GPA, experiences, LOR and SOP? I have a lower undergrad GPA so I wanted to do really well on the GRE to make up for it (I did well enough, although I know I can do better on quant), but if you have a solid GPA, LOR and SOP, you can maybe get away with a lower GRE score, and you should feel confident about those other, more important parts of your application.

Now, if you're applying for Fall 2015, unless your deadlines are March or later, I doubt the scores will reach on time. Even if they did, can you dedicate enough time to studying to make a considerable improvement? You might want to step back from the test for now, and hopefully you won't have to take it again for a Fall 2016 application cycle. Your verbal increased and is within the range of average for the field, so that's good. Some schools also take the highest score in each section from each time you took it, so look in to that too. But for Fall 2015, you should probably focus on other parts of your application now.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Arcanelady27

[MangoSmoothie]

So some people are pretty liberal with the downvoting... Sheesh. :\

 

Well, how much time was between the two tests? The knowledge from the second time you took it might have carried over to this time. I know when I took it, I did much worse on the quant section than I had been doing in practice tests because I had really poor time management on the actual test. In two different sections, I came across a question I'd never seen before and stared at it for a good 4 minutes before I realized I had quite a few questions left and time was almost out. If you had an issue like that, especially this third time around, then it might be a good idea to take it again because that is a factor you can control the next time you take it. I was going to retake it for that reason, but I didn't want to spend the $185 (now $195?) again. 

 

Still, if your deadlines are February or sooner for Fall 2015, by the time you take the test again and send the scores, they probably wouldn't make it on time, so it wouldn't be worth it to take the test again. You have a good verbal score this time around, and if your writing is decent, then that's where you need to be. I talked to an advisor who is on the admissions committee for the graduate program at my school (which is a very competitve school), and she said they weeded out applications based on their GPA and GRE scores before looking at other parts of their application. I don't think that's particulary fair, but they have a lot of applications for very few spots. This is a very competitive school, though, and it might even be a good thing, because if you make it past this weed-out process (assuming your schools have one), then it might mean they'll look more closely at your statement, letters, and experiences.

 

If you are going to take it again and don't mind spending more money, a lot of people really recommend paying for all of what Magoosh has to offer. It's in the realm of $200 (last I checked), but I've only heard great things about it. I did the trial and really liked it, but decided against it because a friend gave me their old Manhattan prep books. But again, if you're not going to spend more time studying, I don't think your score will change that much, especially in quant. Plus, if you already took some grad classes in the field and did well in them, you seem to have other experiences you can really talk up in your SOP.

 

 

Edit: Also, for what it's worth, I've looked at the ranges for GRE scores for quite a few schools on EdFind, and a range starting from the low 140's for quant was pretty common.

Edited January 5, 2015 by MangoSmoothie