Canadian CPsych GRE Cutoff/Prep

[strongside]

Hey folks,

 

New member here and I have a few questions regarding the GRE general test for Canadian clinical psyc applicants (the Masters that leads to PhD route). If anyone has insight (or a link to a resource) please let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

1) I’m starting my prep now, and I just completed a sample ETS test with a VR 156 and QR 147. Yikes! Could anyone provide me with a general GRE target that I should be aiming for in order to even consider applying? I’ve found it difficult to find these numbers online, besides this document which seems to have very low numbers compared to the stats posted on gradcafe :

 

http://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-scores-for-social-science-programs/

 

2) After perusing the forums, it looks like the Official ETS Guide to the GRE and the Manhattan 5lb book are well reviewed resources. Does anyone have insight on preparing a study schedule for 4-6 weeks of prep using these resources?

 

A popular one seems to be the Magoosh one month guide, but I’d like to use the ETS and Manhattan resources if possible. Any other tips on greatly improving my score would be very much appreciated! I’m a native English speaker with a high psych gpa and I was surprised at how challenging the Reading comp and Vocab (especially the fill in the blanks) were…any comments on these particular issues would be great. Thanks guys!

[FinallyAccepted]

1) I’m starting my prep now, and I just completed a sample ETS test with a VR 156 and QR 147. Yikes! Could anyone provide me with a general GRE target that I should be aiming for in order to even consider applying? I’ve found it difficult to find these numbers online, besides this document which seems to have very low numbers compared to the stats posted on gradcafe :

 

http://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-scores-for-social-science-programs/

 

 

Have you tried looking specifically at the websites of grad programs you're interested in?  Many of the schools I applied to had some sort of statistics about the GPA and GRE scores of incoming students. I don't know how Canadian schools differ from US schools in terms of how cutoff scores might be different.

 

2) After perusing the forums, it looks like the Official ETS Guide to the GRE and the Manhattan 5lb book are well reviewed resources. Does anyone have insight on preparing a study schedule for 4-6 weeks of prep using these resources?

 

A popular one seems to be the Magoosh one month guide, but I’d like to use the ETS and Manhattan resources if possible. Any other tips on greatly improving my score would be very much appreciated! I’m a native English speaker with a high psych gpa and I was surprised at how challenging the Reading comp and Vocab (especially the fill in the blanks) were…any comments on these particular issues would be great. Thanks guys!

 

I bought a couple of different books.  One was basically a book of sample math problems (Manhattan, I think).  One did a good job of explaining different concepts (Kaplan?). I just divided up how much stuff I wanted to get through by how long I had to study. Add in a couple of sample tests, since those can be good periodic checks on your progress.  I bought a pack of Manhattan flashcards to help with Vocab as well as reviewing all of the different roots of words. So I used a couple of different resources and just made sure to really spread it out.

[gradchaser]

It's really hard to find numbers out there, which can be really frustrating! I would shoot for scores above the 80th percentile. Many schools use that as an unofficial benchmark for successful applications. That being said, the GRE isn't necessarily something that will make or break your application. You definitely need to get a score high enough to meet the schools' private cutoffs, but high scores after that don't really boost your app. I did princeton review prep and took a lot of practice tests. I was really pleased with the results! The best thing I can recommend is flashcards. Try to memorize as many words as you can and you will see that reflected on your score.