Taking the Gre - Planning to apply Fall 2016

[Syd2016]

I was just wondering when I should take the GRE if I am planning on applying to grad school Fall 2016?

[sierra918]

I'm applying for Fall 2016, and I took it in April. That way, I'd have plenty of time if I needed to retake. You want to give 6 weeks for the scores to get to the schools before each deadline. As long as you do that, you should be fine.

[_kita]

August will give you a good buffer. If you're still in school, trying to study for the GREs and give full attention to upper level classes never works well, so it avoids the academic problems. And, if you work full time, it give you time to hear back about your scores and re-take the exam for the December deadlines.

[eeee1923]

Usually takes 2-3 weeks for the AWA section to get accessed so to make the December 1st deadline you're looking at taking the GRE during the last week of October til the first week of November.

[velua]

Only took 8 days for them to grade my essays (I took it in May), but may take longer in the fall. I'd recommend taking it late this summer. You'll have a lot going on this fall -- arranging LORs, doing well in classes, working on applications, potentially a subject GRE, etc. You don't want to worry about the general GRE. Plus it gives you time to retake if you really need to.

 

I doubt it matters that you know your A score before the deadline anyway (as long as you get a reasonable score on it). They're not going to review your application in December. Still, just get it over with early IMO.

Edited June 2, 2015 by velua

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi Syd2016,

 

You've defined a bit of your 'timeline', but if you can define a few other details, then we can put together an appropriate plan:

 

1) What is your goal score?

2) Do you know which Schools you'll be applying to (and do you know the specific application deadlines?)?

 

Assuming that you're going to study this summer, you should plan to take a FULL GRE practice MST sometime soon. You can download 2 for free from www.gre.org. You should plan to take the FULL TEST (including the Essays), so that we can get a sense of your endurance as well as your overall strengths and weaknesses. That first set of scores will give us a better sense of what you'll need to focus on during your studies.

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich