Should I retake the GRE for the THIRD time?

[holi10]

Firstly, I am a horrible standardized test taker. I took the ACT five different times and the highest score I received was a 20. I have been oscillating with the idea of going back to grad school since I graduated in the spring of 2013 in hopes of doing my MA in Hispanic Linguistics. So, I took the GRE last year for the first time and I was completely disheartened by the results with a V-148 Q-143 and AW-4.0. After these results, I waited a year and just took it again and received a V-150 Q-141 and AW-4.5. I have e-mailed various universities that interest me and asked about the GRE and they always say they care about the V and AW, so although my scores are lower, I don't know if it is worth retaking again. In continuation, when I prep, I prep. In other words, I have spent over 100+ hours studying words, learning math properties and practicing writing. I don't know if I should retake at this point. I believe that the other pieces of my application package will suffice. I will mention those below! Should I retake or not?!

 

GPA 3.94

Studied abroad twice (1 month) and (1 year)

Taught Spanish at the Secondary Level. 

President of the Foreign Language Honors Society

Outstanding Spanish Major for 2012-2013

Took and passed the DELE C1 exam (which states that I have a native level of Spanish).

Leaving to teach English in Spain for a year. 

Currently, taking Catalan classes. 

I have multiple professors for recommendations who I have known for 3+ years and can demonstrate my academic achievement.

 

What should I do? Do I retake the GRE or not?

Edited July 4, 2015 by NicSpain16

[Jay's Brain]

Hi, while I cannot attest to your situation since we are in completely different areas of study, I can share my experience with you that may be useful in your decision. There will always come a point in time, whenever you do standardized tests such as the GRE, that you will think you can do better. The length of time it takes to study properly (as you can attest to), the cost (it's risen every single time I've taken it), and the energy (or lack thereof) are all strong reasons to deter anyone from doing the test multiple times.

 

Given all that, I actually took the test THREE times as you're considering doing yourself. I will say that I scored higher than you the first time around, and decided to retake it as my field of interest prefers higher scores. The second time proved to be disastrous given the mindset I had going in, and it ended up being worse than my first time. I made the decision to retake it for the third time, and ended with a slightly higher VR score compared to my first time around, but a slightly lower QR score. With all that said and done, I ended up applying with my first set of scores (!) and successfully accepted an offer in April.

 

As you can tell by your own scores and my story, your GRE can fluctuate up and down a bit depending on your condition and mindset the day of the test. The test could be harder or easier, but the grind of doing a test for ~4 hours is strenuous. Again, I'm not sure what the expectations are for your program of interest, but judging from the rest of your profile, I believe you have the competency and experience of doing well. Your GPA and experience are factored in quite considerably too, and a lot of the content you will need to know are not necessarily tested by the GRE (assuming you did it in English). 

My suggestion is to work with your GRE scores, write a kickass SOP that possibly includes why your GRE might be lower, and apply away!

Good luck!

[MathCat]

Honestly, you may not make a minimum cutoff score if they care a lot about verbal. Isn't that below 50th percentile? That could hurt you a lot. Your AW score is probably fine, and the rest of your profile is great. But if they toss it after seeing the verbal score, none of that will matter. If you honestly think you can improve your verbal score, I would retake it, and focus on that more than the quant.

[shinigamiasuka]

The way I see it, it seems that you aren't thinking the way the GRE wants you to think for the test. What test prep materials did you use? 

[xolo]

I assume from your post that you are native in English. I just was wondering because many a PhD Hispanic linguistics candidates at prestigious universities have pathetic verbal scores because they are not native English speakers. So you might want to check with the departments, they might not care that much. In general, GRE is not that important unless there is a low cut-off or if, at the high end, you want goodies like fellowships. 

 

Other than the GRE you seem like a good candidate!

[Karoku_valentine]

Hi! Congratulations on your upcoming trip to Spain and your C1 level (you get to C2 almost automatically once you live long enough in the country). The first time I scored Q/V 157 with no preparation, with some preparation I scored Q/V 157/159, and with a lot of preparation I scored Q/V 166/158. I did not study anything for verbal, since my goal was to increase the Math score. Studying a lot does not mean studying effectively, there is room for improvement and since your profile is pretty good.

 

Your GRE scores are very low for a native speaker, as someone just said, you might not make it to the cutoff. Also, having a higher score might give you an edge over (some) funding.

[holi10]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I am going to do some more research into what each school is looking for as far as for verbal scores. Also, some of you have asked what kind of prep I did for the GRE and I did Kaplan and Magoosh. Kaplan was very easy to me and Magoosh was very difficult. I am probably going to retake it again to see if I can raise my verbal score to at least the 50% percentile which would be a 151 (one point more). 

 

If anyone has anything they would like to add, I am open to opinions! I appreciate the feedback.

 

Thanks

~Nick

Edited July 5, 2015 by NicSpain16

[shinigamiasuka]

Hi Nick! I hope you try out Manhattan's prep books as well, I hear they're very good. So far I haven't heard too many positive reviews on Kaplan, though. I myself used Magoosh for one month and scored 160Q/152V (I'm a non-native speaker). Magoosh's verbal strategies are great if you can apply them properly. If you still have the subscription, I suggest you go back and look carefully at the strategies (in their product + the ones on their blog) vs. where you're going wrong. Do you understand the meanings of most of the words? If not, you'll need to learn more words.

 

There's another new test prep site called Empower GRE, I hope you check that out as well. Their reviews are mostly positive so far. 

 

All this test advice aside, try finding out what the programs want first before jumping into GRE prep again. There are some universities that don't require the GRE if you've graduated from a US university. Also, a quick results search reveals that most Hispanic programs do not really need that high of a GRE score (just as eyepod suggested). The rest of your profile looks excellent, I'm sure you'll make it into a top program.

[holi10]

I signed up to take the GRE again next month. I am going to just study verbal, so I am reviewing the Magoosh lessons and I bought the Manhattan prep book for extra practice. 

 

I will post updated scores when I take the exam. 

 

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

[holi10]

I just wanted to tell everyone my final scores for my third GRE test. I did the best on this one and I am happy with the results.

Analytical Writing: 4.5
Verbal: 153
Quantitative:144 

I believe that for an MA in Hispanic Linguistics the two most important scores are AW and V. Any opinions about my new scores?

 

Also, if anyone is taking the GRE, the test measures your knowledgeability of the questions. After reading so many questions, you start to guess the answer that they looking for. I think if I studied for a few more months and took it again, I would improve. Overall, I am happy with the results!!

[holi10]

I applied to Indiana University, University of Georgia, University of Arizona and University of Florida. All of them accepted me except for University of Arizona. Overall, I am very happy with the results!!