Retaking GRE for MS in Petroleum Engineering. Advice needed!

[Fahad.Baloch]

Hey guys...International applicant here. I gave ny GRE yesterday and was extremely disappointed to get 152 in verbal and 151 in quant. I wanna do MS in Petroleum Engineering. I have a lowish GPA of 3.0/4 in BSc Chemical Engineeeing. The universities I'd want ro get into are PSU, University of Pittsburgh, USC, University of Houston, Texas Tech, TAMU, Colorado school of mines or University of Calgary.

Please suggest if this low GRE is suitable for applying to any of these places above or what score should I target in my next GRE?

[GeoDUDE!]

you do not have a "lowish" gpa, you have the minimum GPA for graduate school (at least at USC). Your target GRE should be 320+ combined. 

[Fahad.Baloch]

Thanks for the insight GeoDUDE. I'll definitely be taking it again and will target 160 in each section this time. I emailed TAMU regarding the gre score and they replied saying 147 in Verbal and 155 in Quant is suggested but I know I need to be way better than that.

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi Fahad.Baloch,

 

A 3.0 GPA won't be a 'bright spot' on your application, but it won't hurt you either. You CAN make some big gains to your GRE score though, in a relatively short period of time, if you train properly. Since you've taken the GRE already, I'd like to know a bit about how you studied:

 

1) How long did you study?

2) What resources did you use?

3) How were you scoring on your practice MST Tests before you took your Official GRE?

 

4) When are the application deadlines for the Grad Schools that you're interested in?

 

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

Rich

[Fahad.Baloch]

Thanks EmpowerGRE for the concern. I studied for 3 months. I followed 3 books - Official ETS guide, Princeton and Manhattan Review. I completed the books with all the exercises in the order I've listed them. I found Princeton easier of the lot. One thing I now realise I did wrong was looking at my wrong answers and rather than overcoming my mistakes and redoing the Qs immediately to make sure I never repeat them I used to look at the correct solution and moved on. Throughout my prep I found the verbal part most challenging cos I was learning new words along the way and developing my reading skills which never have improved much as I mostly fail to register the entire passage in my mind.

In the final month, I went through all my Quantitative mistakes in exercises and didn't do them again but looked at them thoroughly which was again a mistake I guess. I did 2 powerprep tests, on the first test I got Q:156 & V: 148, 2nd one I got Q:152 and V:145. The 1 free Manhattan test I got for registering on their website gave me scores of Q:153 & V:156. So I was not very optimistic about my chances. The night before the test was the worse as I had a terrible insomnia...couldn't sleep at all. So naturally my head was slightly spinning when I was giving my GRE and it occured that I wasn't even registering the simpler math problems. Hence an overall 303 score. That's my story so far. I wanna get 315+ this time with a 160 target in Quant. I'll target the December/Jan deadlines for the Summer and Fall intakes. I also want to know if retaking within a time frame of a month or so is a good option? I might start a job in the next 2 months and don't thing studying for GRE will be easy while working.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Fahad.Baloch

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi Fahad.Baloch,

 

It sounds like you've done some reasonable analysis on how you studied and what you could have done better. With your score goals, you'll have to make some adjustments to how you 'see' (and respond to) the GRE, but since you're familiar with a lot of the material already, it shouldn't necessarily take you too long to re-prep and retest.

 

Your studies the first time around were 'book heavy'; many Test Takers get 'stuck' at a particular scoring level when taking this type of approach and it's likely that that is what happened to you. As you continue to study, you might want to invest in some new computer-based resources, so you can practice in the same 'format' as the Official GRE (while learning the proper tactics to deal with the Overall Test).

 

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

Rich

[Fahad.Baloch]

Thanks a lot man, I will definitely take on this new approach you mention and this time with the intention of taking the GRE for the last time so this relationship is over.