Selecting GREs

[healthypsych]

Hey everyone,

So I took the GREs last week for the third time. My last two exams were in 2013 and I wanted to see if I made any progress. Needless to say, the scores this time for V and Q were the median of the three scores. My first exam has the best Q and the second has the best V. Ironically enough though the best AW score was on the third test. I don't know how heavily AW is weighed but I dont know if I should bother sending in my most recent exam. The scores were literally two points below for V from my highest and a point below for Q. I am afraid that since its my most recent exam they may only look at that even though the other two sections are better from 2 years ago. Should I send in all three exams or am I better off sending the scores from 2013 and forgetting about the high AW score on the third test (I went from 56 percentile to 84 percentile)?

[healthypsych]

bump? :)

[Jay's Brain]

Choose the GRE scores that matches the most with the programs you're interested in applying to.

For me, after doing the GRE three times, I saw my QR score go down 2 points and my VR score go up 2 points. Ultimately, under the advice of my undergraduate supervisor, he suggested that it is better to see scores that are not low rather than scores that are. I chose to use the set of scores where my QR score was 2 points higher than take the set of scores where my VR went up, but my QR went down. 

If your programs is heavily quantitative-based, for example, it may be better to show you have the skills to do well in that area, or vice versa for a program that is more verbal reasoning heavy.

Good luck!
 

[healthypsych]

Hi! 

 

Thanks for the reply.

It seems that the programs don't really have an area of strength they want to see. I am applying to a mix of public health and pysch phds and most just want above 60-70% the weird thing about my tests is that each section is above that cut off in each distinct test. So as mentioned before, Q was above the mark one the first exam, V was above the mark on the second, and AW was above the mark on the third. I did not plan it to come out like this but now I am not sure what to do?

[VentureIntoNothingness]

Hi,

I am a fellow applicant, so I am not exactly an expert on this matter. But it seems to me that GRE scores mostly serve as the filter in application. It varies across schools, but from a few admission office I telephoned in, quantitative score seems to be mostly used or emphasized in the "filtering" process. In this case, I would send the score with the highest Q. But to make up for the less than ideal V/AW, I would perhaps submit a writing sample. 

[IOSearching]

You can report on your application pretty much whatever GRE combination you want.  But when you request your scores to be forwarded, ETS is going to send all your scores, not just the ones you "want".

[khunconan]

4 hours ago, IOSearching said:

You can report on your application pretty much whatever GRE combination you want.  But when you request your scores to be forwarded, ETS is going to send all your scores, not just the ones you "want".

Now ETS has a "Score Select Option" that allows you to send only the score(s) you want. Check ETS website.

[Jay's Brain]

@khunconan Actually, unless they changed it in the last year or so, the Score Select allows you to choose any SET of scores. So you can't choose, for example, QR from one test and VR from another test. It has to be the same 3 scores from one test. It can, however, be from any of the times you did the test. I did the GRE three times, and I could've used the set of scores from any of the three times I took it. 

[Jay's Brain]

On 11/16/2015, 11:04:28, healthypsych said:

Hi! 

 

Thanks for the reply.

It seems that the programs don't really have an area of strength they want to see. I am applying to a mix of public health and pysch phds and most just want above 60-70% the weird thing about my tests is that each section is above that cut off in each distinct test. So as mentioned before, Q was above the mark one the first exam, V was above the mark on the second, and AW was above the mark on the third. I did not plan it to come out like this but now I am not sure what to do?

I would say go for the one that comfortably shows your aptitude the best. If there is no stringent cutoff, go with the scores that give you the highest possible. You will need to decide which of the three scores you will have to disregard.

[khunconan]

39 minutes ago, Jay's Brain said:

@khunconan Actually, unless they changed it in the last year or so, the Score Select allows you to choose any SET of scores. So you can't choose, for example, QR from one test and VR from another test. It has to be the same 3 scores from one test. It can, however, be from any of the times you did the test. I did the GRE three times, and I could've used the set of scores from any of the three times I took it. 

I should have clarified but, yes, I meant that now ETS allows you to choose any set(s) of scores you want. I thought IOSearching meant you can't choose the test(s) you prefer  because ETS will send all of the tests taken within 5 years to the programs (which was true in the past), so I just want to point out that you can choose now. Sorry for the confusion.