1090 - Take again?

[LateAntique]

So, after going to the original testing center today and waiting for over an hour until no one showed up and then being hussled over to another testing center, I scored pretty much where I figured I would for the amount of preparation I was able to put into this. I got 550 on my Verbal (a little shocking, to be honest) and 540 Q. My essays were both strong. At any rate, with a 3.89 GPA and glowing recs, am I still in the ballgame? I'm not sure how much time I would have to study if I rescheduled in the next couple of weeks due to big papers.

[a fragrant plant]

I personally wouldn't retake it. It is too much of a hassle. It's also very expensive. Your score is about average, not particularly low. Just make sure that the rest of your application is solid.

[LateAntique]

Peanut - That's pretty much how I feel. It's not great, but it's not horrible - so hopefully the rest of my application will pull the weight.

[modernity]

Check your schools to make sure they don't have the often cited "1200" .. and if they don't strongly suggest it and if they don't base their fin. aid on it either (or you don't need it), I wouldn't retake it. The rest of your profile seems good enough to overlook a mediocre score.

[joro]

I sure wish I had that verbal score at least. I expected myself to get 60 points higher in the verbal than I did on the actual test.

I personally wouldn't retake it, especially since it's nearing the deadline. I did have plans of retaking it, but I would need to maintain my quant score while raising my verbal score by at least 100 - 200 points. If you are thinking about retaking it, make sure you're absolutely sure that you'll raise your score significantly. You don't want to take the test and end up getting just 20 points higher or a lower score.

I think that your GRE score won't affect you too much. If your GPA was low, then I'd probably worry a bit more.

[LateAntique]

After speaking with some of my professors, I'm going to retake it. As it stands, I'm not sure that I'd be totally dead in the water, but in this climate I should be doing everything I can to get in. If this means a couple more weeks of no sleep, so be it. If anyone has any advice for cramming in 2 weeks or success stories, please share!

[modernity]

After speaking with some of my professors, I'm going to retake it. As it stands, I'm not sure that I'd be totally dead in the water, but in this climate I should be doing everything I can to get in. If this means a couple more weeks of no sleep, so be it. If anyone has any advice for cramming in 2 weeks or success stories, please share!

I've said this in several posts before but... I was in your situation last year, and I just retook it not too long ago and got it up over the 1200 mark which is what I was shooting for - 1400 would have been nice, but I already knew that wasn't happening for me. I used the princeton review book. I made flashcards out of all the "hit parade" words, and I went over and over them - splitting them into piles of know/kinda know/don't know at all... and focused on them accordingly. I hadn't had math since my freshman year of college (and I was never very strong in it anyway) so I wrote down all of the rules on flashcards and memorized them all over again. Princeton review also includes math problems that tend to appear repeatedly or the traps that the GRE likes to use on the math section- VERY helpful if you're not math inclined. Then I just kept taking tests/doing sample questions. I also did one session- where I made it like the real test: keeping it silent and timing myself. I did this over about 4-5 days. It helped immensely, and I know the GRE is very much a game of chance but A LOT of what was in princeton review showed up in the GRE for me (I sound like a commercial- ugh - I am sure most of these books are just as helpful!)

[fred987]

Speaking of the Princeton Review... Crash Course for the GRE 3rd Edition is a great little book that is designed for cramming a week or two before the test. Its cheap, I bought mine for $10. If you have the money I believe there are online cram courses for $100 or so also.

[Angelicasassy]

After speaking with some of my professors, I'm going to retake it. As it stands, I'm not sure that I'd be totally dead in the water, but in this climate I should be doing everything I can to get in. If this means a couple more weeks of no sleep, so be it. If anyone has any advice for cramming in 2 weeks or success stories, please share!

Good Luck, I am taking mine in a week and am scared!!

[LateAntique]

Speaking of the Princeton Review... Crash Course for the GRE 3rd Edition is a great little book that is designed for cramming a week or two before the test. Its cheap, I bought mine for $10. If you have the money I believe there are online cram courses for $100 or so also.

I bought it, actually. It's great - between it and my big Barron's book, I anticipate doing at least a little better this time around.

[peppermint.beatnik]

I bought it, actually. It's great - between it and my big Barron's book, I anticipate doing at least a little better this time around.

LateAntique--definitely take it again. I am applying for Religion PhD (I'm in a different sub-field). Both my GRE scores are above 600, but not above 650, and I have a 5.5 AWA. I met with a faculty member from a school, to which I am applying, last week, and they said to retake it. I wanted to scream because I'd rather swim across the Atlantic.

However, they said that no matter how badly a particular prof wants a student, the app goes before a committee to make the final decision. If 3 or 4 candidates are similar, the committee goes to third or fourth measures of evaluation, such as GRE.

They won't look at someone with scores below 500, but, again, check with your schools because it depends.

[LateAntique]

I have been prepping for the last two weeks to retake the GRE. I memorized an absolute ton of words (including the 300 most common). I wasn't too worried about my quant as I've already scored well enough for the programs to which I'm applying. I took some practice tests and I was scoring well into the upper 600's. I thought, "This is going to be my night. The last time I took the test it was a fluke." I improved my score a whopping.......30 points. Yep. I'm a pretty well-read guy, I'm very good with Latin and Greek (which usually translates into being able to figure out English words even if I don't know them), but I can't get this verbal score up on the real test. For one, not a single one of the 300 most common words showed up anywhere on the test. Not one. Secondly, there were words on there that not only did I not know them, I had never seen them! I read 3-5 books a week and I had not seen several words on there! I'm happy that I atleast got into the 1100's. Hopefully GPA and letters of rec will put the weight.

/rant

[alexis]

I have been prepping for the last two weeks to retake the GRE. I memorized an absolute ton of words (including the 300 most common). I wasn't too worried about my quant as I've already scored well enough for the programs to which I'm applying. I took some practice tests and I was scoring well into the upper 600's. I thought, "This is going to be my night. The last time I took the test it was a fluke." I improved my score a whopping.......30 points. Yep. I'm a pretty well-read guy, I'm very good with Latin and Greek (which usually translates into being able to figure out English words even if I don't know them), but I can't get this verbal score up on the real test. For one, not a single one of the 300 most common words showed up anywhere on the test. Not one. Secondly, there were words on there that not only did I not know them, I had never seen them! I read 3-5 books a week and I had not seen several words on there! I'm happy that I atleast got into the 1100's. Hopefully GPA and letters of rec will put the weight.

/rant

What a bummer none of the words showed up! That is so frustrating. It's like studying for an exam at college and nothing you studied for shows up on the test. I lucked out on my GRE and a bunch of the Barron's high frequency words showed up. Just goes to show what a crap-shoot the GRE is.

But congrats on raising your score, that is great! And with a 30 point increase in the verbal, I imagine you're at least at the 80th percentile or around there, which isn't bad at all.

[captiv8ed]

I am so sorry! That is the same sort of thing that happened to me, only on the Q side. Cram cram cram and then totally different stuff shows up on the test

I hate the GRE

[a fragrant plant]

Well, let's hope that the GRE is just a requirement that matters the least.

[dzk]

Verbal is so weird. In comparison, I was hit with a few words I'd never seen, then suddenly had nothing but easy analogies. I was freaking out during the test because I assumed I must have totally bombed the first few problems... and I got a 690 out of that.

First time I took it, I felt way more confident about it before seeing my score, and got a 610. ETS must die.

[LateAntique]

I took the GRE yesterday after having crammed for it for a week using the 2010 Princeton "Cracking the GRE" book. I thought I did horribly on much of the math and the verbal since I kept running out of time and was more of less guessing on a lot of them. I was wondering if I wanted to report my scores, but in the end I decided that I didn't want to spend another $150 on the exam. I scored above 600 on each section, which is better than I felt I did while taking it. Perhaps the GRE is not that great of a gauge of math/verbal skills after all.

Congrats on your score, though!

[pea-jay]

I used the Princeton prep materials and wound up with the same score: 1090. It helped boost my verbal (620), but the quantitative (470): nada.