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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 18:26:35 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgang on Sept 24, 2009 18:26:35 GMT -5
I thought I'd share my good news. I just took the GRE this afternoon and received the following scores:
Quantitative: 800 Verbal: 690 Analytical Writing: Will get it in the mail in 2-3 weeks
I don't know how I got a perfect Math score because I thought it was quite difficult and some of the time, I was muttering "Ahh, fugg it!" and then guessed. The Verbal was the best I've ever done from all the practice exams I took. For my bag lunch, I took a bag of baby carrots, a bag of almonds, and three bananas. I attribute my success to my lunch.
Also, when I was preparing for it, I took a lot of practice exams so that I would learn to love the exam and come exam time, I would look forward to it, not loathe it. I think it's the right strategy.
Well, at least now I know my GRE scores won't hold me back from grad school admissions. Woo Hoo!!
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 19:00:00 GMT -5
Post by equality on Sept 24, 2009 19:00:00 GMT -5
Congratulations…Sounds like those practice tests helped. I think your verbal score is more impressive than your quantitative score. Verbal GRE can be difficult. Quantitative is generally considered easier math than SAT although trick questions can be confusing. It is nice how the score is given out immediately after the test. Were there any Quant questions on probability/statistics?
Have fun writing statements of purpose and filling out applications.
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 19:08:47 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgang on Sept 24, 2009 19:08:47 GMT -5
I had a boatload of prob/stat and permutations/combination questions. There were some really tricky geometry questions and weird stuff with factorals. I think I deserved a 650 for Math, but I guessed accurately and got lucky.
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 19:23:59 GMT -5
Post by BearClause on Sept 24, 2009 19:23:59 GMT -5
OK. It's been a while. I remember Qualitative, Analytical Reasoning, and Verbal Reasoning. I took it once and got 790, 740, and 700. Of course the grad school I got into didn't require the test, but what the heck.
Do they still have a system where there's no penalty for guessing? I remember back with the SAT, guessing was discouraged because if there were 5 answers, the wrong answer would be docked 1/4. Random guessing averaged out to 0. For the GRE I bought a guide that suggested if one ran out time, to just rapidly fill out every unanswered question quickly with random guesses.
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 20:00:45 GMT -5
Post by Thrill of the 'ville on Sept 24, 2009 20:00:45 GMT -5
Congrats!
I did well on my GRE too...although for grad school the requirement was at least 900 combined. Kind of makes my good score seem pointless.
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 20:31:22 GMT -5
Post by equality on Sept 24, 2009 20:31:22 GMT -5
Most grad schools require a minimum of three letters of reference and prefer at least two of the letters be from faculty in an academic setting. This is difficult/impossible for someone who has been out of school for a number of years. What do applicants in this situation do for references?
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 21:05:07 GMT -5
Post by mikegarrison on Sept 24, 2009 21:05:07 GMT -5
Most grad schools require a minimum of three letters of reference and prefer at least two of the letters be from faculty in an academic setting. This is difficult/impossible for someone who has been out of school for a number of years. What do applicants in this situation do for references? Forgery. Or maybe the same thing everybody else does when they need letters of reference. You network until you talk to the right people. If you can't find at least three people who are valuable enough to be useful references and who also will write you a letter of reference, then good luck with anything in life, much less getting into grad school.
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 22:02:14 GMT -5
Post by equality on Sept 24, 2009 22:02:14 GMT -5
Most grad schools require a minimum of three letters of reference and prefer at least two of the letters be from faculty in an academic setting. This is difficult/impossible for someone who has been out of school for a number of years. What do applicants in this situation do for references? Forgery. Or maybe the same thing everybody else does when they need letters of reference. You network until you talk to the right people. If you can't find at least three people who are valuable enough to be useful references and who also will write you a letter of reference, then good luck with anything in life, much less getting into grad school. I don’t know if you got the point of my question. If you have been out of school for say ten years. You need at least two references from professors where you went to school. How many professors are going to recall the details of a student they had ten years ago.
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GRE
Sept 24, 2009 22:33:29 GMT -5
Post by Thrill of the 'ville on Sept 24, 2009 22:33:29 GMT -5
Do they still have a system where there's no penalty for guessing? I remember back with the SAT, guessing was discouraged because if there were 5 answers, the wrong answer would be docked 1/4. Random guessing averaged out to 0. For the GRE I bought a guide that suggested if one ran out time, to just rapidly fill out every unanswered question quickly with random guesses. This was actually one of the topics in my Assessment class today. A lot of standardized tests (but not all) have done away with the discouraging guessing because it is hard to decipher when a student is guessing and when they aren't. Also, some people have a preference to guess because they are risk takers and other are afraid of guessing. So many tests have changed to give everyone a fair advantage. At least that's what my professor had to say.
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Posts: 0
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GRE
Sept 25, 2009 11:22:47 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 11:22:47 GMT -5
Congrats, Wolfgang!
PS - You love bananas.
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GRE
Sept 25, 2009 11:33:28 GMT -5
Post by rhinovb14 on Sept 25, 2009 11:33:28 GMT -5
Took it eons ago. I took it the first time it was offered on computer. Got a 790 quantitative, but was a math major. I thought I got them all right. The verbal was tough. I don't remember my score....590 maybe?? The analogies were really hard.
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GRE
Sept 25, 2009 12:11:23 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgang on Sept 25, 2009 12:11:23 GMT -5
The GRE has changed over the years. Before, you could only take it at certain pre-scheduled times and locations -- usually, a large auditorium. Now, you can take it anytime you want and it's now done on the computer. It's also computer-adaptive, which means that the exam adapts to how well (or poorly) you're doing. When you answer a question correctly, the next question becomes more difficult; if you answer a question incorrectly, the next question becomes easier. In this manner, they can figure out what level you are more accurately than if they merely counted how many questions you got right. (...so goes the theory and argument) After all, given two test-takers who got the same number of questions right, the test-taker who got the more difficult questions right should be graded higher than the other test-taker who merely got the easy questions right.
Anyway, when I was taking the Math portion, I kept seeing more and more difficult questions but it also stressed me out because it took me longer to figure out the answers and sometimes, I got frustrated and simply guessed. In the Verbal portion, I couldn't tell if the questions were getting harder or easier. They seemed to be the same difficulty level.
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GRE
Sept 25, 2009 12:16:35 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgang on Sept 25, 2009 12:16:35 GMT -5
Re. bag of lunch. I initially thought about taking a sandwich or some bagels/cream cheese or even some sugar-laced donuts. My wife berated me about that, "Are you nuts?" You see, carbs make you happy and SLEEPY. If you want to stay alert during an exam, don't eat carbs. Stick with bananas, almonds (brain food!!), and carrots. Also, you don't need soft drinks, just plain water. I guess carbs are great for athletic activities -- after all, you'll be burning off a lot of energy. But exam-taking is a sedentary activity; and brain activity doesn't burn a whole lot of energy.
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GRE
Sept 25, 2009 12:43:17 GMT -5
Post by equality on Sept 25, 2009 12:43:17 GMT -5
I have a relative who is studying for the exam. Because of the adaptive nature of the math portion, I told her to make sure she doesn’t make any stupid mistakes on the first ten questions. If you miss one of the easy questions, I believe there is a ceiling on your score.
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GRE
Sept 25, 2009 13:49:11 GMT -5
Post by cruncher on Sept 25, 2009 13:49:11 GMT -5
Overrated: College Underrated: Almonds
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