Posted: 8/26/2009 8:00:46 AM EDT
| Anyone take the GRE recently? I just signed up to take it next month. I've been out of work since May and have had no luck in finding work. I figure I might as well try and get in to a good grad school in the spring (yeah, I know, Arfcom rule #17: education makes you dumber). I haven't taken any standardized testing in about 8 years. I scored a 1440 on my SAT's and I've done well on some LEO entrance exams, but that's it. Anything I should know about preparing? |
|
Quoted: It's the SAT with ashtrays. If you got a 1440 on your SAT, you'll do fine. Bone up on the math, science, or whatever else you haven't used in a while. Math review the night before did well for me. well the science is a subject test (you actually take a specialized science, like physics, biological science, etc). the verbal and quantitative are pretty much just like the SAT i took 10 years ago (the SAT has changed substantially since i took it). the good news is most grad schools (even very top tier) could give a fuck about GRE scores because they are pretty meaningless in terms of a measure of your potential success. they still require them because some asshole in the ivory tower tell them to. undergrad GPA, prior experience, letters, are much more important. |
|
Quoted: Quoted: It's the SAT with ashtrays. If you got a 1440 on your SAT, you'll do fine. Bone up on the math, science, or whatever else you haven't used in a while. Math review the night before did well for me. well the science is a subject test (you actually take a specialized science, like physics, biological science, etc). the verbal and quantitative are pretty much just like the SAT i took 10 years ago (the SAT has changed substantially since i took it). the good news is most grad schools (even very top tier) could give a fuck about GRE scores because they are pretty meaningless in terms of a measure of your potential success. they still require them because some asshole in the ivory tower tell them to. undergrad GPA, prior experience, letters, are much more important. OH YEA one more thing - when i took mine (4 years ago) you could not use calculators. WHAT THE FUCK???? i had to learn how to long divide all over again. look into that. |
|
I took it almost 2 years ago. Before taking it, I enrolled in a prep course, which helped a lot. The math was by far the hardest part for me, and my score in that department was still pretty mediocre. But it didn't really matter since I was applying for admission to the History department. I did pretty well on the vocabulary & reading comprehension, however. |
| I just went to the bookstore and picked up the Princeton Review guide. This stuff looks pretty simple. When I took the SAT I had a perfect score on the verbal and did well enough on the math for never having gone past algebra. I think three weeks should be sufficient to get me in test taking mode. |
|
Quoted: I just went to the bookstore and picked up the Princeton Review guide. This stuff looks pretty simple. When I took the SAT I had a perfect score on the verbal and did well enough on the math for never having gone past algebra. I think three weeks should be sufficient to get me in test taking mode. I am usually a good test taker. I am smart, but not a genius. I get the grades by working my ass off, and it pays off. I am not far enough along to worry about the GRE, but I should probably start thinking about it. My SAT scores were decent but not that great, I think I got 1290 on the parts that count. Also, I'm probably not taking any science courses at college. I took AP courses in highschool which count for that general ed requirement. While I am taking German, every other class will be math or economics related. Should I be worried?  |
|
There is an important method to taking the test. It helped me pass it with flying colors.
Concentrate on getting the first 8 to 10 questions in each section, absolutely correct. Allocate more time to these questions than the later questions. Each question you get right at the beginning increases your score much more than getting a few wrong at the end will hurt. It is the way the test is designed. Just make sure you get an answer down for all of them in the allotted time. |
| Get the test prep book (IIRC, I used the "For Dummies" one –– great resource!) & visit the GRE website. There's a section where you write essays on 2 topics. The topics are all listed on the website. Print out the list and read through it, and form an opinion on each topic so you'll have something to write about when the test date comes. |