The GRE

[hoyaboy1]

Stolen from the LSAT thread - I'm taking the GRE next week.

For those who have taken it.
How was it?
How many times did you take it?
Roughly how many hours did you prepare?
Did you do better or worse than expected?
Any info is appreciated - basically I wanna know if studying is neccesary or if it is basically just like the SAT.

[IronDragon1]

[ QUOTE ]
Stolen from the LSAT thread - I'm taking the GRE next week.

For those who have taken it.
How was it?
How many times did you take it?
Roughly how many hours did you prepare?
Did you do better or worse than expected?
Any info is appreciated - basically I wanna know if studying is neccesary or if it is basically just like the SAT.

[/ QUOTE ]

The quantitative section is easier than the SAT equivalent and the converse is true of the verbal section.

Analytical writing is pretty much the kind of thing you'd do for an AP/IB essay question-you're given a topic, forced to choose a side and defend with a 3-4 paragraph essay

As for what is a "good score" that depends greatly on what type of graduate program you are applying for but you should be scoring in AT LEAST the 80th percentile in both section (~600 V, ~720 Q, 5 AW), while scoring in the 90th percentile in whichever of the two your discipline emphasizes if you want to end up in whatever constitutes a competivitive program in your field.

I took it twice, did horribly both times (average comparatively) and spent about 20 hours total preparing using a god awful canned software program. You're better off just getting a review book (Barrons, Kaplan, et al.) and working on your weak points.

[Boris]

I'm not sure what test the other posters are referring to but when I took it 6-7 years ago there were 3 sections: math, verbal and logic. IMO, doing practice tests won't help your verbal very much, will have a moderate impact on the math score, and will have a huge impact on the logic section.

The logic problems basically follow a few basic structures and once you figure it out it is a breeze. But if you don't "get it" you are screwed. I actually got an ungodly good score (meaning higher than my raw IQ would predict) on this section precisely because I did lots of practice tests.

If your not a math person I think it pays to invest some energy on those pratice tests. with a little bit of effort you could probably boost your score 15-20% because the math is not very hard core.

It's pretty much a waste of time to study for the verbal section.

Don't get tanked the night before. A good score can mean a higher tier of grad school.

[hoyaboy1]

Are you talking about the LSAT or the GRE?

I'm a bit more worried about math than verbal since I haven't done math for a while - but I just took a practice test on a CD they sent me, and despite stupidly not having a calculator handy, got a score that I'm more than happy with for my concentration (masters in international affairs). So maybe with some minor review there (and remembering to bring a calculator) I'll be fine.

I imagine studying for the essays is impossible. I'm good at verbal stuff, but I'll check out one of the review books to learn a few words this week, since I'm stopped working and don't have school yet.

Thanks for the info so far.

[UseThePeenEnd]

I deleted my humorous reminiscence reply for a serious one.

Mine was a long time ago- 1980.

I would agree that prep for the verbal would be a waste of time- I didnt bother except to look at a review book to see the types of questions to expect.

I would also agree that a review aid will probably be a very helpful reminder for the type of math you will see. Preparation here mainly was helpful in getting a comfortable position with respect to the time limit.

The GRE was not difficult, even with a hangover. I did very very well.

[benza13]

There is no longer a logic section, it was replaced by an Analytical Writing section that is graded on a 1-6 scale. I bought one of the books (Kaplan I think), used that to study and did great my first time through. I scored about 100 points lower on this than I did on the SAT (1530 and 1430+5.5, respectively), basically its a similar test, but you want to prepare a little more. The quantitative section is worth brushing up on with a book, especially as the question format for some of the questions is a little strange. The verbal section is very similar to what was on the SAT. The books also give some samples of what you might be asked in the AW section.


Edited to add: I agree that a hangover did not affect me that much for either of these tests mentioned

[MelchyBeau]

I took the Subject Specific GRE (Physics). I wanted to just cry after that test

Melch

[wacki]

How was it?

Was hung over. Threw up before, during, and after.

How many times did you take it?

1

Roughly how many hours did you prepare?

0

Did you do better or worse than expected?

meh. hard to tell under the conditions. I got in, that's all that matters.

[ethan]

I took it once, 4 years ago. I think the structure's changed since; my test had math, analytical, and verbal sections. I didn't study much - maybe an hour each looking through the sort of questions I'd be asked in the verbal and analytical sections, and another hour going over vocabulary. I'm not sure how helpful extensive studying's going to be, but you should at least familiarize yourself with the test. I scored 680 on the verbal, which was a little disappointing. (I didn't necessarily expect to do better, but it was towards the bottom of the range I'd been aiming for.) It wasn't worth retaking the test since I was happy with my math/analytical scores and those were the important ones given my field.

It's harder than the SAT. That's not to say it's hard, but I'd suggest you find a couple practice tests and see if there's anything that looks like it'll give you trouble.

[MrWookie47]

[ QUOTE ]
I took the Subject Specific GRE (Physics). I wanted to just cry after that test

Melch

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. That test was brutal. The general one was pretty darn easy, though. I didn't do quite as well as I expected on the essay, but I kicked ass and took names on the verbal and math. I didn't study much. I might have taken a look at some of the verbal questions in some book and brushed up on some vocabulary, but the extent of my math studying was just enough to realize that studying for the math section was a complete waste of my time.

[cpitt398]

When I took mine, 4 years ago, you had the option of throwing out the score before seeing it, and not registering the score. However bad you think you did, dont do it. I thought i did horrible, but actually did quite well.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Stolen from the LSAT thread - I'm taking the GRE next week.

For those who have taken it.
How was it?

[/ QUOTE ]
Easy.
[ QUOTE ]
How many times did you take it?

[/ QUOTE ]
Once. 4 years ago.
[ QUOTE ]
Roughly how many hours did you prepare?

[/ QUOTE ]
I did not prepare.
[ QUOTE ]
Did you do better or worse than expected?

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't even remember, but good enough to get into a top-5 aerospace program.
[ QUOTE ]
Any info is appreciated - basically I wanna know if studying is neccesary or if it is basically just like the SAT.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's a SAT clone, throw in some freshman-level calc and drop the easiest SAT questions and there you go. I believe I also took a subject-specific test, but don't recall much about it. I'm sure it was harder than the general one, but I know I also didn't prepare, so it couldn't have been that terrible.

[swede123]

I didn't take the GRE, instead I took the GMAT to get into Grad school. This was a pain in the ass, simply 'cause I'd never taken the SAT or any of those super long tests, so the eight hour format really got to me. I really think the key to these tests is endurance, you have to be able to focus for many hours at a time, whereas most people kinda fade towards the last few hours.

Swede

Swede

[Peca277]

I didn't think it was very difficult. Took it once and did better than expected so there was no reason to take it again. I spent a few hours a day for 2-3 weeks before going over practice tests and using flashcards for the verbal section. Ended up with a 640 verbal (definitely helped by all the words I learned over those 3 weeks) and a 760 quant (definitely helped by refreshing my math memory with practice tests) and a 5.0 analytical writing (little disappointing).

I just used the Princeton Review Cracking the GRE book, and the online software ETS gives you access to, and they had all the information I needed to do well.

[dankhank]

this doesn't answer the question since the test apparently changed, but i will reminisce as well.

took the test about three years ago during a quiet summer. don't even know how i managed to get it properly scheduled. no preparation. _did not smoke the morning of the test_. small, sterile test taking computer room with one other person. very convenient point and click answering. i did medicore on the math and verbal but got a perfect score on the analytical part. if i remember, the questions were versions of old math class games where you have like 6 people and 7 pieces of fruit and you have to figure out who traded what piece of fruit with whom, given some clues. apparently i am good at that? since then have quit grad school and become a poker player.

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]
I took the Subject Specific GRE (Physics). I wanted to just cry after that test

[/ QUOTE ]

The physics GRE is a completely different beast. The general GRE wasn't so bad. The physics GRE I only had time to answer 2/3 of the questions on, and that was substantially more than average. The rule of thumb I've read is that scoring over the 60th percentile for an American citizen is pretty much good enough on your physics GRE so that your GRE doesn't stop you from getting into places.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that almost every practice verbal I've seen is substantially harder than the real thing.