GRE Verbal: unfair!

[escalonab]

Hello,

I apologise for the long post, and for the ranting... need to vent

I am really disappointed at my GRE results, specially on Verbal. I got only 480, and although my native language is spanish, i always thought (and was told, by native english speakers) that my english was exceptionally good.

I also had to write the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) and I got near perfect: 293, and that's only because they gave me a 5.5 on my essay instead of a 6. Got perfect in the rest of the test. Of course the TOEFL is a joke compared to the GRE verbal. Actually it's a joke, period.. but still... I have above average vocabulary and I did terrible on GRE.

I'm applying for universities in Germany, so the GRE is not required. However, it IS required for the scholarship that i'm applying to, given by the mexican government (CONACYT). They ask me for 600 in verbal. How can they ask for 600 in verbal??? Is this some kind of trick so no one gets the scholarship? I'm more proficient in english than 90% of the people in this country, and yet I cannot meet their damn req's.

I practiced with the POWERPREP software beforehand, but never got above 500 on verbal. What did I do wrong?

[Econ]

yes ... verbal is terribly awful . I think you should memorize more words. By learning Barrons by hard you should be able to cross the 600 threshold. My english is bad (e.g. toefl 260), but memorizing a bunch of gre words worked miracles for me

[Dingus]

escalonab,

I really feel for you and I completely agree. Scoring on that ridiculous verbal part of GRE has very little to do with any level of English proficiency that you may have. Its a sad fact. I am however, somewhat surprised by your comments on the level of difficulty of TOEFL. You do realise why TOEFL was easy for you, don't you? Simply because your English proficiency is really good.

The best way to score well on the Verbal part of GRE is practice and cramming. Practice plays a very crucial role as many of the analogy-bridges and sentence-blanks can be really hard to get a hang of and cramming because... well, you know it. The words tested are not really the ones in daily use.

Can you possibly re-take the test? Life is unfair, escalonab. In more counts than one. The best that one can do is to beat it at its own game with twisted ways of your own and a lot of grit.

Good Luck with everything!
Dingus

[KingTuT]

Econ, Dingus
Thank you for your informative replies always . I have a qestion again as I think I asked u before the same question, Dingus por favor, el señor also share your opinion.

1-Will memorizing 3500 words in Barrons will get me at least 600 in verbal, another question what if I memorized 500 words " most frequent words" only. I mean 500 most frequent memorized like I memorize my name and the rest 3000 like I memorize your name, how much will this get me in VERBAL?

2- What percent of barrnons list appeared in your verbal test???

Thank you again both for your great comments.

[Dingus]

I cannot give you definite answers because there are none, unfortunately. To question one, I would say even if you cram 5000 words, you still have to tackle the analogies and the sentence-blanks. So, practice is also an equal key to cracking the section.

Question two: I would say 90+ % --This was in last October. Though I knew *all* words in my verbal section, I found some of the bridges really hard, even with seemingly common words. For an e.g, have a look at my thread here: http://urch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14828

[bjes25]

Escalonab,

I can understand thy frustration.I had the same problem at first.
Then i crammed Barron's. Also I took about 5 verbals tests a day for one week.
It helped increase my verbal score by atleast 50 points.
I think practice is the key.

Hope things work out for you.

[peterv]

escalonab,

Venting is a great way to defuse one's frustration!!!

Now, to that gist of the matter. I have an opinion (my on the issue) that is different to some degree from the one exposed by Dingus, Econ, et al.

I don't disagree at all with your assertion that your English is exceptionally good. You seem fluent enough. But GRE Verbal is not and AFAIK was never meant to be a test of proficiency in English per se. This is the role of tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, Cambridge's and Michigan's Proficiency in English. There are many absolutely fluent, native English speakers, that would not make a good grad student (say) in Philosophy or Literature, while there are some not-so-fluent, possibly non-native English speakers that would. Just bring the fluency in English of Henry Kissinger in mind - not to speak of his heavy German/Yiddish accent; but in him one finds an excellent scholar of political science. Have you read his book "Diplomacy"? Notice the facility with which he properly uses educated words such as interlocutor. I have met Chinese guys whose English for the purpose of communication was rather poor, but whose Master or PhD theses used nearly impeccable scientific English. So, while there certainly exists a correllation between English proficiency and the verbal skills GRE Verbal tests, it is possible for one person to have one of the two in a higher degree and the other to a lesser one.

How can they ask for 600 in verbal??? Is this some kind of trick so no one gets the scholarship?

Actually, 16% of test takers score >= 600 in GRE Verbal... But, I understand your frustration... I would say the same things...

I have above average vocabulary and I did terrible on GRE.

Just above average vocab is not sufficient for a high GRE verbal score (and, actually, it is not only vocab that counts in GRE Verbal). Do you know what obstreperous means? lachrymose? precipitous? precipitate? politic? maelstrom?

I'm more proficient in english than 90% of the people in this country, and yet I cannot meet their damn req's.

Show me the country which gives 10% of its citizens scholarships for graduate studies overseas, and, believe me, I will apply for citizenship!

Viel Gluck mit ihren Studium in Deutschland!!! Was its der Bereich? Philosophie, Religion, Soziologie? Oder sind Sie ein Ingenieur vielleicht?

Good luck in any case! Welcome to Europe!

Hello,

I apologise for the long post, and for the ranting... need to vent

I am really disappointed at my GRE results, specially on Verbal. I got only 480, and although my native language is spanish, i always thought (and was told, by native english speakers) that my english was exceptionally good.

I also had to write the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) and I got near perfect: 293, and that's only because they gave me a 5.5 on my essay instead of a 6. Got perfect in the rest of the test. Of course the TOEFL is a joke compared to the GRE verbal. Actually it's a joke, period.. but still... I have above average vocabulary and I did terrible on GRE.

I'm applying for universities in Germany, so the GRE is not required. However, it IS required for the scholarship that i'm applying to, given by the mexican government (CONACYT). They ask me for 600 in verbal. How can they ask for 600 in verbal??? Is this some kind of trick so no one gets the scholarship? I'm more proficient in english than 90% of the people in this country, and yet I cannot meet their damn req's.

I practiced with the POWERPREP software beforehand, but never got above 500 on verbal. What did I do wrong?

[siliq]

I agree with Peterv. One can assert that GRE has a corelation with English, while others can say not.
In my opinion, some parts of verbal, such as analogy and antonym, calls for rote of vocabulary list, whereas other parts, including RC and sentence completion, have a closer relation with English itself.

I sugest that escalon should turn blind to all the damn matters that trouble him/her, and the only thing you should do is to focus on practice,practice, and practice.

[totti]

On the whole u really did well in GRE...
but looking at thy english proficiency and vocabulary level.. i feel u definitely
deserve a 600 in verbal( not to mention the bounty associated with that score )

so i advise u to retake the Gre test with more emphasis on the verbal part..

i pray that u cross the 600 mark/////

[MsDemeanor]

Firstly sorry about your disappointment. It really is awful to expect something and get something else...especially when I can tell you put a lot of work into it.
As someone who did very well on the verbal,(97 percentile) I thought I'd jump in and try to give some help. Memorizing words in one way to improve your score. In combination, can I suggest reading a lot of materials in English. Examples are The Economist mag, Wall street Journal, and also the "Penguin Classics" (Classic Lit published by Penguin inexpensively) I foudn that when I memorized words when under pressure I couldn;t remember if the word meant the definition or the exact opposite. But if I had read it in a book, I usually remembered the sentance. Some of the literature also helped me in those annoying bridge analogy questions.
Best Wishes. You can improve your verbal score, it takes more than just memorization. Hope this helps you.