Does retaking the GRE affect your application file in a bad way?

[cridamour]

I took the GRE somewhere in November 2004 and I'll be reapplying for Graduate School Admission for the Fall of 2006. My scores were V640 (90%); Q680 (64%); AWA 5.0 (71%). I'm seriously considering retaking the GRE General to get my verbal and analytical scores up (my field is in humanities), and though my scores were ok for a foreigner, I am confident that I can improve them, since I did not have much time to prepare last time (about one month, and I was working full-time as well). Now I could take it easy and prepare for some months, doing a bit every day, instead of a couple of weekends full of practice only. I am not worried about doing worse than the first time (I might on the verbal section, but that would not be that important for me), my only worry is that admissions committees might see the fact that I've retaken the GRE as a weakness in my file... Is this a totally unjustified worry? Or will they take these things into account? Has anyone had any experience of this kind? So, some advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!

[ncy111]

Short answer: A lot of people take the GRE more than once, so it's not that big of a deal.

Since you have a lot of time to study now, you should definitely retake it once you're prepared. With your extra preparation work, I'm sure you'll be able to do a lot better the second time around.

However, I'm a bit concerned when you say it doesn't really matter if you score lower on the verbal section. You're applying to a humanities program, so the verbal and writing section would be where you want to score the highest. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

[cridamour]

I meant on the Quantitative of course... The GRE work has already gotten my brain into overdrive . My main goal is to score around 750 on the verbal (the higher the better of course, and I'm secretly dreaming of 800, however much that seems impossible), and also to up my AWA to 5.5 or higher.
Thanks for the reply! So it shouldn't be an issue, good to know! Back to work now!

[Big Dog 04]

Yeah retaking it is not a problem.It didnt affect me too much when I decided to retake it.The main thing is to be completely prepared and be sure that you can do better.

I think you should try and up your quants if possible as that will be easier than the verbal.What score do you need for the programme?

[cridamour]

I'll be applying to literature programmes, so my Q is really not that important, and it's decent enough as it is for that, if I feel I have prepared enough for the V and AWA, I might work on it a little more, but my V is more important. In general, university websites say an average of 650 V is the guideline, although there is no real limit. We all know of course that this is an absolute minimum (for a literature program), and that I should be aiming for a score in the 700 V. As a foreigner with a BA from an unknown college, I really need my score to be high. I'm going to have to do some intensive vocab building over the next few months, but luckily, I have enough time to prepare.

[greenhorn]

I stongly believe that retaking the GRE is not going to affect any of us, generally. In fact, I have given my GRE twice, and got only a 1200 both times.I did a blunder of preparing for only 30 days during both times.I had no exposure then. It made me decide that I should be putting in atleast 6 months of hard work.And Iam doing it now.I presume that when we make a "big leap', the highst score will definitely overshadow the previous scores.I did recieve such info from a few friends in the uni where I plan to apply. Hence, if any of you are in the same boat as mine, stop worrying and pull up your socks and go to work with a sense of devotion.Things will definitely work out in your favour,ok.