Q:770 V:610 (1380)...content with score

[Ajaxanon]

I just did the GRE and got the scores above. I am happy with Quan but a little disappointed with Verbal. In PP practise CATs I got 700 and 720 for Verbal, but lower for Quan. I am from South Africa, and majored in English Lit, so I was hoping to do a bit better in the Verbal section.

Actual GRE exam: First section: Quan - I felt that it went well, and I encourage others to prevail in the first handful of questions because I think they get easier towards the end. Just make sure to leave enough time for the last questions! Verbal - Sentence completions were more difficult that practise examples; maybe because I was anxious. In practise tests, I got almost all of the SCs correct, but struggled to scrutinize the SCs accurately in the GRE. RCs were typical questions, especially considering the difficulty level associated with 610 score. I felt rushed and a bit chaotic with verbal. Second Quant was tougher. Perhaps I was fatigued. A number of Data Interpretation questions took too much time which caused time problems later on. There were may be 4 or 5 questions requiring me to convert stuff like acres into square miles, inches into miles in circular revolutions and cubic feet in volume of water into height of tank in inches. This was very confusing for me because in South Africa we use the metric system (10mm = 1cm. 100cm = 1m. 1000m = 1km etc). I wonder if this was the experimental section since I indicated that I was not from the USA in pretest questions??? Anyhow, was rather confusing for me. Overall, I was "hoping" for at least 650 on verbal and 750 on math, so I'm not too disappointed, having gotten 770Q (+-85%) and 610 V (+-85%) I doubt I will retake the test.

I am hoping to get into grad school for research/experimental psychology. Is my score adequate to get into a decent program? My GPA is difficult to quantify because of the difference style of grading in South Africa. At the university I went to the grading system was as follows:

First (A): 75%+
Second (B): 60% - 75%
Third (C): 50% - 60%
Fail: -50%

I got a lower B (60-70%) for each of my two majors (English Lit. and Classical history) and a B for psychology (a third subject in my final year)

It is very difficult to get a first (A), especially for an English Lit. Major. Even if you work very hard and are naturally gifted with english, you will probably still get a B, but some students do get As.

Should I be happy with my GRE result? Which colleges should I aim to get into? What can I do to facilitate my application into a research psych program?

Thanks for all the good advice and help guys!

[scaredOfQuant]

Congrats Ajaxnon!! gud score!