Quant Section is getting more tricky.

[Henri Poincare]

Just finished yesterday. Verbal: 161, Quant: 164. I like my scores. However, I might have to take it again.

I made a terrible mistake during my Issue Essay: I planned my essay by writing notes in point form directly into the word processor. Ran out of time, panicked, and the essay was auto submitted. Not sure if I remembered to delete my notes! I have a feeling I will be getting a 0 for that Issue Essay.

I am applying to PhD Applied Maths / Mathematical Biology, and even though I am an international student and English is my first language and I have British undergrad + masters (London School of Economics + Oxford University), I am not sure if my application will be discarded straight away due to a 0-2 Analytical Writing score. (I do not have any awesome research experience...yet, to make up for it)

General Feeling About the Test

Verbal section seems to be easier. I did not study for it. And I rushed through all my verbal sections in 20 minutes, and slept in front of the computer for 10 mins. Since I am applying for Applied Maths, I cannot afford to screw up the Quant section, so I gamed the system and manufactured my own 10 minutes breaks within the verbal sections. Still I was about to get 161, probably by sheer luck. GRE is seriously flawed.

The Quant section was surprisingly TRICKY. I got two sections and I felt the first one was crazy hard. The questions are not as "formulaic" as those in Princeton Review or Powerprep or the Paper Based Practice Books. There are a lot of questions with "funky" styles, a bit like brain teasers and not just straight forward application of mathematical principles. Even though I finished all the practice tests with 5-10 minutes to spare, I ran out of time on both my sections for the actual tests and could not go back to those marked questions that I skipped. However, I was only given 1 probability question and 0 permutations/combinations question.

P.S.
I took the test before 5 years ago during my undergrad. Have to take it again to apply to grad school.

[sudharsannr]

Similar's the case for me too. Just attended the quants and seemed to be trickier. Got a few questions that seemed to be odd especially from statistics, i.e. normal distribution (bell curve), standard deviation. Haven't got a single question from probability but from permutations and combinations.
The first section was time consuming and I snapped. The second section was the easiest one which would imply that there were a lot of mistakes in the first section, ain't it? However, scored 161 in the section.

[pemdas]

have you taken ETS test before exam, how was quant in ETS practice test and real exam? Comparable in difficulty or easier in practice test?

Similar's the case for me too. Just attended the quants and seemed to be trickier. Got a few questions that seemed to be odd especially from statistics, i.e. normal distribution (bell curve), standard deviation. Haven't got a single question from probability but from permutations and combinations.
The first section was time consuming and I snapped. The second section was the easiest one which would imply that there were a lot of mistakes in the first section, ain't it? However, scored 161 in the section.