Q-480 V-670 1150

[Jive Miguel]

I have been taking a break from all things GRE but now I'm back.

Was waiting until getting my AWA score in the mail before posting my score
but will get that soon and will post now.

My test experience started out great -- I think the AWA went very well but I'll have to see what score I get. That score matters for the programs I want to apply to (PhD humanities) along with the verbal.

Nerves may have helped my AWA section but that's all they helped.

After AWA came the Quant.

I was not in the state of mind to deal with this. A lot of typing around me so I put on headphones, but with the headphones on I couldn't hear myself think -- obviously not, given my score. I got lots of standard deviation/range type of problems that didn't look too hard but then I think they may have been harder than I thought because I must have got them wrong. I saw no coordinate geometry or probability problems.

I felt pretty decent about my quant skills based on Princeton Review but that is not a good indicator and so I got my *** handed to me. What I had in my head were a bunch of formulas and some simple pie chart (D=rxt) approaches to problems that required much more.

Bottom line I should have stuck with Barron's and grinded through that book more than I did. Also, I did not do the practice tests in Barons for quant which was a mistake. My very low score is a bit of a surprise because the problem level difficulty was high throughout, with a few easy problem mixed in. I felt I would hit around 600-650 but I got much lower.

Next came the verbal.

I was nervous and not feeling good after the quant. I think I may have overthought some easy words in the beginning that in most practice situations I didn't even think about and would get right but here I think I choked and got one wrong, early. I know I must have missed an early problem because I got hit with reading comprehension's around problem 5.

First set of reading comprehension's were easy. I then got hit w/ tough antonyms and analogies I could handle very easily but I knew they were tough words for most people. I think I did well until I hit the second 4 question reading comprehension that was the hardest thing I've ever read in my life. A science passage about god knows what and they were mainly inference type questions. I spent a lot of time trying to get these. After I was done, I was facing time trouble. I had about 10 minutes left with about 15 questions and got a tough sentence completions that had me flustered. Finally, the section was over.

I'm betting that an early miss is what derailed my 700+ score and as is my nature I won't blame the reading comprehension -- even though I probably got 0 rigtht on that impossible passage that was far harder than anything I read on powerprep - the seals, bracken etc. A diagnostic will reveal that when I get my report.

Next, quantitative.

It looked very experimental and so I blew through it, not sure if I was going to score my score anyway. Maybe it was the real thing & the reason for my low quant -- I can always comfort myself with that idea. But I really doubt that it was the real one, given it looked nothing at all like anything from powerprep.

My writing went well and so that gave me a false sense of confidence and I scored my score based on that initial enthusiasm. I should have not scored it but I did.

My analysis is this:

I was somewhat unlucky on the verbal with that beastly passage that was by far harder than anything on powerprep, but it was being nervous that may have cost me the chance to score 700 or higher. I took the "take your time" advice which was not how I took practice tests. I scored 720 on Kaplan's 76 question verbal test -- I didn't worry much about time. I was in the low to mid 700's on all the Baron's model tests for verbal. Powerprep I abused too much to give a real score, but I scored around 700 long ago when I first took it.

As for quant, I was underprepared not with concepts but with not having done enough problems. And though I knew a lot of concepts and formulas -- knowledge is not power in math the way it is with concepts. I had not solved enough problems. That's it. Plus, I focused too much on powerprep. I was suprised -- and pissed off -- how different the test was from powerprep. I should have been closer to Baron's than I was. I did spend a lot of time on quant practice-wise, but I spent too much time learning and not enough time doing/solving -- a typical humanities person mistake.

As for AWA, I'll have to wait a few days to comment on that.

Will I retake? I'm on the fence. I'm waiting for my score report. The quant is not a big deal for most schools I'm interested in, but such a low score might raise a red flag -- but if a 6 comes in on writing, it might offset it.

My verbal will be either 94 or 95 percentile (anyone know offhand?) and so that will be what they look at. I feel my true level of ability verbally is higher than that, but I do think 670 is a very good score, no matter what field one is applying to. But, I will be applying with many with 700+ scores on verbal. My ace in the hole for grad school is my writing ability (which will be shown in a very strong critical writing sample), not test scores, but I admit to wanting to be at a higher level on both verbal and quant but especially verbal.

The good news is if I do decide to retake, I have time and I can study over the summer and take it in the fall. Most schools nowadays take the higher of scores rather than averaging, so that's good news as well. And also, if I do retake, I'll have to clutch Baron's far closer than I did -- as well as the ETS math review which I only paid minor attention to.

I was pissed off when I left the test center, but then all my friends were so impressed with my verbal score and they're being impressed made me feel better. Now, I've fully accepted my scores, for good or ill, and I am neither happy nor sad but trying to weigh without bias whether it's a good idea to retake or not. (I am busy with things, but I'll have anytime until november to retake if I decide to)

[mickgreen58]

Not a bad score.

I think it would be extremely easy for you to get your Quant score in the 600s.

Unfortunately, you run the risk of lowering your Verbal score, as 600+ is extremely hard to come by.

[ObfuscateOften]

You must have really whiffed on the quant section to earn that score. I'm sure if you retook the test you could earn a 1400 composite.

[Oldman]

Nice verbal score.
Do you think Barron's list is still representative of the verbal section?

I'm not sure about the experimental quant section. You'll have to let us know when you get your results. I probably would have been too nervous to take my chances and blow off the extra quant section.

If you're going to retake, I recommend doing it soon while your momentum is still strong. Just my 2 cents. If I stopped, I would have to really fight to get back into test taking mode like this again.

[Jive Miguel]

I've not received my official report but I've decided that I will retake for 2 reasons: the verbal is on the low side of practice tests and my quant is just too low, even for Humanities programs. (Some disregard it but others do look at it, even though it's not weighed as much as the verbal -- I do not want to knock myself out of the running by way of a bad math score.)

If I get a 6 on the writing, I can probably repeat it or at least get a 5.5. If I get a 5 or lower (unlikely lower), then I would need to retake anyway. It is a hassle to put in more work, but I think I need to know that I did the best I could which is not what I feel now.

I'm not concerned about getting a lower verbal than 670. I've got the guns for a 700, just need to be less tense next time and do better on pacing. If I happen to 670 or 660 next time around, that wont' be a big deal. If I score 650 or below I'll be livid, no doubt about it.

I've got 670 as a baseline so I'm not going to go in nervous next time but just going to gun for a 700+ with less timidity. No need to be as craven as I was.

Math will require more work. I'm willing not to cop out but put in work over the summer to get a better score. I am not a math person but anyone can improve from the level I scored at, I think.

I didn't study much vocab from Baron's and so I wasn't sure which words were on that list. I studied about the dozen or so tough words that I did not know from the big book ant and analogies and saw none of those on the test. I feel pretty good about any word on any word list and could define most of them if asked.

I have read through the Baron's list and there were a few that I didn't know the meaning a while back. I think that words that I saw -- that I now forget -- were from Baron's. I signed that thing that said don't give out material -- but the whole test was a blur not just now but even right after I took it so I can only remember one or two from the test.

In a strange way, I tend to do well on a tough word than an easy word in either analogies or antonyms because the answer is more obvious and I'm less suspicious of tricks. I think I may have suspected a trick on one antonym question where there was none and that may have been my bane. Missing early problems is a killer, but I'm not sure about the advice (I myself gave) about going too slowly on the first few problems -- especially in the area where one is strong where confidence is what will get you through. Once you see the right answer -- just click your way to the next problem.

Don't over-think a correct answer and waste time, which is what I did that screwed up my pacing...anxiety breeds over-caution. The advice about taking the test as if it were a practice test -- with tons of practice tests behind you -- is good.

[us_is_near]

Originally Posted by Jive Miguel

I've not received my official report but I've decided that I will retake for 2 reasons: the verbal is on the low side of practice tests and my quant is just too low, even for Humanities programs. (Some disregard it but others do look at it, even though it's not weighed as much as the verbal -- I do not want to knock myself out of the running by way of a bad math score.)

If I get a 6 on the writing, I can probably repeat it or at least get a 5.5. If I get a 5 or lower (unlikely lower), then I would need to retake anyway. It is a hassle to put in more work, but I think I need to know that I did the best I could which is not what I feel now.

I'm not concerned about getting a lower verbal than 670. I've got the guns for a 700, just need to be less tense next time and do better on pacing. If I happen to 670 or 660 next time around, that wont' be a big deal. If I score 650 or below I'll be livid, no doubt about it.

I've got 670 as a baseline so I'm not going to go in nervous next time but just going to gun for a 700+ with less timidity. No need to be as craven as I was.

Math will require more work. I'm willing not to cop out but put in work over the summer to get a better score. I am not a math person but anyone can improve from the level I scored at, I think.

I didn't study much vocab from Baron's and so I wasn't sure which words were on that list. I studied about the dozen or so tough words that I did not know from the big book ant and analogies and saw none of those on the test. I feel pretty good about any word on any word list and could define most of them if asked.

I have read through the Baron's list and there were a few that I didn't know the meaning a while back. I think that words that I saw -- that I now forget -- were from Baron's. I signed that thing that said don't give out material -- but the whole test was a blur not just now but even right after I took it so I can only remember one or two from the test.

In a strange way, I tend to do well on a tough word than an easy word in either analogies or antonyms because the answer is more obvious and I'm less suspicious of tricks. I think I may have suspected a trick on one antonym question where there was none and that may have been my bane. Missing early problems is a killer, but I'm not sure about the advice (I myself gave) about going too slowly on the first few problems -- especially in the area where one is strong where confidence is what will get you through. Once you see the right answer -- just click your way to the next problem.

Don't over-think a correct answer and waste time, which is what I did that screwed up my pacing...anxiety breeds over-caution. The advice about taking the test as if it were a practice test -- with tons of practice tests behind you -- is good.

Congos on thy verbal score and commiserations for the quants part, im sure u would hv done well had u held thy nerves (easier said than done), i guess that is what it boils down to on the D Day. I would strongly recommend Barron's and Nova for quants, if need b let me knw thy mail id n i will post u a pdf of nova. The reason i recommend Nova too is 'because it has ample problems of quants that will help u deal better with quants.

[Jive Miguel]

On quant. it was a combination of nerves and lack of skill that did me in, not just nerves. Lack of skill was the big thing. If it was just nerves I would have scored 700-780.

I do plan to retake.

As for the verbal, thanks, the score is acceptable to me, but I still think on the lower end of how I could do if I get a little bit luckier.

Thanks for Nova review offer -- I already have it in Pdf. But for math I'm using Baron's Math Review workbook for right now.

[us_is_near]

So far so good.
Could you help by guiding us thru thy verbal prep
Just like most science grads verbal still remains a canker for me.

Cheers mate