akbar

Just to confirm my belief that there are harder and easier versions of the test, I got my score report and I didn't get a single level 3 difficulty question! The test was entirely level 4's and 5's from the very beginning. I missed 6 questions, but still got 790 (on quants). I guess if you get an "easier" test(more 3's and 2's) you can't miss as much, whereas if you get a "harder" test you're allowed to miss more. For comparison, my verbal section started with a level 2, and slowly ramped up through 3, 4, and 5. Good luck everyone who has yet to take the GRE.

The official ETS response: Huh. Wonder what's up with that site I linked to claiming you should report scores in a certain order. I guess if the undergrad institution counts as an institution you send scores to, they don't see it.

Do schools that receive score reports get to see what other schools you have chosen to send scores to? Would it be the four free ones plus any phone scores? I haven't been able to find any information about this on the GRE website. According to this site, they can, but I'm having trouble believing this. I don't quite get their strategy of "dividing up" the scores either. If they can really see all the schools you sent scores to, what difference would it make in what order you specified them? Do they have some bizarre system where a school can only see the schools you specified AFTER it or what? But if they can, I need to change my response on app forms about what other schools I'm applying to, since I didn't list the safety schools. One more Q: I was really nervous taking the test and rushed through the instructions. I hit the page where you're supposed to enter your undergrad institution, and went about doing so, but then I saw that it asked what kind of scores you wanted to send. I assumed they were asking for schools I wanted to send my score to already, so I changed it to a school I want to send my score to. Heh...I hope the schools that get my score won't see that. Has anyone else done this?

Pevdoki, I'm in the process of applying to several math finance master's programs right now. These are mostly terminal degrees; people who apply to these programs plan to work on Wall Street immediately after they graduate. I wouldn't know how good of a preparation they are for PhD programs.

I believe it is standardized because my conditions were very similar to those GRE_Kickboxer describes - you have a pad they give you, and two pencils. The pad is blue, so it's hard to see your writing, and the pencils are the ordinary wooden kind, so they don't flow as rapidly as a pen or mechanical pencil. Heh, a lot of people who come on here need a healthy dose of Clue™.

The verbal section is unimportant for my grad program, although I thought it was easier than Powerprep, especially the analogies and opposites questions. I didn't study the verbal at all in my prep, so it didn't really matter to me what I got. The quantitative section was more difficult than PowerPrep. The first question was quite tricky, and because of the high difficulty of the first five questions I was nervous for the rest of the section, trying to convince myself that maybe it was just experimental. As I had anticipated it being experimental, I did not use all of my scratch paper, figuring I would need it for the real quants section, so I was very cramped and may have made some basic math errors. I also didn't know you have to use their pencils; I'm accustomed to doing it in pen. I'm accustomed to working very fast through PowerPrep(around 1 minute per problem), so I was shocked to find I had spent 3-4 minutes working at the first question. I managed to finish with about three minutes to spare, but I usually finish PowerPrep and other tests with ten minutes left, so it was quite scary. On my test, there were a lot of basic statistics questions, but none about probability. The geometry questions were quite complex, and more tricky than PowerPrep tests. There were also some tricky number theory and number sequence questions, but nothing harder than the hardest PowerPrep questions. What bugs me is not the difficulty of individual questions, but how many difficult questions I got, especially right at the beginning - and what's more, they were all of the type I find most difficult - number theory and sequences! The first five were very tough, harder than PowerPrep, and I got more difficult questions on this test overall than on PowerPrep. The 790 comes as quite a shock to me; I did PowerPrep four times and got an 800 each time with plenty of time to spare(and the tests were pretty different each time). I also did Kaplan, scoring 750 - 800 as I got better. I was scoring at 770 on the online Princeton Review tests. I did both of GRE_Kickboxer's 7-question tests in about 10-11 minutes each, with no cheating. I got an identified research essay writing section, which was fun, but I was pretty dejected because I knew my "experimental" quant section was the real one. My nerves were pretty bad during the test - if I hadn't been so stressed, I might have been able to think more clearly. What really stressed me was, again, the difficulty of the first five. I know my account differs from those who say the test is no harder than PP, but I'm guessing individual tests can differ a lot in difficulty, especially in problems that you think are hard. I guess I just got a lot of question types that I happen not to be very good at, and very early in the test too. Also, I have no idea if this had any effect on my test, but in the background questions section, I didn't really read the directions and assumed they were asking where I wanted to send my scores to, so I picked a very tough program at one of my "dream schools." Could it be possible you get a harder test depending on where you say you're from? Oh well - I'm not going to retake it for 10 extra points, and especially not with the new fill-in-the-blank types, so let's hope the adcoms don't discriminate between 790 and 800 too much. The difference is supposed to be statistically insignificant, eh? My advice: Don't go in thinking it'll be just as easy as PowerPrep, and definitely never assume one section is the experimental one. Your test might very well be as easy as PP, but there is a chance that it will be harder. Don't freak out if the first few questions are hard - they ended up getting easier(because I got them wrong, I guess, but I've heard eventually you get easier/less time-consuming problems later along the line). Good luck everyone.

BTW, I did not think the second powerprep test was harder. It could just be because you're more nervous - I know I was, using up the very last practice test! Of course, the questions asked seem to vary greatly every time, so make sure you take each one a couple more times before test day.

Just to add another data point, here's how I did the problems: 1) lawn problem - pick easy numbers. Say the lawn is 100 acres and Jing does it in 5 hours. Then Bill does it in 10 hours. Jing's rate is 100/5 = 20acres/hour and Bill's rate is 100/10 = 10 acres/hour. 20 + 10 = 30acres/hour, 100/30 = 10/3 hours. Compare 10/3 with 3x/2 which is 15/4: 15/4 is greater. 2) Monkey market account: No need to memorize equations. To find the monthly rate, you have to find what percent 360 is of 48000. 360/48000 - that's just 36/48 divided by 100, and 36/48 is 3/4 = .75, so the real monthly rate is .0075. The yearly rate is just 12 times the monthly rate, so it's just .0075 x 12 which is 75 x 12 = 900 shifted four places to the left = .09 which is 9%. Coyote, I noticed you changed your original problem where the answer was 10 men for both :D

Yep, you can put any degree angle for x that's less than 80 and it will work. I think the 70 degrees in that problem was written in the wrong place. Stupid Kaplan.

Heh, I too think Princeton Review's "CATs" are harsh in their grading. They're just like the 800score tests - good practice, but don't treat them like a real evaluation of your skills. I haven't been getting higher than 770 on any of them yet. I also got the question you mentioned, and the PR explanation is to plug numbers in - you know (6 choose 5) is only 6, and (7 choose 5) is 24, so it must be 7. Of course, you could set up the equation, but good luck solving it in less than 1.5 minutes :D I've seen combinations questions pop up in PowerPrep, around midway or 3/4 of the test if you're doing well. The GRE math review doesn't go into the normal distribution either, but there is definitely a question about it lurking in PowerPrep if I remember correctly.

Yeah, that's what I thought, except Kaplan says the correct answer is 40. Maybe it was just a bad typo.

Actually, those numbers are not too hard to divide. If you start dividing, you know 5 is too big. So you first try 115 * 4 = 460. You subtract 460 from 506 and get 46. Pull another 0 down and surprise, another 460! Multiply by 4 again and then slap 2 zeros on the end.

I can't figure this question out, even with the explanation. http://img154.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=th_15639_ARGHGHGHGHGHG_122_730lo.jpg The explanation simply says to find the unknown angle in the smaller triangle of x and 30deg, and that this unknown angle is simply 180-70 = 110. This implies that the angle on the other side of the line is 70 degrees. How do you know this?! Thanks.

I'm taking the general test in October and the subject test in November. The subject test scores don't get in until December. I'm kind of unsure how I'll do, so I'm not filling in any schools to send it to. Then, when I get to see the scores myself on Dec 15, I can just call ETS and ask them to send scores if I think they're OK. Here's my question: if I screw up the exam, will schools reviewing my app be able to find out about the bad score? I'm sending them the general test scores in October, before I even take the subject test. But I have no idea if these are actual pieces of paper with scores on them or just a "key" to view my GRE records at any time. Thanks!