GRE Exam

Just wondering if any one who has taken the exam what they're thoughts are on the exam and any tips they could give for preparation for the exam.

Thanks!

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hypnotoad

GRE sucks. I can't give you much advice for the exam itself. I took it twice and never was very happy with the results. I didn't study.

Thankfully, many graduate programs look at a combination of things so if you bomb the GRE, then they will look at your GPA, work experience, research potential, admissions essay, etc. It depends greatly on the programs you're applying to how much the GRE general or GRE subject is weighed.

JDMurray

It's like the SAT for graduate-level programs. Get the usual exam prep materials (Barron's, etc.) and study for it as you would any exam where the higher the score the better. The good thing is you only need to take it once.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

shednik

JDMurray wrote:

It's like the SAT for graduate-level programs. Get the usual exam prep materials (Barron's, etc.) and study for it as you would any exam where the higher the score the better. The good thing is you only need to take it once.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

I was looking on amazon saw a bunch of different books I saw Barrons on CD, just looking for any other tips. Anyone have a good time frame I should give myself before attempting the test?

JDMurray

shednik wrote:

Anyone have a good time frame I should give myself before attempting the test?

You will need to look through the exam prep books, check how much of the stuff you already know, and see how well you do on a few practice exams. After that you can judge the amount of time you need by how quickly you can study that type of material.

famosbrown

I'm going to be preparing for the GMAT this Fall, but i heard the GRE wasn't too bad if you still have some college still fresh in your head. Otherwise, I was told to take a few practice exams and stufy the areas you struggle in.

shednik

famosbrown wrote:

I'm going to be preparing for the GMAT this Fall, but i heard the GRE wasn't too bad if you still have some college still fresh in your head. Otherwise, I was told to take a few practice exams and stufy the areas you struggle in.

Yea i'm hoping it's not too bad i just graduated in December and looking to go back this coming fall so the college material is somewhat fresh in my head....aside form Barron's does anyone know if Kaplan's books are decent??

phantasm

I'll ask my wife when I get home. Shee took it awhile ago and just got accepted to a PhD program in Biomedical Sciences.

eMeS

shednik wrote:

Just wondering if any one who has taken the exam what they're thoughts are on the exam and any tips they could give for preparation for the exam.

Thanks!

I took the GRE in the early 90's...it was still a paper and pencil bubble in test back then (I believe it is computer-based adaptive now????).

It was definitely one of the hardest exams I have ever taken....much tougher than the SAT.

MS

JDMurray

eMeS wrote:

I took the GRE in the early 90's...it was still a paper and pencil bubble in test back then (I believe it is computer-based adaptive now????).

Yep, I took it back in 1990. I remember thinking how it was a grown-up's version of the SAT. I thought the English part was fun, but some of the analytical stuff in the math part was just plain silly. I wonder if they gave me the GRE for Humanities majors?

eMeS

JDMurray wrote:

eMeS wrote:

I took the GRE in the early 90's...it was still a paper and pencil bubble in test back then (I believe it is computer-based adaptive now????).

Yep, I took it back in 1990. I remember thinking how it was a grown-up's version of the SAT. I thought the English part was fun, but some of the analytical stuff in the math part was just plain silly. I wonder if they gave me the GRE for Humanities majors?

Not sure if I am overthinking this, but I seem to remember something about there being different versions of the GRE based on what type of grad program you were pursuing? It's been so long, I might be off my rocker....

I took one of those 3" thick GRE study books with me to Mexico on my honeymoon so I could do practice exams...Not sure what I was thinking...didn't get too many practice exams done on that trip...

MS

veritas_libertas

Love TE, this is exactly what I was looking for...

How was the GRE shednik?

SubnettingGoddess

I took it about a squillion years ago and then never even graduated from college.

Still, it stroked my fragile ego to get my scores back.

Back then, the Princeton Review Guide was REALLY helpful.

Essendon

I took it about 7 years ago, got a 1290/1600. I didnt do too well on the English section (whatever the exact section name was), only got a 560 or something out of 800. This section is harder than the others because you got to sift through all the info to find the answer. Mind you the answer isnt popping out the reading passage, you got to draw conclusions to arrive at one.

Also, when I took the exam, the Writing section of the exam could be done on the computer or on paper. It was easy, you were supposed to take one side of an argument and present your ideas why you thought your opinion was the better choice.

I used the book by a publisher called Barron's, that was supposed to be the best resource at the time and supplemented it with Kaplan's cd-rom tests to gauge my preparation.

HTH!

BradleyHU

i took it about 3 years ago...i got an 1100 on it. i did horrible on the written part, but thats cuz i didnt care since it doesnt count. the verbal is always where i have my issues, especially the reading comprehension...its so damn boring, i end up not paying attention

pml1

Essendon wrote: »

I took it about 7 years ago, got a 1290/1600

Hey, we got the same score.

I had just graduated from college when I took it, so I didn't really feel the need to "prepare" with study guides or anything. I just read information about the exam itself (question types, formatting, etc.).

Paul Boz

My wife needs to take it soon so I'm going to stock up on some of the books mentioned here. Thanks guys.

earweed

I have the Barron's already and it looks pretty good so far. I can tell by the looks of it that the written and verbal sections will probably be what drives down my score. The quantitative should be a piece of cake as it's only college algebra.
I'm not even sure if I'm going to pursue a Masters after WGU but I'll take the test to see how I do.

veritas_libertas

earweed wrote: »

I have the Barron's already and it looks pretty good so far. I can tell by the looks of it that the written and verbal sections will probably be what drives down my score. The quantitative should be a piece of cake as it's only college algebra.
I'm not even sure if I'm going to pursue a Masters after WGU but I'll take the test to see how I do.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going for a Master degree afterward. Right now I am strongly considering:

Davenport University > Home > Degrees and Majors ___ > All Degrees (Alphabetical)

Mostly because I'm familiar with the school and it's well respected. If I do decide to go with Davenport the GRE will not be an issue.

GAngel

I 'd suggest you write the gmat instead it's accepted at more places in academia and industry once you pass undergrad the gre is pretty useless. It's not that hard of an exam to write either way if your math is strong and your first language is english.

veritas_libertas

GAngel wrote: »

I 'd suggest you write the gmat instead it's accepted at more places in academia and industry once you pass undergrad the gre is pretty useless. It's not that hard of an exam to write either way if your math is strong and your first language is english.

From what I have seen, other than MBA and management programs the GMAT is not asked for.

eMeS

veritas_libertas wrote: »

From what I have seen, other than MBA and management programs the GMAT is not asked for.

This is spot on.

GMAT is typically used by business schools.

GRE is typically used by non-business science and other graduate programs.

Quite a few of the non B&M schools lack the standardized test requirement all-together.

MS

GAngel

veritas_libertas wrote: »

From what I have seen, other than MBA and management programs the GMAT is not asked for.

Any good doctoral program, first tier consulting, Fortune 100 industries that use qualitative analysis. All the places where the big money is use gmat as standard and a few use both but not enough to make it worth writing (8-1 ratio). I don't know of any university that won't accept the gmat but there are plenty who refuse gre because the gre has been documented to be significantly weaker.

The two exams are almost exactly the same in terms of material covered one is just a harder test.

eMeS

GAngel wrote: »

first tier consulting, Fortune 100 industries that use qualitative analysis. All the places where the big money is use gmat as standard and a few use both but not enough to make it worth writing (8-1 ratio).

Huh?

I'm really confused as to what you mean by this? That's pretty much the world I live in, and no one has ever asked me for a GMAT (or GRE) score???? If they did a long middle finger would be waved in their face.

GAngel wrote: »

I don't know of any university that won't accept the gmat but there are plenty who refuse gre because the gre has been documented to be significantly weaker.

I'm a bit puzzled. Maybe you're talking about Canada, but typically in the states the exam that is required is program specific.

Here's University of Texas's Graduate Admissions: Requirements for Admission

Here's the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard's Graduate Admission requirements: FAQs ? Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (notice the GMAT is not mentioned).

I've attended two really good graduate schools and I've never taken the GMAT because it wasn't required, however the GRE was....

MS

BradleyHU

eMeS wrote: »

Huh?

I'm really confused as to what you mean by this? That's pretty much the world I live in, and no one has ever asked me for a GMAT (or GRE) score???? If they did a long middle finger would be waved in their face.

I'm a bit puzzled. Maybe you're talking about Canada, but typically in the states the exam that is required is program specific.

Here's University of Texas's Graduate Admissions: Requirements for Admission

Here's the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard's Graduate Admission requirements: FAQs ? Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (notice the GMAT is not mentioned).

I've attended two really good graduate schools and I've never taken the GMAT because it wasn't required, however the GRE was....

MS

yeah he definitely must be talkin about Canada. I've looked @ and applied to a number of schools, and they all except for one ask for the GRE. The one school, Baruch College, asks for the GMAT, even tho the degree is a Master's & not an MBA.