Taking the GRE

[Staggerlee]

I am a senior in undergrad and I just started studying to take the GRE in a month or two (plan is history grad school). Anyone else on here taken the "New revised" GRE? How was it? What did you use to prepare?

I bought the princeton review book for the revised GRE and so far it seems to be helpful. I also bought the 500 count Kaplan GRE vocab cards, though they appear to be unnecessary as I know 70+% of the words already. The thought of a 4 hour test is quite daunting. Just looking for someone to share their experience if they've taken it.

 

[Hostile]

Though you probably don't want it, good luck. Hope it goes well.

 

[WoodysGirl]

This may not be helpful, but I hated the GRE... I suck at math and after taking it twice I figured I was wasting my time. lol

Fortunately, my particular graduate program accepted the MAT. I took that, scored decently, and moved on.

Study hard and take lots of practice tests. I found those helped me alot even tho me and math were not friends.

 

[Duane]

This isn't quite the same but when I took the GMAT many years ago I used the Kaplan and Dummies books. My GMAT score was good enough for most PhD programs I looked into.

 

[Staggerlee]

This may not be helpful, but I hated the GRE... I suck at math and after taking it twice I figured I was wasting my time. lol

Fortunately, my particular graduate program accepted the MAT. I took that, scored decently, and moved on.

Study hard and take lots of practice tests. I found those helped me alot even tho me and math were not friends.

Math is the section that I am the most concerned about as I am absolutely atrocious at math. I haven't even taken a math class in about 5 years.

The good news it that I was told by an equally inept friend at math that this review book teaches you the math in the most simplistic manner and she did extremely well on the math section just using this book. Also my history professor/advisor said that they weight the math section extremely low when evaluating applications because, unless you are doing statistics heavy history, there isn't much math involved in history.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Math is the section that I am the most concerned about as I am absolutely atrocious at math. I haven't even taken a math class in about 5 years.

The good news it that I was told by an equally inept friend at math that this review book teaches you the math in the most simplistic manner and she did extremely well on the math section just using this book. Also my history professor/advisor said that they weight the math section extremely low when evaluating applications because, unless you are doing statistics heavy history, there isn't much math involved in history.

You haven't taken math in five years, imagine me trying to take math after about 10 or so years. I was confusing some of the basics that were required. I felt incredibly stupid. lol

And like you, my program wasn't exactly match centric and didn't require a particularly high score, but I could never get a high enough score to meet the requirement. It sucked, because I always did great in the English part of it.

I will say that I scored better in math the second time. I figured if I really wanted to, I could probably re-take it again and probably pass. But I didn't want to spend another $100 and get disappointed.

Either way, if your professors are telling you that they weight math lower, then you might be able to get in with a written recommendation from your professor just in case your scores aren't high enough.

 

[Rynie]

Hey WG, are you a more "English/Reading/History" person? I always sucked at math too, and any science that involved math, but I always did well in English and History.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Hey WG, are you a more "English/Reading/History" person? I always sucked at math too, and any science that involved math, but I always did well in English and History.

I was a journalism major and only had to take six hours of math and a couple of pseudo-statistics classes throughout my college career. So I would say I definitely lean towards the reading comprehension side of tests.

Give me an essay question or reading comprehension question over a fraction any day. lol

 

[Rynie]

I was a journalism major and only had to take six hours of math and a couple of pseudo-statistics classes throughout my college career. So I would say I definitely lean towards the reading comprehension side of tests.

Give me an essay question or reading comprehension question over a fraction any day. lol

Same here. I'd rather write an essay than do a simple 4th-grade long division problem. Haha.

 

[Future]

I took the GRE 2 springs ago. All I did was steal last year's book from a friend :laugh2:

In my opinion, the test is more about your ability to problem solve than it is to know a million vocab words or know the math specifically. I'd just recommend taking practice tests, that's what helped me the most.

 

[masomenos]

If you want to improve your math skills, you'll probably need something more comprehensive than your GRE book. Pick up a copy of "CliffsNotes Math Review for Stanrdized Tests". Start your review from foundational basics and work your way up. For the GRE, that means doing every practice and review problem from basic arithmetic to geometry. Don't rush and don't let your ego get in the way; you will feel ridiculous working through basic arithmetic problems but don't let that stop you. When working through material you already know, just look at it as a way of reinforcing the knowledge so that you can access it faster during the actual test.

The CliffsNotes book also has a comprehensive section on quantitative comparison, which you probably haven't seen since the SAT. Save that for after you've worked through arithmetic, algebra I, and geometry.

 

[Bigdog]

I took the GRE's several years ago. Do you know what graduate school you are going to because some schools don't care about the GRE's. If you don't know, it is best to take them just in case. I didn't prepare but I took them just so I habve them on record in case I wanted to go on with my education. I went back to school about two years after obtaining my bachelors. Good luck. I am sure you will do fine.

 

[AbeBeta]

I took the GRE's several years ago. Do you know what graduate school you are going to because some schools don't care about the GRE's. .

Yes, the crappy ones do not care about GREs.

Take my advice kid. No matter what people tell you, the GRE is the MOST important thing for most graduate admissions.

Good grades? So what. That's just like everyone else applying.

Good letters of recommendation? That's a plus, but it won't make up for a bad GRE.

Devote time -- real time -- to studying. 40+ hours a week for a month or two. That can make the difference between where you go and how good a deal you get to go there

 

[Future]

Yes, the crappy ones do not care about GREs.

Take my advice kid. No matter what people tell you, the GRE is the MOST important thing for most graduate admissions.

Good grades? So what. That's just like everyone else applying.

Good letters of recommendation? That's a plus, but it won't make up for a bad GRE.

Devote time -- real time -- to studying. 40+ hours a week for a month or two. That can make the difference between where you go and how good a deal you get to go there

:laugh2:

No. Depends on the program.

 

[AbeBeta]

:laugh2:

No. Depends on the program.

You are correct. It does depend. Good programs use the criteria I listed. Weaker ones do not.

Overwhelmingly the better programs are going to favor applicants with stronger GREs. For the most part, if a program bothers to require the GRE, it is going to place great importance on it.

There certainly are programs that admit with weaker GRE -- and those are generally much weaker programs with worse outcomes for graduates and fewer opportunities for funding the applicant's education

 

[Future]

You are correct. It does depend. Good programs use the criteria I listed. Weaker ones do not.

Overwhelmingly the better programs are going to favor applicants with stronger GREs. For the most part, if a program bothers to require the GRE, it is going to place great importance on it.

There certainly are programs that admit with weaker GRE -- and those are generally much weaker programs with worse outcomes for graduates and fewer opportunities for funding the applicant's education

I'm not using program and school as synonyms.

Tons of good liberal arts programs (history, English, lit) don't require GREs. All of the best MFA programs (Iowa, Syracuse, Michigan off the top of my head) don't require them at all.

 

[Eskimo]

I took it about 18 years ago so the test has probably changed since then. My memories have faded a bit about it as I also took the subject specific test in Math and then later took the MCAT for medicine.

The thing that I remember is learning all the advanced vocabulary is an easy way to earn marks on that test. So learn that stuff cold and the more advanced world lists you can find the better.

You should also try to get good and fast at reading comprehension and develop a good system for how you will approach those questions as time is an issue on these tests.

Good luck in your studies.

What is your end game here (i.e. what do you want to do with your life)? Are you interested in law?

 

[AbeBeta]

I'm not using program and school as synonyms.

Tons of good liberal arts programs (history, English, lit) don't require GREs. All of the best MFA programs (Iowa, Syracuse, Michigan off the top of my head) don't require them at all.

I'm assuming the OP isn't an idiot and taking the exam if he's in an area that does not typically require it.

But perhaps you are assuming differently

 

[Future]

I'm assuming the OP isn't an idiot and taking the exam if he's in an area that does not typically require it.

But perhaps you are assuming differently

No, I was responding to you saying that weak programs don't require it. That's not always the case.

I don't know what the OP is doing, but it wasn't really what I was responding to.

Besides, even if some of the elite schools don't require it (such as the MFA ones I mentioned), lots of strong ones still do, so taking it is always a good idea imo.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Though you probably don't want it, good luck. Hope it goes well.

Yes, he'll need all the luck he can get....

==

"I am not a welfare queen," says Melissa Bruninga-Matteau.

That's how she feels compelled to start a conversation about how she, a white woman with a Ph.D. in medieval history and an adjunct professor, came to rely on food stamps and Medicaid. Ms. Bruninga-Matteau, a 43-year-old single mother who teaches two humanities courses at Yavapai College, in Prescott, Ariz., says the stereotype of the people receiving such aid does not reflect reality. Recipients include growing numbers of people like her, the highly educated, whose advanced degrees have not insulated them from financial hardship.

"I find it horrifying that someone who stands in front of college classes and teaches is on welfare," she says.

http://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School-to/131795/