Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

GRE Test

  • 13-03-2008 1:56pm
    #1
    Al_Fernz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭


    Hi,

    Would anybody care to share any experiences they have had with the GRE test?

    Any tips? Are the online test tutors worth buying etc.?


Comments

  • #2
    Red Alert
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 7,486 ✭✭✭Red Alert


    I believe the best way to do it is practice for the questions - there's quite a few books available. The test is taken on computer as far as I'm aware.

    I think there are also a few longer questions to test writing ability.

    The exact usage grad schools in the US make of the results is up to them - there's not a 'pass' mark as such I think.


  • #3
    CathalMc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 225 ✭✭CathalMc


    Well first of all, the category of US school you want to get into is important: the tier level - that will suggest just how well you need to do. It's worth getting a single subscription to the US News grad school rankings, as they give useful information on the schools themselves, and the average (or minimum I can't recall) GRE scores of accepted students in each field for each school. Alternatively, if you search high and low on the net you might find that list elsewhere. I seem to recall MIT EE didn't require the GRE.

    Secondly, the GRE books are so-so in terms of helpfulness: in my opinion the absolute bottom line on the GRE is answering a ton of past tests under the test time constraints. You can get your hands on a big book of GRE test questions from ebay or amazon or the like. I believe the quantitative section is/has changed recently, so be sure track down the recent information on that. The GRE webpage itself has a few example tests but you really need more.

    Finally, depending on what area you are applying for, you should aim to focus on that segment of the test. If you're in the sciences, you should aim for a perfect score in quantitative (very manageable) and a good score in the analytical reading and writing segments (also very doable).
    Verbal, is a bit tougher as it is essentially a vocabulary test. It's probably not too important for sciences - but you do need to do reasonably in most cases, as you are, presumably, a native English speaker which is of some interest to US grad schools these days with the influx of foreign students. I studied a lot of vocabulary for this, and it did pay off - but I noticed in practice exams, the verbal area was the one with the most variability in score results (for me: 740-800). The reason is, that the last few questions in the test are the hardest, and if you don't know the words (and the multiple choices are set up to trip you up) you can lose a good few points. And you either know a word or you don't!


Advertisement