GRE and Post-Bacc

[aks47]

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Hey all,

I'm hoping some of you can help me out. I am planning to apply to post-bac programs, and of all the ones that I am considering, they all accept GRE scores. I have already taken the MCAT, and was not too successful. Therefore, I wanted to test my luck and do the GRE's. I've done a bit of research from the ETS website (the company that overlooks the GRE), but I wanted some feedback on people who have already done the GRE's.

How did you find the GRE's? How long did you study for them? How are they compared to the MCATs?

I was hoping of doing the GRE's and then applying to the post-bac programs. I have the option of redoing the MCATs in April, but I have final exams during that time...so, I'll be tight for time.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[PossiblePreMed]

Hello Aks47,

I have not yet taken the MCAT's but I have taken the GRE's. Twice. To me, they were pretty difficult, but if you are strong in math and have good writing ability, they aren't too bad.

There is a verbal, a quantitative and a writing section. The V and Q are scaled and an average score for each is about 500. Typical graduate programs (non-medical ones) want you to have a combined V and Q of around 1000. The writing section is scaled on a score of 1-6. I don't know what the average for that part is, but I got a 5.5 on it and scored in the 95 percentile. I was not so fortunate with the V and Q unfortunately......I only got a combined of about 850. However, before I changed my career choice to medicine, I was accepted to PCOM's M.S. program in School Psychology, so if you don't do that well, it's not the end of the world.

From what I hear, the MCAT's are much harder, and if you have already taken them, then the GRE will probably be a breeze for you 🙂


Best of luck

 

[PossiblePreMed]

Oh, I'm sorry aks47, you asked how long I studied for them. I studied sporadically for about a year before I took it, but I had no idea how to begin to prepare for it at the time without taking a Kaplan course, and I didn't have any money for one then, so I did not do a prep course. I highly suggest taking a Kaplan course if you have the means, because I hear that people who do are quite successful with the GRE.

 

[etikit]

I got a 24R on the MCAT...knew I did a bad job. I am taking them again in April. I also took the GRE in December. I got a 610 in Verbal, and 730 in Quant. with a 5/6 in the written section. I studied for two weeks with a princeton review cracking the GRE book. you just have to brush up on math, learn the techniques, practice writing a few times, and study the vocab. best of luck.

 

[NapeSpikes]

GREs are nothing compared to the mcat. I studied for about 100 quality hours total for the GRE, and about 400 solid hours for the mcat. For comparison V 640 Q 730, 9-9-9-R.