GRE classes, tips, tricks, advice from those who have written

[cara susanna]

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Well, I didn't study for verbal because I was scoring pretty highly on practice tests and wanetd to worry more about quant. On the real thing... not so much. I sort of think my low score was a fluke, TBH. There are high frequency words that any prep book will give you that you can study.

As for quant, there really isn't any one type of question you can study. But it is good to know shortcuts. For instance, memorize right triangle measures and what have you. And rate problems--those killed me in both studying and the real thing.

 

[EquestriAnn]

Well, I didn't study for verbal because I was scoring pretty highly on practice tests and wanetd to worry more about quant. On the real thing... not so much. I sort of think my low score was a fluke, TBH.

Same thing happened to me. I actually worked on verbal a lot and was scoring in the 700s on practice tests, too bad I didn't come close to that on the real thing 👎 Oh well, what's done is done!

 

[Ilovecows]

People score higher on the verbal on the practice GRE than the real one.

Think: on the practice tests in a book (Kaplan, Barrons, etc) the test questions they have are not going to include the vocabulary they don't have in the book - Right?

So clearly, the analogy questions -- antonym questions or what have you are going to be a bit more decipherable than those outside of the book that may include vocab that's not in the book ...

At least I think so...

 

[cara susanna]

This was Power Prep, though, not a Kaplan test.

 

[dlpfc]

If you want a very high score on the verbal section, you HAVE to study more words than in 1 or 2 prep books. Unless you already have a ridiculously large vocabulary to start with, of course. The GRE prep books (kaplan, princeton) all have pretty much the same words.... less than 500 of them for sure. You need to know 500+ if you want a very high verbal score.

If you study enough words efficiently (aka you actually know them), you will recognize the majority of the words on verbal. I don't think the verbal section is out to 'trick' you with obscure words. The math section is more where the tricks come in.

 

[solar3000]

If you want a very high score on the verbal section, you HAVE to study more words than in 1 or 2 prep books. Unless you already have a ridiculously large vocabulary to start with, of course. The GRE prep books (kaplan, princeton) all have pretty much the same words.... less than 500 of them for sure. You need to know 500+ if you want a very high verbal score.

If you study enough words efficiently (aka you actually know them), you will recognize the majority of the words on verbal. I don't think the verbal section is out to 'trick' you with obscure words. The math section is more where the tricks come in.

How about the baron's gre verbal book? it has 800 "high frequency" words....

How do you guys study so many words anyway? any tricks? i try to memorize and yes, learn 20 words per day...but it's so time consuming and I usually end up learning 10 words a day if lucky.

I'd like to know any tricks you guys do to learn words


also, I have found out that I need to take the subject GRE as well.........
has anyone taken it? how hard is it? i was a psych major and just graduated. I'd like to know what you guys think about the GRE subject test, tricks, etc..

 

[myelin]

How about the baron's gre verbal book? it has 800 "high frequency" words....

How do you guys study so many words anyway? any tricks? i try to memorize and yes, learn 20 words per day...but it's so time consuming and I usually end up learning 10 words a day if lucky.

I'd like to know any tricks you guys do to learn words


also, I have found out that I need to take the subject GRE as well.........
has anyone taken it? how hard is it? i was a psych major and just graduated. I'd like to know what you guys think about the GRE subject test, tricks, etc..

I use the Princeton Review word list that is divided into groups. I make up silly associations with the words that help me remember what the word means. I don't try to know the definitions word for word on all of the words, as some words just knowing the connotation of the word will suffice. In other words, I get lazy.

The psych GRE is an achievement test just like your regular exams you take in your classes. A psychology GRE study guide will work just fine (I used Princeton). In short, the test is nothing to stress over if you were a psych major and the material is still fresh.

Have you taken a look at this: http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/Psychology.pdf

 

[LGymnast]

I made flashcards (you can also buy them) and tried to learn at least 10 new words everyday. I studied on the bus on my way to work and on the way home. Oh, and any mnemonic device/story that you can associate with a word helps A LOT in remembering them! Like assuage, which means to ease or lessen, I thought of massage, which eases or lessens pain. Worked really well for me!

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Professor said: the GRE math, all you need to learn is the tricks. They have about 50. If you know them, the problems are the same just with different numbers.

Who agrees? The best way to study for the math is through just practice?

 

[cara susanna]

I spent two years studying for quant and still did terribly. I just can't figure the tricks out on my own, I suppose. S'why I'm getting tutoring.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I spent two years studying for quant and still did terribly. I just can't figure the tricks out on my own, I suppose. S'why I'm getting tutoring.

🙁 AH. Scary. I hope you do excellent this time...I will keep my fingers crossed. Where are you getting tutoring - i.e. which service are you using? Kaplan, Barrons...etc?

 

[Marissa4usa]

I will be taking in about 4 weeks ( I haven't registered yet). Unfortunately it will be my third time since I absolutely sucked both times on the verbal. the only excuse I got is that english isn't my first language, however, I have memorized almost 1500 words which I actually found efficient enough to get a verbal score in the 500's. after taking the GRE the second time I was especially frustrated because I believe that this whole CAT thing screwed up my score. I got the first 2 questions wrong, the following 8 (!!) right but the computer never increased the level of difficulty of the questions so the entire time I answered level 2 and 3 (out of 5) question. I eventually ended up with getting 20 out of 30 questions correct (which is amazing for me but because the level of difficulty was so low (which is probably due to me getting the first 2 questions wrong) I got a wicked low score (410).

Since my biggest issue was and is the reading comprehension part I am spending most of time of just doing these. Right now I am not timing myself and just practice getting used to use the tips and tricks that I have found in various guides so that within the next week or two I can start timing myself. Besides that I am restudying the 1500 words I have learned over the summer but besides a few real buggers (is that a word😳) that I can't memorize if it was to save my life, it really is more like refreshing. Once I know my test date I will just practice each of the writing sections once, review some math rules (as I find math fairly easy- I scored in the 700's both times I took the GRE), and take a couple of timed practice tests.

well, and if I can't score at least 1200 i guess I am doomed to not ever get my PhD🙁.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

wasting my practice full online GREs. I have 4 from Princeton Review, 2 from ETS, and 1 from Barrons. (I had 5 from PR but took one)

I want to use them when the time is right...when I feel like I've studied enough. I took one and scored crapily, like ~500 in the quant but ~650 in the verbal. 🙁
SAD.

I just want to up my quant score so desperately.

 

[cara susanna]

🙁 AH. Scary. I hope you do excellent this time...I will keep my fingers crossed. Where are you getting tutoring - i.e. which service are you using? Kaplan, Barrons...etc?

Thank you!

I am using Princeton Review. Horribly expensive, but it is my future we're talking about. :/

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Are you taking their course, or their online stuff, or getting private tutoring?

Thannnnnnnnnnnks!

SIB

Yup: it's your future. some 1000 + might hurt in the short term, but if it helps in the long term...it's peanuts.

 

[cara susanna]

Online tutoring because there's no Kaplan or Princeton Review center within reasonable driving distance.

 

[BorntoRun]

wasting my practice full online GREs. I have 4 from Princeton Review, 2 from ETS, and 1 from Barrons. (I had 5 from PR but took one)

I want to use them when the time is right...when I feel like I've studied enough. I took one and scored crapily, like ~500 in the quant but ~650 in the verbal. 🙁
SAD.

I just want to up my quant score so desperately.

I don't think it's a waste to take a couple practice GREs before you've had a chance to study. At the very least, it's motivating! My first practice GRE score (before I had done any real studying) was ALARMINGLY low. Let's put it this way -- I raised my final score by almost 800 points. 😱

 

[angee]

hi everyone,
ı am on barrons list nearly 4 months, at least they are all familiar with me but ı mixed them all. ı killed myself with writing all 3500 on word, and printing and cutting them as flashcards, it really took 1 month ...and when ı finished, an advisor on phd said me that barrons series was all sucks and ı nearly lost all my motivation..
ı was so curious that , on real gre, said ı managed all barrons 3500, what will my chance??? (english is not my native lang.)
ı begin to think ı wasted my time and in a crisis and no need to say very sad!!!
hellllllllllllllllllllppppppppppppppppppppp

 

[mplsgirl]

Does anyone have an idea where I could get a Mac compatible, computer-adaptive GRE practice test? I only have a Mac laptop, and while I am studying vocabulary and the math review using the Princeton Review books, I really would like to take a bunch of the computer-adaptive practice tests before I take the GRE on July 19th. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[solar3000]

hi everyone,
ı am on barrons list nearly 4 months, at least they are all familiar with me but ı mixed them all. ı killed myself with writing all 3500 on word, and printing and cutting them as flashcards, it really took 1 month ...and when ı finished, an advisor on phd said me that barrons series was all sucks and ı nearly lost all my motivation..
ı was so curious that , on real gre, said ı managed all barrons 3500, what will my chance??? (english is not my native lang.)
ı begin to think ı wasted my time and in a crisis and no need to say very sad!!!
hellllllllllllllllllllppppppppppppppppppppp

why did he say that baron sucks? is it just one barron book or all?

I have the barron's vocab builder with 800 words..and it seems ok...
I mean I am learning words....


What does everyone think? Is barron a bad way to go or not?

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I love the Barrons for the vocab. Absolutely absolutely love it. My friend used it ...and she got a reeeeeeallly high verbal score.
Not only because of the massive vocab list, but also because of the verbal strategies they outline.
It's taken me forever to make cue-cards ~ and I'm only up to letter 'D' but ...I make them and study them whenever I can. It's important.

My friend said it was unbelievable how many of those words showed up.

(I don't have the Barrons special only for vocab, but I have the one that has both math and vocab --that one has 3,500 words) and that's the one she used

 

[solar3000]

I love the Barrons for the vocab. Absolutely absolutely love it. My friend used it ...and she got a reeeeeeallly high verbal score.
Not only because of the massive vocab list, but also because of the verbal strategies they outline.
It's taken me forever to make cue-cards ~ and I'm only up to letter 'D' but ...I make them and study them whenever I can. It's important.

My friend said it was unbelievable how many of those words showed up.

(I don't have the Barrons special only for vocab, but I have the one that has both math and vocab --that one has 3,500 words) and that's the one she used

wow that's good to know. I have the one with 800 "high freq words" I am on letter E. BUT I haven't made any flash cards or anything like that. I type the words and a small description on a word doc and it kinda works for me.

 

[BorntoRun]

why did he say that baron sucks? is it just one barron book or all?

I have the barron's vocab builder with 800 words..and it seems ok...
I mean I am learning words....


What does everyone think? Is barron a bad way to go or not?

I used Kaplan and liked it a lot. I think it depends what your needs are and what kind of system works best for you. If you've got the time, may as well use both - learning extra vocab and tricks shouldn't hurt you!

 

[schoolpsych]

I made a giant vocab list from 3 different sources: Kaplan, Princeton Review & Barrons. Then I just read it over (and over and over and over and over) and had people quiz me.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I made a giant vocab list from 3 different sources: Kaplan, Princeton Review & Barrons. Then I just read it over (and over and over and over and over) and had people quiz me.

Cool. How many extra words (cause Barrons has 3500) do you think you got from that? I am scared I'm going to miss out if I don't do that too.

 

[schoolpsych]

Cool. How many extra words (cause Barrons has 3500) do you think you got from that? I am scared I'm going to miss out if I don't do that too.

I believed I used an abbreviated version of Barrons list (maybe a list with about 800 "high frequency" words). To answer your question, there were some words that weren't on each other's list, but I really focused on the words that overlapped because I figured those would be more important to memorize.
Also, I realized while studying vocab that I needed to accept the fact that memorizing thousands of words would be impossible for me and that there may even be words on the exam that aren't on the Barrons 3500 (you never know what ETS will pick). I just did the best that I could and ended up achieving my goal so just keep working hard 🙂 Good luck!

 

[Sarahanne]

One strategy that helped me in math was this fraction thing they taught me in my prep class. I don't know if anyone here has difficulty with fractions but when I look at 2/3 and 4/5 and have to decide which fraction is larger quickly, I used to have to find the common denominator, then multiply the top by both and then add them to see which one really was bigger and it would take me like 5min (which I needed that time to use on other test questions.)

So quick tip:
(10) <----> (12)
----- 2 x 4
----- 3 x 5

multiply from the bottom to the opposite top on both sides. So multiple 5*2= 10 and 3*4= 12. whichever number is bigger is the larger fraction. So 4/5 is larger than 2/3. Hope this helps someone else on the GRE

*sorry had to put the dashes in to keep the spacing

For Vocab: www.freerice.com donate free rice and learn very difficult words

 

[angee]

she said barrons didnt work with her students. she advised all princeton series..smart 1-2-3-4 . - are they the same thing with revisions or all different? anybody knows??
&#305; finished kaplans 500 in 3 days, &#305; was only familiar with 20 of them- and managed them well, so it motivated me to do flashcards of all 3500 words.. writing them and cutting them as flashcards is a good way for dying 🙂 it took 1 months of mine :S &#305; dont understand why barrons itself dont published all of them with flashcards!!

if &#305; can catch my motivation again, &#305; will find their explanations in my native language and begin to study them 🙂) - &#305;ts x2 hard to mee u see :S
&#305; thing itll better to support each other on this gre verbal thing. &#305; never got anxious about maths, because in our country we have a very strict math lessons &#305; think with a 2 week study &#305; can manage min 780 in quan..- &#305; can help anyone one math if online msg will work,any questions or etc
but in the case verbal &#305; am exhausted..brah.
well, we are all in the same ship 😉 help each other 😀
e.g while &#305; read gre experiences in my country, &#305; read smth strange, one student managed 780 verbal with mid level english because she is expert on latin..she says that means gre doesnt measure english level but latin 🙂
she is right &#305; think. gre verbal measures nothing needed on graduate edu.
&#305; will cry on my year that &#305; am wasting for preparing, when &#305; finish..

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Anyone want to help and throw out some of the greatest tips or shortcuts that you got from the GRE prep classes?
Anything really helpful?

 

[solar3000]

hi everyone,
&#305; am on barrons list nearly 4 months, at least they are all familiar with me but &#305; mixed them all. &#305; killed myself with writing all 3500 on word, and printing and cutting them as flashcards, it really took 1 month ...and when &#305; finished, an advisor on phd said me that barrons series was all sucks and &#305; nearly lost all my motivation..
&#305; was so curious that , on real gre, said &#305; managed all barrons 3500, what will my chance??? (english is not my native lang.)
&#305; begin to think &#305; wasted my time and in a crisis and no need to say very sad!!!
hellllllllllllllllllllppppppppppppppppppppp

I dont think studying 3500 words is a waste..
second, I am using barrons 800 essential words for gre and I think it's helping.
also, my neuropsych teacher told me he used barron's books to study..and..he did ok..

 

[cara susanna]

Anyone want to help and throw out some of the greatest tips or shortcuts that you got from the GRE prep classes?
Anything really helpful?

I just got these from my tutor...

For quant comparison, try to prove them equal in addition to options A and B. If you can prove them equal, too, the answer is D.

Also, for the non-comparison questions, when you have variables that are negative and positive, don't always just plug in a number. Just try to figure out which options can't be true based on knowing that one is negative and one is positive.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Barron's, Princeton Review, and Kaplan, and ETS

Which other ones are good? I have all the ones listed above, there are others ...are they any good?

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Also can anyone tell me if the Math Refresher is any good?

 

[lavalubby111]

has anyone used the Bob Miller's Math GRE guide? Does anyone know if its any good?

 

[angee]

dear solar;
its alleviating 🙂 thanks 😀 &#305; started again

 

[soupy]

I am cheap, and I refused to pay for GRE classes. I did find some websites that I found to be really helpful, though.

First of all.. flashcardmachine.com. If you go there and click on the tab "FlashcardDB" you can search through flashcard sets that other people have made. If you just search for "GRE", you will get a bunch of results. Specifically, if you search for "GRE words - Kaplan" you will find some sets that I personally made using words from Kaplan and Princeton Review guides. I used this site a LOT, and I found that it helped tremendously in learning words.

Also, if you go to scribd.com and search for "GRE," some books come up that might be helpful, especially for learning vocabulary. I remember there being some GRE math and writing books up there, too, but this was last year. I don't know if they were taken down, or maybe they are just harder to find in the search now that a lot more people use the site.

Personally, I was a procrastinator, and I didn't start studying until like 3 weeks before I took the test. Really not the smartest of moves! I spent 95% of my time studying for the vocab section. I learned about 600 words (that I have now forgotten!), but I don't really feel like it helped much. Honestly, maybe 10 of them showed up somewhere on the test total. I wound up getting a 580 on that section, which I'm not very happy with, but I really doubt I can get that much higher. I have always had a hard time with verbal. I can think of large words when I'm writing, and I can understand them when I'm reading, but when I see one just by itself? I cannot tell you what it means.

As far as the math goes.. I didn't really bother studying much for it. I read what the Princeton Review Cracking the GRE book had on it, and I did the practice problems in there. But that was it, really. I wound up getting a 750 on that section. So, go figure!

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, you know? You gotta take a practice test or two and try to identify what those are.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I am cheap, and I refused to pay for GRE classes. I did find some websites that I found to be really helpful, though.

First of all.. flashcardmachine.com. If you go there and click on the tab "FlashcardDB" you can search through flashcard sets that other people have made. If you just search for "GRE", you will get a bunch of results. Specifically, if you search for "GRE words - Kaplan" you will find some sets that I personally made using words from Kaplan and Princeton Review guides. I used this site a LOT, and I found that it helped tremendously in learning words.

Also, if you go to scribd.com and search for "GRE," some books come up that might be helpful, especially for learning vocabulary. I remember there being some GRE math and writing books up there, too, but this was last year. I don't know if they were taken down, or maybe they are just harder to find in the search now that a lot more people use the site.

Personally, I was a procrastinator, and I didn't start studying until like 3 weeks before I took the test. Really not the smartest of moves! I spent 95% of my time studying for the vocab section. I learned about 600 words (that I have now forgotten!), but I don't really feel like it helped much. Honestly, maybe 10 of them showed up somewhere on the test total. I wound up getting a 580 on that section, which I'm not very happy with, but I really doubt I can get that much higher. I have always had a hard time with verbal. I can think of large words when I'm writing, and I can understand them when I'm reading, but when I see one just by itself? I cannot tell you what it means.

As far as the math goes.. I didn't really bother studying much for it. I read what the Princeton Review Cracking the GRE book had on it, and I did the practice problems in there. But that was it, really. I wound up getting a 750 on that section. So, go figure!

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, you know? You gotta take a practice test or two and try to identify what those are.

Those websites are awesome. I think I love you soupy.

 

[mplsgirl]

Hey Everyone-

I am wondering how close on average the practice test scores were to actual GRE scores. Specifically, how close the Powerprep scores were to the actual GRE.

Any info would be great. Thanks!

 

[cara susanna]

I just wanted to say that my tutoring is going well. My tutor said that he helped someone go from a 410 to a 710 in quant and that person didn't have the experience with the test that I did, so I'm feeling pretty confident about this.

Anyway, as for your question:

Quant, I got mid-500's in PowerPrep and 540 on the real thing. Verbal, I got 610 on PowerPrep and 570 on the real thing. Hope that this helps.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Anyone used the Bob Miller's Book?
I read about it on Amazon.com or whatever... Anyone have it?

 

[XILLA]

http://www.impresiv.net/words/

- click on the word to see the explanation ( at your own risk 🙂
- click on any words to see explanation from www.answers.com which google uses for its definitions. Actually if you type www.answers.com/anyword you will get the explanation of "anyword", which is what that app I wrote is based on.

I have been searching and entering words that people say might show up on the GRE and made a little JavaScript web application to flip through them. This helps me to do some practice during lunch hour at work, on my iPhone on the go. Knowing the roots, prefixes, postfixes is very important, when faced with weird looking tough words. I liked Barron's GRE book, they have 3,500 words explained, and they say it does not matter if you know exactly about 100 words, but it really matters if you kinda know a little bit about a lot of words.

I have been using the Kaplan math books a lot and I recommend spending time on the trick questions/hard questions on the math no matter what. The math part is easy but they are tricky. Most of the time you can guess pretty close without even doing calculations, which will save time. But ultimately the 15 first questions are the most critical due to the adaptability and the "first impression" factors that go along with the CAT type exams.

Make sure to memorize and know how to use special formulas such as the perimeters, volumes, understand special triangles, primes ( 2 is a prime, and there are also fractions there ), special differences on powers of a number, fractions etc etc. Always consider negatives, zeros, and fractions at every question with math.

The key most of the time is to guess without having to do the calculations.
I have been constantly getting a better score while I test. My biggest problem is reading and comprehension, I don't have patience to sit through the questions, but that is what I am studying the most now. Its the 15 first questions "ON EVERY SECTION" that make the difference, also "ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS", guess if you have to.

A friend of mine told me that he got a 680 on GMAT after taking a Kaplan two month class, but I have been reluctant to spend 1,500 on a class when I need to take GRE in less than a month. After all this is just 8th grade stuff anyways, all you need to do is practice, focus, and find useful shortcuts/special tricks while practicing. I am studying everyday.

Good luck guys.

 

[XILLA]

The key is that you found it hard. If you read the books, you would understand that that is exactly what is supposed to happen. If you get questions right, they are supposed to get harder. The fact that it was hard already should have made you feel comfortable that you are guessing/answering questions right. I am hopping I have the same experience, a 700 is a marvelous score, using GRE worlds already 🙂, why not, we got to practice right 🙂

 

[cara susanna]

Yeah, the harder the questions seem, the better.

 

[BenBenji]

Professor said: the GRE math, all you need to learn is the tricks. They have about 50. If you know them, the problems are the same just with different numbers.

Who agrees? The best way to study for the math is through just practice?

Although math wasn't my strongest, I have to agree. And this was probably the most useful thing about the Princeton course-- teaching the tricks of the GRE. It really is a complex formula, and I am certain I did better on the exam having taken Princeton than I would have done hitting the books alone in the same amount of time.

What's amusing to me is having studied so hard for this, getting into grad school, and learning in my assessment classes how ineffective these tests are at predicting school "success":

http://www.fairtest.org/facts/gre.htm

The ability of the GRE to predict first-year graduate grades is incredibly weak, according to data from the test's manufacturer. In one ETS study of 12,000 test takers, the exam accounted for a mere 9% of the differences (or variation) among students' first-year grades.2 Undergraduate grades proved to be a stronger predictor of academic success, explaining 14% of the variation in graduate school grades. An independent non-ETS study found an even weaker relationship between test scores and academic achievement - just 6% of the variation in grades could be predicted by GRE scores.3

That said, it seems perfectly reasonable to do anything in your power to beat the elaborate system ETS has set up (within ethical bounds, of course).

BTW: I believe I took at least two full practice exams with Princeton, increasing my score the second time. My final score was higher than either of the two practice tests, but very close in range.

 

[Mr Violin]

Hey there everyone. First time poster but I have been reading these forums a lot for the past month or so. I can't say how lucky I feel for this awesome forum! It is truly a gold mine. I never thought I would find people as equally pumped up about clinical psychology as I am. I am one of the lucky ones who plans to attend grad school in 2010 and have a little time to prepare.


Violin

 

[solar3000]

the GRE is a joke. it is biased, non-reliable and a plain useless test.👍


At New York University, bilingual Hispanic doctoral students who scored low on the GRE did outstanding work on a comparable test written in Spanish. Researchers reasoned that because the culturally-laden language of the GRE can lead to score differences, it is crucial to explore alternatives to the GRE for bilingual students

 

[myelin]

the GRE is a joke. it is biased, non-reliable and a plain useless test.👍


At New York University, bilingual Hispanic doctoral students who scored low on the GRE did outstanding work on a comparable test written in Spanish. Researchers reasoned that because the culturally-laden language of the GRE can lead to score differences, it is crucial to explore alternatives to the GRE for bilingual students

Indeed it is. It's like saying, ok, I want to see how well you can drive a car and I measure your ability by how well you can make a salad. I assume that until there is something better out there that has better predictive validity for succes in graduate school, we will continue to fatten the pockets of the nerds over at ETS.😎

I also think it is interesting that many PhD programs don't care about the psychology subject test. I understand that it is an achievement test rather than an aptitude test, but I just don't see how the measurement criterion of the GRE matches that of a psychology graduate student.

 

[JockNerd]

The verbal section is certainly and obviously biased against non-native speakers. My understanding however was that verbal scores for non-native speakers were (rightly) not held to the same cutoff as native speakers'.

As for predictive quality among native English speakers though... while the GRE Q and V don't directly test the things necessary to succeed in graduate school, it seems to me that they can reflect a general ability level in comparison to other people. Similarly, I don't think the digit-symbol test measures intelligence any more than it measures, say, writing speed, visual skill, or memory, but taken together with other things I think it can contribute to an overall picture. And, still, the consistently highest-rated asset to getting into a psych PhD program also has the most obvious validity; actual research experience.

I think a more significant bias in the GRE tests is the cost.

 

[cara susanna]

I think it lacks validity and reliability because of the CAT. Your score will fluctuate depending on what type of early questions that you get.

Paper-based might have been okay; I don't know.

And it's funny that everyone says the test is biased towards native English speakers. I'm sure that it's true, but I'm a native speaker and I do terribly on it. Sad, huh?

 

[scienceisbeauty]

SIGH. I suck. I'm going to resched. Math is my downfall.