GRE Practice Test Scores

[irish80122]

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I didn't do that well on the SAT so I decided to take a GRE practice test without having prepped or done any practice for it. I ended up with the following scores...
Math: 650
Verbal: 560
Combined: 1210
The verbal may have been negatively affected by the fact that I didn't realize that for the reading tasks you could scroll down the story, so I answered four of the questions essentually by guessing from the first paragraph. I also had plenty of time to spare for both sections.

I don't know if anyone on here is crazy like me and decided to take a practice test (or the real thing) before preparing but I am wondering how much the preparations helped and how these scores look given the fact that I haven't prepared. I know, it is random, but I am stressing this stuff already! Thank you very much for your help!

 

[Salsybabe]

Did you take the ETS practice test or another one like Kaplan? I've been prepping for the GRE since January, and believe me, I'd practically kill for a 1200. For whatever reason I really, and I mean really suck at these types of tests. I haven't taken a full-length one yet under timed conditions, but will very soon. In the meantime I've been doing practice problems using Kaplan and ETS's official book. I need all the luck I can get. I'm taking the test the 30th of this month. So I'll see if the preparation works. I think you could score very high with prep.

 

[irish80122]

Did you take the ETS practice test or another one like Kaplan? I've been prepping for the GRE since January, and believe me, I'd practically kill for a 1200. For whatever reason I really, and I mean really suck at these types of tests. I haven't taken a full-length one yet under timed conditions, but will very soon. In the meantime I've been doing practice problems using Kaplan and ETS's official book. I need all the luck I can get. I'm taking the test the 30th of this month. So I'll see if the preparation works. I think you could score very high with prep. I'm so jealous.

Thanks for your response, I appreciate your feedback! It was a timed ETS practice test. Don't stress it too much, especially if you are just doing the Kaplan stuff as I have heard that is more difficult. I would just take a practice test and see how you do; it can't hurt. That is why I did it before I started prepping, I just wanted to know where I was. You may be better off than you think! Thanks for the feedback!

 

[clinpsychgirl]

irish, you're in a great position- just brush up on the math and study study study those flashcards! I predict that you are going to attain a very high score on the real GREs- maybe even fellowship worthy. Also, make sure you know what version of the GRE you will be taking. They may or may not be changing the format of the GRE in the near future.

 

[pengy]

.

 

[irish80122]

Thank you for your responses, they are very helpful and definately give me some confidence going into all of this! Also, the change of format isn't until Fall 2007 so it will not affect me (unfortunately, I think it would help). Thanks again!

 

[deuist]

The ETS practice tests are very accurate. I was scoring 1330-1340 fairly consistently on the practice tests and got a 1320 on the real thing.

 

[irish80122]

How much of a difference have you found with practice? I am hoping to end up anywhere from 1300-1400 after I really practice and read up on things but I don't know if that is something that is possible or not really

 

[Mell-Dogg]

Definitely prepare! I got my Quant score up above 700 (from a diagnostic of around 650) by brushing up on formulas and really familiarizing myself with the test format, question types, etc. For the verbal, I did thousands of flashcards over the course of a year or so and raised my score by over 200 points!!!!

I used the ETS practice test as my diagnostic and just studied on my own. GRE courses are a good option for those who may not practice on their own, but you sound pretty motivated! Also, I took another ETS practice test the night before taking the actual GRE and it was only 10 points off of my actual score so they seem really accurate. Get to work on those flashcards and good luck! I have a feeling that you'll be in great shape by the time you have to take the actual test!

 

[irish80122]

Thank you very much everyone for your feedback and reassurance. I will definately study a lot this summer before I take the test and I will just keep my fingers crossed from there. Thanks again!

 

[chaos]

I seem to be one of the few people who is way better at verbal than math. I haven't taken an 'official' practice test, but on the ones in my GRE prep book I score like 700+ on verbal and an amazing 300-400 on quant. I am just a ****** when it comes to math. Seriously, I have reviewed the material for hours but my brain has no plasticity when it comes to algebra.

 

[irish80122]

want to team up on the test? I think I can get my quant to 700, lol. I know how that goes but just keep practicing and do your best; that is all you can do. I know this probably doesn't help since you are probably a perfectionist like me, but really what more can you do...unless we do team up, lol.

 

[Psychman23]

Can anyone provide a place online(website) where I can take a free full diagnostic test to see where I stand score wise and what I need most to improve on?

 

[Psyclops]

Have you tried ETS.ORG?

 

[irish80122]

That is where I went. Also, they have practice-type tests at number2.com and they seem to be pretty good!

 

[Ratch1980]

Can anyone provide a place online(website) where I can take a free full diagnostic test to see where I stand score wise and what I need most to improve on?

I think Kaplan has one on their site.

If not, I know they offer free paper tests every few weeks at the center. Visit the Kaplan site and go to "free events."

 

[volley]

I think Kaplan has one on their site.

If not, I know they offer free paper tests every few weeks at the center. Visit the Kaplan site and go to "free events."

Personally I would avoid Kaplan - I used ETS to study for the regular GRE and Kaplan for the Psych GRE and my practice scores for the psych GRE were waaaaaaaay off (ie: my practice kaplan score was about 300 lower than my real score) Maybe they're better with the general test, I don't know, but I would NOT recommend Kaplan for the psych GRE!

 

[Psyclops]

Volley, so your real score was 300 higher than kaplan? That sounds like good news to me, why not use it hten?

 

[irish80122]

Just because they don't give you an accurate idea of what the test will actually be like and they stress you out. I have a whole conspiracy theory over this that they make their tests harder so that you will take their courses and then be amazed at how welll you did (since you are comparing apples to oranges). That is just my opinion, however, and it may have either come from or rubbed off on Volley as we are friends.

 

[volley]

Volley, so your real score was 300 higher than kaplan? That sounds like good news to me, why not use it hten?

my real score was about 300 higher than Kaplan so in a sense it was good b/c I freaked out when I saw my practice score, but I didn't do a great job on the real test. It was an ok score, but definitely not great. Kaplan does cover a lot of topics, but at least in the book I got, they barely skimmed over some stuff that was hit hard on the gre psych. If I had to take the gre psych test again, I would not use my kaplan book again. If you work well when under a lot of stress, then using a kaplan practice test might be good but I would not recommend using the book as your main study material.

 

[Mell-Dogg]

I have a whole conspiracy theory over this that they make their tests harder so that you will take their courses and then be amazed at how welll you did (since you are comparing apples to oranges). That is just my opinion, however...

Hah! I never thought of that before! Now, though, I would almost bet money that this is correct. 300 points off and in that direction just can't be due to some unintentional error!! I love capitalism...

 

[volley]

Hah! I never thought of that before! Now, though, I would almost bet money that this is correct. 300 points off and in that direction just can't be due to some unintentional error!! I love capitalism...

Word to the wise: do NOT take a Kaplan practice test the night before the real test to see what progress you've made or to try and figure out what score you will get the next day. I don't know what in the world I was thinking, the book even said to relax the night before and not cram/take a test...the one rule I didn't follow - sheesh! So yeah, don't do what I did unless you really want to give yourself a heart attack the night before 🙄

 

[irish80122]

But knowing you J, I would expect nothing less from you 🙂