GRE Quandary

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CatCrazy2

UF or Purdue c/o 2015
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Like Sunnyshine I also took the GRE today. This was my first time and I am really unsure about what to do next. Got a 700 Q and 410V😱! I know I was floored when this Verbal score appeared on the screen. After consistently doing practice tests with higher verbal than quant. scores I was shocked:
Kaplan CAT online practice,
640Q, 55% 660V, 92%
700Q, 73% 670V, 95%
660Q, 63% 640V, 92%
ETS Paper Practice Tests,
680Q, 700V
710Q, 600V
and some Barron paper and CD practice tests with similar results.
I was concerned about my Q score but never the verbal. One of the reading passages was really long and was really hanging me up for comprehension and time. In the end I ran out of time and probably didn't answer 5 ques.
I feel that taking the GRE again could increase my V score but at the expense of my Q score, a kind of regression towards the mean if you look at my practice scores. Do these mean anything anyways? Does anyone know how long it takes to receive percentile scores?
 
Don't beat yourself up - an 1110 is a decent score and from what you have posted it is easy to see that you have been working very hard. I got a 460 on my first tango with the verbal section, but then I studied Greek and Latin roots like crazy and it helped a ton. I ended up jotting 100 points on top of my previous verbal score. The decision for you to retake is a tricky one. Your composite score is decent, but I wouldn't be surprised if you get more than one comment about your verbal score. Some schools won't let you just slip by with a high composite. Also, you can't really judge your score until you receive your analytical writing score. Best of luck to you.
 
I would definitely suggest you re-take the GRE in the next month. It seems based on your previous practice tests that you could do significantly better on the verbal section and that your low score on this test was a fluke. You could probably raise your verbal score by 100 points without having your quant score change too much, thereby putting your total score in a higher category and hopefully making more of the gpa/gre cutoffs for certain schools. Do check and see if the schools you are applying to take your best total GRE or the best of each section.
 
Did it seem like you were doing poorly on the verbal while you were taking the exam? or did it just come as a surprise when you hit submit and got the score?

because if you knew you were doing poorly... it could just be that you had really bad luck and for some reason got a string of vocab you just really didn't know in the beginning of the test or something. if you had a good sense of how you were doing, it can't hurt to sign up for the next exam and just take it, and cancel the score if you know you were doing poorly again?

it would be kind of scary if you had absolutely no idea why you got a bad score to risk it again, especially since your math score looks like it was on the higher end of what you were expecting. worst case scenario would be that your verbal wouldn't change and your math goes down.

that's a toughie. sorry OP!
 
And part of test-taking strategy is time-management. Reading comp in verbal and strange questions in quant are specifically there to trap you into wasting your time on 1 or 2 questions. Earlier in the exam you may be inclined to spend time and be careful (b/c earlier questions impact your score more than later ones), but later in the test you can't get trapped.

And what TT says: NEVER lose track of the time so much that you can't at least guess at the last questions (and it does take a little time to get those questions registered, so leave more than a few questions).

Seems like you are well prepared and just had a little detour. I agree with others, sign up to take it again ASAP while knowledge is fresh! You know what you are up against now, you should slay it!
 
I think you should retake it. Right now you have an okay quant and a not-so-good verbal in the bank. But based on your practice results, it seems like you are very capable of an okay quant and an excellent verbal. If you do the same or worse, it won't count against you. But you have a really good chance to get an excellent verbal score, and anything "excellent" on your application will probably have a significant impact on your chances for admission.
 
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement! I've decided to retake the GRE some time this month, which should be my last shot for this application cycle. Not sure when but definitely will take more practice tests before and try to nail this! Thanks again!
 
And part of test-taking strategy is time-management. Reading comp in verbal and strange questions in quant are specifically there to trap you into wasting your time on 1 or 2 questions. Earlier in the exam you may be inclined to spend time and be careful (b/c earlier questions impact your score more than later ones), but later in the test you can't get trapped.

I want to second the importance of time management. At least I erred on the side of hurrying, but I ended up with some extra time at the end that could have been used to think about a few questions in more depth. I felt rushed the whole time, despite keeping my eye on the clock, and I think this may have contributed to a bit of a lower score than I was hoping for. I really rushed the reading comp (which was my area of biggest improvement in my practice tests - I was getting almost all questions right!) and if I had to do over (which I very way may in a few weeks..) I would try and calm myself down a little and take just a tiny bit more time per question. You have the opposite of this problem, though, so I would at least try to fire off a guess instead of leaving blanks.
 
I want to second the importance of time management. At least I erred on the side of hurrying, but I ended up with some extra time at the end that could have been used to think about a few questions in more depth. I felt rushed the whole time, despite keeping my eye on the clock, and I think this may have contributed to a bit of a lower score than I was hoping for. I really rushed the reading comp (which was my area of biggest improvement in my practice tests - I was getting almost all questions right!) and if I had to do over (which I very way may in a few weeks..) I would try and calm myself down a little and take just a tiny bit more time per question. You have the opposite of this problem, though, so I would at least try to fire off a guess instead of leaving blanks.

Thanks for the response. My time management was awful on the actual test. In practice tests I would still end up guessing the last 1 or 2 because the antonyms were so tough.
I think what happened is after doing decent on the first half I got slammed with a hard long passage that bogged me down, by the time I got out of it, not only did I eat up a lot of time but also probably got them wrong and then had very little time for the last 10 ques.
If I get a passage that bad again I think I'm better off guessing on those since they were probably wrong anyways and getting into what I consider my strongpoints of the verbal section: vocab and therefore analogies, sent. completion, and antonyms (everything but reading comp).
 
I just finished with round 2 of "Me vs GRE" and not sure how this will affect my application. Scored a 700V but sacrificed my Q a bit with a 630. My last scores were 410V (38%) and 700Q (70%). To me this tells the adcoms I can actually read, but maybe not so good in math. Overall an improvement 1110 to 1330, but maybe not in the right way. Its funny because the focus of my studying was math for the past 3 wks between tests, and despite my low initial verbal score, felt strong and prepared for verbal, and did not do that much.
I think this may be the last time I can take the GRE for this app cycle, for most of the schools I'm applying to so, so what's done is done.
 
Sounds like your score improved tremendously. Congratulations! I also took the GRE today (for the first time) and got a 760Q and a 500V. I was shocked that my scores were as good as they were, because I didn't feel nearly as prepared as I think I should have been. However, if I wanted to retake, the only day that I could do it would be Sep. 1 in order for my scores to reach the schools in time, and my classes will have already started by then, so I think I'm probably not going to retake. I'm assuming you're not going to retake?
 
You're fine. Some schools take the best score on each section, in which case you're in great shape. If they take the best composite, you're still fine. 1330 is a great combined score. A 700 verbal score will turn heads. A 630 quant is absolutely fine. Overall you've just given yourself an outstanding academic credential and it should help your application quite a bit. Congratulations!
 
Has anyone tried the powerprep software off of ETS's website?
I downloaded it but I can get the practice tests to load. Just curious if anyone else had this issue?
 
Has anyone tried the powerprep software off of ETS's website?
I downloaded it but I can get the practice tests to load. Just curious if anyone else had this issue?

I downloaded and used the PowerPrep software about a week ago, and the practice tests worked fine for me. Perhaps try calling and/or email ETS and seeing if they can help you?
 
You may need to run it in compatability mode if you use something newer than Windows XP. Also, it won't work on a 64-bit system.
 
I used the powerprep software when preparing for the gre and found it super useful! First off, the practice tests look exactly like what you'll see on the real gre, so its good practice using the software. And more importantly, I found that the scores I got on the two practice tests were very close to what I got on the real test. (whereas my practice Kaplan test scores were not vety accurate).

However it was a pain to get running! On windows 7 (or anything newer than xp) I had to install an xp vm on my computer to run it.
 
My lenovo has Windows Vista on it, and I had to restart my computer in "safe mode" for PowerPrep to work (hold the power key rather than properly shutting down your computer, then when you press it again to turn it on you will have the option to choose safe mode).

And it's amazingly helpful... definitely worth the effort to get it working!
 
I would definitely suggest you re-take the GRE in the next month. It seems based on your previous practice tests that you could do significantly better on the verbal section and that your low score on this test was a fluke. You could probably raise your verbal score by 100 points without having your quant score change too much, thereby putting your total score in a higher category and hopefully making more of the gpa/gre cutoffs for certain schools. Do check and see if the schools you are applying to take your best total GRE or the best of each section.

Yes I think retaking it the month right after is a good idea. I did that last year, and some of my writing prompts and test questions were the same!! that really helped calm my nerves, and get higher score =)
 
Has anyone tried the powerprep software off of ETS's website?
I downloaded it but I can get the practice tests to load. Just curious if anyone else had this issue?

If you want to run powerprep on Windows 7, do the following:

Go find the program after you have installed it. Right click--> Properties--> compatibility
check the box that says "run this program in compatibility mode for:" then choose your preference. I chose Windowns XP (service pack 3)

Then go ahead and start the program. It should run.

HOWEVER, a few things didn't go right for me.
1: The timer doesn't show up
2: Doesn't tell me which number of question I'm on

so I had to time myself and sort of guess how many questions I've finished. BUT at least it worked! O well, I just took my GRE today and I'm satisfied with my scores =D

good luck!
 
If you want to run powerprep on Windows 7, do the following:

Go find the program after you have installed it. Right click--> Properties--> compatibility
check the box that says "run this program in compatibility mode for:" then choose your preference. I chose Windowns XP (service pack 3)

Then go ahead and start the program. It should run.

HOWEVER, a few things didn't go right for me.
1: The timer doesn't show up
2: Doesn't tell me which number of question I'm on

so I had to time myself and sort of guess how many questions I've finished. BUT at least it worked! O well, I just took my GRE today and I'm satisfied with my scores =D

good luck!

That won't work on a 64-bit OS (which I have). Hopefully I will be able to install the software on my boyfriend's ancient XP machine, but I think his hard drive is getting close to full. hahaha
 
That won't work on a 64-bit OS (which I have).

Is it not Windows 7? It has compatibility mode. Right click the .exe, go to properties, go to compatibility, and then pick XP service pack 3...

ETA: Right, so I just repeated what she said, lol. But it should work even with 64 bit Windows.
 
Is it not Windows 7? It has compatibility mode. Right click the .exe, go to properties, go to compatibility, and then pick XP service pack 3...

ETA: Right, so I just repeated what she said, lol. But it should work even with 64 bit Windows.

It doesn't. I tried it without success, and then I went to the help page to see if there was something I was doing wrong and it says you can use it in compatibility mode on 32-bit systems. I do have compatibility mode options, it just won't work with this software. If I had realized what a PITA a 64-bit system would be, I wouldn't have upgraded to it when I got Windows 7. I can't use Flashplayer to view websites either, because it doesn't work with 64-bit browsers.
 
^^You should be able to install a 32-bit browser on your system though to use Flash Player...I had that issue on an old Ubuntu box and that was my workaround.

ETA: Right, so I just repeated what she said, lol. But it should work even with 64 bit Windows.

It doesn't. It's a 16 bit application. 😱

You'll have to set up a VM with a 32-bit OS on it.
 
Don't beat yourself up - an 1110 is a decent score and from what you have posted it is easy to see that you have been working very hard. I got a 460 on my first tango with the verbal section, but then I studied Greek and Latin roots like crazy and it helped a ton. I ended up jotting 100 points on top of my previous verbal score. The decision for you to retake is a tricky one. Your composite score is decent, but I wouldn't be surprised if you get more than one comment about your verbal score. Some schools won't let you just slip by with a high composite. Also, you can't really judge your score until you receive your analytical writing score. Best of luck to you.

Off hand, do you know which institutions seriously take analytical writing into consideration? My Q & V scores were above the 70th percentile, however, my AW was drastically lower. Argh ...
 
Good question. I've wondered what role the writing score plays in vet school admissions...
 
You can get it to run on windows 7 (64 bit), but it takes some effort. You need to download and install a virtual machine that runs windows xp. If someone wants more detailed instructions let me know.
 
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