psych gre - april or oct?

[HopefulClinical]

Hello all!

I am planning on applying to a clinical phd program this fall and have a few questions about about when I should take the psych subject test.

I was just wondering if anyone knew if the psychology gre subject test is offered during the same three months every year? I noticed that it was offered in Oct, Nov, and April this year. I was planning on taking it in April of this year but got busy at work and haven't had time to study. Now I feel like I will not be prepared for it.

Assuming that it will be offered again in Oct, would my scores reach schools in time for application deadlines? Or should I try to cram for the April test? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

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[Kat 22]

Hello all!

I am planning on applying to a clinical phd program this fall and have a few questions about about when I should take the psych subject test.

I was just wondering if anyone knew if the psychology gre subject test is offered during the same three months every year? I noticed that it was offered in Oct, Nov, and April this year. I was planning on taking it in April of this year but got busy at work and haven't had time to study. Now I feel like I will not be prepared for it.

Assuming that it will be offered again in Oct, would my scores reach schools in time for application deadlines? Or should I try to cram for the April test? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

To the best of my knowledge, its the same months every year.

I think it depends on how long you really think it'll take you to prepare. I wrote in October, but I really only studied for about a month and got 740.

Also, my scores arrived before I applied to schools, and my earliest deadline was December 1st. I think I found out in mid November about my score.

 

[psychgirl77]

I think you have enough time to study for the April exam as long as psych was your undergrad major. I studied for a week or two and my score was in the 96th percentile. You just need a good first year text to help study, and maybe a practice test or two. That being said, if you feel like you're not ready after studying then you can always switch to the later date.

 

[Wildcat06]

I think you have enough time to study for the April exam as long as psych was your undergrad major. I studied for a week or two and my score was in the 96th percentile. You just need a good first year text to help study, and maybe a practice test or two. That being said, if you feel like you're not ready after studying then you can always switch to the later date.

+1. I took the test in October of my application year and the studying put me WAAAY behind the ball with completing application material. Plus I didn't know my score until a week or two before application deadlines and at that point there was no turning back, but luckily I did well.

And I think the amount of studying time is also dependent on how long you've been out of school. I was a psych major but was a couple years out so I took about a month and a half to study but also did well (95th, psychgirl beat me )

 

[futureapppsy2]

On another hand, I took the test in October of my application year, did hardly any prep, and got a 750 (93rd percentile, I think). However, I only had 2 or 3 programs on my list that requested it, so it wasn't a big deal for most of my applications.

 

[PsychPhDone]

April! you can always retake it in oct. I didn't do so well the first time but did well in Oct.

 

[PsychDreams]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any Psych GRE book recommendation? I.e. Princeston, Kaplan, etc?

Thanks!

 

[HopefulClinical]

I have the Kaplan book..but i haven't gone through it yet. Thanks for the advice. I think I will try for April. Also, I took the general GRE 2x straight out of undergrad. I plan to retake it now that I have been out of school for a year and am more dedicated and serious about grad school. I didnt prepare for it when I took it before. My question is..does it look bad to take the GRE 3 times? Will a school look at all 3 or just my most recent?

 

[psycdork]

Hello all!

I am planning on applying to a clinical phd program this fall and have a few questions about about when I should take the psych subject test.

I was just wondering if anyone knew if the psychology gre subject test is offered during the same three months every year? I noticed that it was offered in Oct, Nov, and April this year. I was planning on taking it in April of this year but got busy at work and haven't had time to study. Now I feel like I will not be prepared for it.

Assuming that it will be offered again in Oct, would my scores reach schools in time for application deadlines? Or should I try to cram for the April test? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

I would definitely take it in April! I had an extremely busy semester this past fall AND had to work on my applications. I remembering kicking myself for not taking it in April. However, if you take it in October you will get your scores before most deadlines.

Also, I did not find the Kaplan book to be that helpful, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Blue86]

I would also go with april on this one. I took it in april because I was very unsure how it will turn out. All the prep books out there don't really give you very similar questions to the real exam. I used the kaplan one, but really, an intro book would do just fine. As a bonus, I got a really high score, so it was quite a relief not to have to stress about it during the fall. I was struggling with apps/general GRE enough then. So I think that taking it now might help you.

 

[whypsy]

I'd suggest April then retake October if necessary. It's better to get it out of the way far from your applications. I used the Kaplan book, but there were some glaring holes. If you can find a general text I'd maybe supplement it with that. Oh and don't trust practice tests to predict your scores. The ones in both the Kaplan and Princeton review books in fine print admit to not having enough data to confidently predict your score.

When you register for the GRE: Psych you get a sample test. The thing is 10 years old and is actually easier than the real thing. It just shows how much more has been added in the last decade or so.