quick GRE questions

[bluesails]

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hey guys - taking the GRE in a week or so and have a few quick questions.

- do i need to bring anything besides ID?

- i know i get to send my scores to four schools for free. how do i find out if/when those schools really received the scores? when i make my application this year will they just show up in a file that i can check to confirm online?

- do any schools actually look at the analytical writing section? i don't really have any idea how well i'll do on it.

 

[epivetlove]

hey guys - taking the GRE in a week or so and have a few quick questions.

- do i need to bring anything besides ID?

- i know i get to send my scores to four schools for free. how do i find out if/when those schools really received the scores? when i make my application this year will they just show up in a file that i can check to confirm online?

- do any schools actually look at the analytical writing section? i don't really have any idea how well i'll do on it.

1) No. Pencils and paper will be supplied to you for the Quantitative section if you so desire it. Anything else you bring will be required to be put in a locker or left with someone at the test location.

2) I'm not 100% sure on this as I have not applied before...but I imagine you can check with school's portals or supplemental sites (not all schools have these, though, I think). Or you can always contact the schools after a reasonable amount of time to confirm receipt.

3) Yes. Many schools look at the analytical section and some give a higher score for it over the Verbal. Dependent on school, however.

Hope that helped! 🙂 Good luck on the test! It's not too bad. I'm retaking it at the end of May myself.

 

[bluesails]

Thanks so much! 🙂 You were really helpful and good luck yourself!

 

[543430]

you can log onto your ETS account to see when your test results were sent to the schools. they usually do it on tuesdays and (i think) thursdays. most schools have a portal where you can see if they've received your scores, transcripts, etc. a lot of them will notify you when they've received any documents for your file. when in doubt, call!!

 

[Horses925]

hey guys - taking the GRE in a week or so and have a few quick questions.

- do i need to bring anything besides ID?

- i know i get to send my scores to four schools for free. how do i find out if/when those schools really received the scores? when i make my application this year will they just show up in a file that i can check to confirm online?

- do any schools actually look at the analytical writing section? i don't really have any idea how well i'll do on it.

1) No. Something to keep in mind though (since this surprised me on test day!) is they make you sign in/out of the room every time you leave (breaks, etc) - and your signature has to match the ID signature *exactly*. The fewer surprises on test day the better, so I wanted to pass that along 🙂

2) When I applied last year, I made sure to follow up with every school ~3 weeks or so after my scores were sent out. Some schools (like Cornell) have an online tracking page, which lets you know when various materials have arrived - which is super helpful. Not all do, though, so getting in touching with the admissions department is your best bet. These things do get lost in the mail sometimes, and you wouldn't want that to be why your application isn't considered. (Same goes for transcripts...but this year might be different with the verification thing VMCAS is doing).

3) It really depends on the school. My analytical score was not great (4.0), but the schools I applied to didn't look at that, so it didn't matter. Definitely check with the schools you are interested in - if it doesn't matter, don't sweat it. You have enough prep/strategy to keep in your brain for the other sections on test day.

 

[Bismarck]

Helpful hint to add for people wanting to send scores on test day: look into how your schools want the scores sent. Some want you to send it just to the overall university, some specify adding the code for veterinary medicine. If you get it right the first time, there won't be a delay in processing your application when your GRE scores haven't shown up. Just remember you get 4 freebies on test day and then after that the ETS wants like $22 to send your scores per school.

 

[catlady816]

Always, always alwaysss call the schools whenever you send anything. ANYTHING. And did I say always? My school was notorious for failed transcript requests (although hopefully that's not an issue with the new VMCAS). Its far better to spend a few extra minutes double checking, then to find out 3 days before the deadline that stuff is missing from your app.

And of all the schools I applied to, only one looked at the writing (Tufts) and they critiqued it pretty hard. Don't slack on any part of the test in an attempt to do better on another. Each school has a different average they like to see for each section. With that being said I didn't find the test to be nearly as hard/stressful that I thought it would be. Good Luck!