Subject Test

[lakan]

This message is meant for those who took the latest subject test (october) or in the past. If anyone is willing to share a question or a topic that "through you off", or that you were not expecting, it would be appreciated.

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[yikes]

none threw me off, but they really cover every category they say they will. as someone who was extremely stressed about this test, i REALLY think the best advice is to read an intro psych book cover to cover. You don't have to memorize the entire thing (though that wouldn't hurt). but if you read the whole thing you will have general sense of everything.

 

[JockNerd]

My recollection was that I signed a form saying that I wouldn't discuss items.

Yikes is right--it really does cover everything/anything. The hard questions are so specific that knowing what was asked in previous years won't really help with the test you write.

Write a practice test, go back and code the questions for subject area, see where you're weaker, and read up on that area in particular.

 

[yikes]

yeah we do sign a form saying that, but really even if i told you every question on the test i don't think it would help. intro psych book!

 

[bellecalle]

I mainly only used the kaplan book to study, and much to my disappointment, there were many items on the test that the kaplan book did not even touch upon. It's a good thing that I recently TA-ed for Intro psych.. So try to use more than one test prep book, and definitely intro book if possible. If you at least know SOMETHING about the topic of the question, i found that i was able to cross out wrong answers because they were blatantly wrong.

Also, i felt that many questions on the practice tests asked a lot about people's names and their theories and results of experiments.. I may not be recollecting well, but I don't remember seeing many of the major names I studied..

but overall, it wasn't a bad test. I just wanted it to be over b/c 205 questions is a lot to sit through in one sitting! Good luck!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

*You can discuss general areas that are on the exam, but you can't discuss specific questions.*

-t

 

[kr862313]

There were a lot of questions dealing with the brain!

 

[shock-me-sane]

I took it this past weekend. My Barrons book test questions scared me to death, but the actual test didn't feel quite so bad. I was glad that I went over biological psych.

Of course since the test was paper and pencil I won't know the results for a bit. But it didn't seem too horrid.

 

[socialcog]

I took it this past weekend. My Barrons book test questions scared me to death, but the actual test didn't feel quite so bad. I was glad that I went over biological psych.

Of course since the test was paper and pencil I won't know the results for a bit. But it didn't seem too horrid.

Thats encouraging. I thought the Barron's book was sooo voluminous, but organized poorly. I am liking the outlines it provides, but in terms of compartmentalizing the many aspects of psychology, Barron's fails. Princeton, for me, proved to be the best in organizating and reader friendliness. However, Princeton's material section seemed to lack the breadth of the other study manuels such as Barrons and Arco.

 

[IO1986]

I also used the Kaplan book and it did not cover all the topics presented on the exam. Know your physiology, there weren't too many names as I was expecting and not a lot of social psychology. I suggest studying a psych 101 book instead, but also study from another source that summarizes the material.

 

[socialcog]

On my practice tests, I cannot get higher than a 670 on this silly test. God!

Anyone have any quick study tips as I have one week to go?

 

[michalita]

Can you take the Psych Test without having studied a full course on the main topics? If a student has taken Intro to Psych and has an advanced degree in a related area (not specifically psychology), will reading/reviewing/studying the intro to psych book plus taking practice exams yield a "good enough" score?

 

[socialcog]

Can you take the Psych Test without having studied a full course on the main topics? If a student has taken Intro to Psych and has an advanced degree in a related area (not specifically psychology), will reading/reviewing/studying the intro to psych book plus taking practice exams yield a "good enough" score?

I think it is possible. There is so much to know and learn. It all boils down to studying a little bit of it all. Although, majoring in psych does have it's advantages.

What is a good enough score to you?

 

[JockNerd]

Can you take the Psych Test without having studied a full course on the main topics? If a student has taken Intro to Psych and has an advanced degree in a related area (not specifically psychology), will reading/reviewing/studying the intro to psych book plus taking practice exams yield a "good enough" score?

I know a lot of people suggest that an intro book is enough, but I really didn't find that to be the case. If you want to get a really rockin score, I think you really need to hunker down with some texts in the specific areas you're weak in (which you can identify by coding the questions on a practice test for content area). On my test some of the questions were *super* specific, almost to the point of being nearly impossible if you haven't read the specific study it's talking about. I don't think an intro book would cover the material in that detail but subject area texts would.

 

[michalita]

What is a good enough score to you?

I guess that depends on what the "average" score at a school I'd be applying to was....

 

[michalita]

I know a lot of people suggest that an intro book is enough, but I really didn't find that to be the case. If you want to get a really rockin score, I think you really need to hunker down with some texts in the specific areas you're weak in (which you can identify by coding the questions on a practice test for content area). On my test some of the questions were *super* specific, almost to the point of being nearly impossible if you haven't read the specific study it's talking about. I don't think an intro book would cover the material in that detail but subject area texts would.

Thank you for your response. That sounds like an excellent idea. I would guess physiological psychology and learning/memory and experimental would be my "weaknesses" but that's also just from trying to answer some questions on a kaplan practice test. I did take abnormal, personality, and development, so those are better.

I am also not fabulous at standardized test taking, so I don't anticipate a "rockin" score -- I'd be satisfied with one that would get me to where I want to go.

 

[socialcog]

by this time tomorrow I will be done with this test. I cannot fit anymore junk into my head. I have learned all I need to know about the psychology of development, comparative, clinical, applied, stats, history, I/O, social, physio, psychophysics, personality, gen diff, motivation and drives, sex, learning, cognition and research.

phew! That is a lot. Wish me luck.

Best of luck to all of you as well.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'd suggest relaxing, having a nice meal, and getting a good night of sleep. No extra cramming will help, but poor sleep and improper nutrition can hurt.

Best of luck!

-t

 

[Cobblestone]

Did anyone take the Psych GRE in the early 2000's? I took it 2002, and I took it again today. Maybe I was in better academic shape in '02, but the test I took today seemed a lot harder. I studied for a month for it, using a combination of Kaplan and PR books. That got me a 700 in 2002, but I'm less confident I'll have a similar number this time around.

Is it just my fallable memory (paging Dr. Loftus), or did they change the test to include a lot more obscure theories, little-known theorists, and detailed information? Even the practice GRE I got from the ETS website was easier than today's test.

Can anyone else back me up on that?

 

[socialcog]

Did anyone take the Psych GRE in the early 2000's? I took it 2002, and I took it again today. Maybe I was in better academic shape in '02, but the test I took today seemed a lot harder. I studied for a month for it, using a combination of Kaplan and PR books. That got me a 700 in 2002, but I'm less confident I'll have a similar number this time around.

Is it just my fallable memory (paging Dr. Loftus), or did they change the test to include a lot more obscure theories, little-known theorists, and detailed information? Even the practice GRE I got from the ETS website was easier than today's test.

Can anyone else back me up on that?

So far the consensus is that today's test was a lot harder than the practice tests out there...including the ETS practice. I thought there where a fair amount of questions that required the test taker to have a strong knowledge of the practical application of the psych concepts. I rarely saw a simple question (ie: Freud's psychosexual stages of development are: ...etc).

I deliberately did not answer the questions that I had NO CLUE about (ie: could not eliminate even one of the answer choices). I had a total of 20 questions. No joke. I went back and tried to make educational guesses on those 20, but I could only strategically guess on about 10 of those 20. I left about 10 questions blank.

Plain and simple, a hard tricky test.

 

[kestrelcry]

I took it yesterday as well and had the exact number of questions, 20, that I left blank initially and had to go back and do some educated guessing on. I don't remember how many I finally ended up with blank, but I'm thirding the motion that this was a bloody hard test. Maybe it's ETS's way of punishing those who take the test in the busy time.

 

[freudismyfriend]

i'm glad i'm not the only one who thought it was hard. and some girl (who i know was taking the psyc test too) finished 45 minutes early! i was surprised there were only 205 questions but that probably had to do with all those questions that referred back to paragraphs and stuff which take up more time. but yes, i definitely left a few blank and then probably should have left more blank than i did.

 

[wdd]

I initially counted over 40 blank questions; I went back and filled in somewhere just under half of them, once I had a moment to let the unexpectedness of some of them sink in. I finished about 30 minutes early; at that point, I either knew the answer, or I didn't. Psyching myself into a potentially detrimental guess wasn't going to help at all!

Some people left about an hour/hour-fifteen in ... I wonder if they just gave up!

i'm glad i'm not the only one who thought it was hard. and some girl (who i know was taking the psyc test too) finished 45 minutes early! i was surprised there were only 205 questions but that probably had to do with all those questions that referred back to paragraphs and stuff which take up more time. but yes, i definitely left a few blank and then probably should have left more blank than i did.

 

[socialcog]

I have not heard from one person that this test was easy, or 'a breeze', or not that bad. The October feedback described the test as 'not so bad', but for this test we all seemed to think it was a nasty brute of a test.

 

[wdd]

So then here's a question: Does your eventual percentile rank position you among those who took that specific test, or whoever took the test that year, or something different? Pardon my naivete about the issue ...

I have not heard from one person that this test was easy, or 'a breeze', or not that bad. The October feedback described the test as 'not so bad', but for this test we all seemed to think it was a nasty brute of a test.

 

[socialcog]

So then here's a question: Does your eventual percentile rank position you among those who took that specific test, or whoever took the test that year, or something different? Pardon my naivete about the issue ...

That is an excellent question. I do not know. My hope is that with each administration of the subject test, the percentile ranks start fresh--assuming each test is different from the prior.

 

[NH14]

I'm almost 95% sure that the percentile rank is calculated by those who took that specific test, as the "difficulty" of the test is taken into account. Meaning, ETS scales your scores according to how well the test takers performed overall.

Don't quote me on this however...

 

[akanesuha87]

[I thought there where a fair amount of questions that required the test taker to have a strong knowledge of the practical application of the psych concepts. I rarely saw a simple question (ie: Freud's psychosexual stages of development are: ...etc).]

I totally agree. I also thought that there were a number of relatively easy questions in a row. I found myself flying through the exam...and then I would come to an extremely specific question about suprachiasmatic blah blah... and I was back to staring at the answer choices, praying to the gods to help me "remember" the answer...

i felt that there were 7 questions that I had no idea about and then around 15 questions that I could remove some of the options, but still left me with a 50/50 guess at best.

let's cross our fingers for the ETS equivalent of a curve!

 

[shock-me-sane]

I got my subject test results today from 10/6. Ended up okay I guess for my lack of studying. 660 (69th percentile), though my experimental was 75th% and social 51st%.

Anyone know if that score is worth sending it to the recommended and not required schools?

 

[socialcog]

I got my subject test results today from 10/6. Ended up okay I guess for my lack of studying. 660 (69th percentile), though my experimental was 75th% and social 51st%.

Anyone know if that score is worth sending it to the recommended and not required schools?

I am surprised that a 660 is only the 69th percentile. I would have guessed it in the 70-80th percentile, given that a 700 often will yield close to a 90th percentile. I suppose that test was either easier or a whole lot of test takers studied a ton.

As far as sending the score, I would only send it if you strongly suspected that your score would significantly improve your appeal as a prospect. Personally, I would not send it unless it was required (obviously) or your general GRE percentiles all fell beneath the 69th percentile (hopefully not).

I am not sure that a 69th percentile is going to dazzle anyone.

Question, how much did you study and how did you prepare for it?

 

[shock-me-sane]

^thanks. That is what I was thinking. My general GRE is much better. I honestly studied about 12 hours in total, most of it the day before the test. I did the test prep that ETS sent and then focused mainly on the biopsych (used Barons) as it seemed to be a larger focus.

The subject test shouldn't keep me out of any schools, but it certainly isn't amazing. I think I will keep it being sent to the 4 schools that require it.

As a side note, just TODAY did I get verification that my scores were being sent out to schools and I requested on 10/15. Glad I didn't wait.

 

[WaitingKills]

I got my subject test results today from 10/6. Ended up okay I guess for my lack of studying. 660 (69th percentile), though my experimental was 75th% and social 51st%.

Anyone know if that score is worth sending it to the recommended and not required schools?

Wow. That's awesome that you got a 660. I took the test in Jan last year (should have been December, long story) but only got a 670 with 85% clinical and 73% experimental with an overall of like 78%. I'm wondering how that works?

 

[shock-me-sane]

Wow. That's awesome that you got a 660. I took the test in Jan last year (should have been December, long story) but only got a 670 with 85% clinical and 73% experimental with an overall of like 78%. I'm wondering how that works?

I guess a lot of people did a hell of a lot better and the percentile went down. Weird too, you had a clinical section? Mine only lists the social and experimental. I would have done a hell of a lot better in a clinical section!

 

[bellecalle]

I found out my subject test scores from oct 6th through the phone last week and wasn't too thrilled by my scores either.. i got a 670 overall, which is 73rd percentile. though I had an inkling that I hadn't done too too hot, so I only sent the scores to the 4 schools where it was absolutely necessary.. hehe

 

[WaitingKills]

I guess a lot of people did a hell of a lot better and the percentile went down. Weird too, you had a clinical section? Mine only lists the social and experimental. I would have done a hell of a lot better in a clinical section!

Sorry SMS, I was calling the social section clinical. My mistake.

 

[lakan]

is anyone (else) willing to write how their scores translated to their grade?

i know that i took it last year, got a mediocre grade (630) after answering correctly 130, wrong 23 and omitting 51

 

[freudismyfriend]

hm i'm getting nervous about my nov subject test now...i signed up 4 schools to get my subject scores as well as my general scores. is there any way to cancel any of the subject scores now or is it set in stone? thanks

 

[yikes]

lakan, i took it in oct and i got 173 correct, 15 incorrect and skipped 16 which translated into a 770.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

lakan, i took it in oct and i got 173 correct, 15 incorrect and skipped 16 which translated into a 770.

Nice!

I'm curious how you went about studying for the subject test? Back when I went through this, I found the various study guide materials to be relatively equal, though most people failing to spend enough time (spread over months not weeks) in their review of the materials.

IIRC, I think it was a paper test when I did it, which I preferred. It is computer based now, no?

-t

 

[freudismyfriend]

^ nope still paper based. and i ended up calling ets and yes, if you assigned 4 schools to receive your scores on subject test day, they are set in stone

 

[wdd]

f you assigned 4 schools to receive your scores on subject test day, they are set in stone

I wonder what they do with them if you don't apply for another year ... I signed up for the test when I thought I was going to apply for 08 admissions, and failed to cross the schools off when I took the test (after determining I should apply for 09). I think I might still be applying to one of those four schools next year.

 

[yikes]

T4C - it's still paper, which i think helps a lot because you can go back and guess.

i studied for several months in this manner:
1. memorized kaplan book
2. took rea practice test and bombed it - 59th percentile
3. frantically read intro psych text book (you can look back to my zillion posts in sept about this).
4. took the ets practice test, but was still around the 65th percentile.
5. read social textbook, memorized terms in the back of the rea book, took the rest of the rea practice tests


Some other things to mention:
1. here's a link for a rea book since not many people mention it:
http://www.amazon.com/GRE-Psychology-REA-Best-Preps/dp/0878915990
Some of the tests were easier and some were harder than the real thing, but my score on my last practice was almost exactly the same as my official score.
2. TAKE A LOT OF PRACTICE TESTS!!! they suck and take hours, but i really think that is the method that helped me the most. not only do you see a lot of questions, but you learn how to skip and guess.
3. if you can elimiate 2 choices, guess. i think part of the reason i scored so low on my beginning tests was because i was skipping too many. just remember, you're smart, and your guess has a good chance of being right!
4. sorry this is so long...

 

[freudismyfriend]

i think ets goes ahead and sends them to the schools you identified and i'm guessing the school in turn keeps them on file? i know, at least, that when i took my general gres in 06 i put down 4 schools. now this year, i'm applying to 3 of the 4 schools i had put down and those schools should already have my scores. so i think your scores will be good at your schools for next year too.

I wonder what they do with them if you don't apply for another year ... I signed up for the test when I thought I was going to apply for 08 admissions, and failed to cross the schools off when I took the test (after determining I should apply for 09). I think I might still be applying to one of those four schools next year.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Practice tests are definitely the way to go. People get caught up on the card decks and whatnot, but that doesn't directly relate over to the exam like a practice test does.

-t