Took The GRE

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jtom

jtom

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I took the GRE for the third time today, I got an 1160. My goal was 1200 or higher. Naturally I am very disappointed. This time around I took a Kaplan course and have been enrolled in it for a few months. My scores on the practice exams were all over the place, 1140-1340.

My IS school is UF and I went in for a file review when I applied last year(Got waitlisted for an interview). The primary thing they said was to raise my GRE score (It was 1110). They said to shoot for at least 1200 to be competitive.

At the time of this file review they also said that my experience was sufficient which I thought was odd as I only have about 1000 hours at one mixed animal clinic. I thought they would want more hours and more diversity. I currently have 2300 hours at that clinic and have acquired 1700 hours at a therapeutic riding facility (I applied last year with no animal experience whatsoever). I currently go into an equine hospital and have about 50 hours there but hope to get 100-200 hours by application time and I plan on volunteering with one of the veterinarians in the USDA next month. I have also addressed the other concerns they had with the application (diversity of LOR's, completed another pre-req, etc). They modified their admissions scheme on their website, I am not sure if the policies are the same but just started explicitly stating it or whether they made changes to their admissions process (my review was in april).

To make a long story short, I am rather bummed about the GRE as I really put alot of time and effort into it and my score only increased a little. I was really making an effort to fix any weaknesses in my application for this year. I just dont want to get in a situation where I dont get in anywhere this year as well but I do plan on applying to more schools this time around. I had signed up for the GRE in three weeks in case I wanted to take it again but I am unsure. I just spent alot of time on the GRE and I am just drained mentally at this point. Preparing for this exam has always been a battle for me and it seems no matter how much I try I cannot get a competitive score.

Any thoughts?
 
Oh BOOOO. I'm sorry jtom... that's gotta be frustrating...
Do you clam up when you take the actual test? Is it a time issue?
Maybe there's a reason why you don't do well, and can improve upon it. But it might very well be that you're not very good at standardized tests. There are people who are just like that. I think schools do understand that the GRE isn't necessarily the gold standard for how intelligent someone is, so perhaps you can try to appeal to that. Do you have a good gpa to counteract it? It sounds like you really spent this past year improving on every aspect of your application that they've asked of you... so I really hope UF sees that. Unless you are still planning to retake one more time, I would really start focusing on making your application as great as you can. Every open field on that application is an opportunity to showcase how intelligent/professional/knowledgeable you are, so make EVERY WORD count. If UF doesn't have a gre cutoff for the recycle bin, give them every reason for liking you as a person more than they like others through what you put on your apps.
 
Minnerbelle said:
Oh BOOOO. I'm sorry jtom... that's gotta be frustrating...
Do you clam up when you take the actual test? Is it a time issue?
Maybe there's a reason why you don't do well, and can improve upon it. But it might very well be that you're not very good at standardized tests. There are people who are just like that. I think schools do understand that the GRE isn't necessarily the gold standard for how intelligent someone is, so perhaps you can try to appeal to that. Do you have a good gpa to counteract it? It sounds like you really spent this past year improving on every aspect of your application that they've asked of you... so I really hope UF sees that. Unless you are still planning to retake one more time, I would really start focusing on making your application as great as you can. Every open field on that application is an opportunity to showcase how intelligent/professional/knowledgeable you are, so make EVERY WORD count. If UF doesn't have a gre cutoff for the recycle bin, give them every reason for liking you as a person more than they like others through what you put on your apps.
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I think I am one of those persons who does not do well on standardized tests. I definetly get flustered with time constraints of that nature and my concentration suffers, nothing major but its definetly there. I also get very nervous when I take the GRE (I havent slept much in the past few days). Ironically, these characteristics only surface when I am taking the SAT or the GRE. I got a 1080 on the SAT and my overall GPA in colllege was a 3.7, science and last 45 in the 3.5's.

UF has an unusual policy that I just came across today. Within the last few weeks, they updated their site and for the first time included a complete overview of how much every portion of the application is factored into the final decision. The minimum GRE score is greater than 1100 but then below that they say that this changes every year depending on the applicant pool, so I am not sure how to look at it. The stats of the applicants last year was an average score of 1140. My academic stats are higher in overall GPA(3.70 vs 3.5) and science (3.5 vs 3.41) and last 45 im a little lower (3.5 vs 3.6).

With the GRE I feel like I might be wasting my time as I have now taken a gre course and have only marginally increased my score with extreme dedication (ive been doing GRE 6 days a week for the past two weeks). I just got off the phone with the USDA and I can volunteer with the vets next week as they go to the ports for equine screening and to various farms for herd work.

Anyone else? I would really like to hear anyone else about the GRE.

Thanks!
 
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jtom said:
I think I am one of those persons who does not do well on standardized tests.
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You're not. I don't know if UF just has higher expectations for the GRE, but I know several people, at various vet schools, that have gotten in with less than 1000. Granted, they all had a lot of research, and a lot of animal experience. A lot of it has to do with the class you're competing against. So chin up, you may have a better chance this year! As other people have said, really focus on the other parts of your app, and make them shine. And btw, a 1160 is not a poor score. Just look at the "successful applicant stats" thread. There are plenty of people there that are right at that level or below. Good luck :luck:
 
You started posting a bunch on the forum around the same time as I did and so I've kinda seen the progression of your app. 😉 I think you're on the right track, dude. I know everyone wants to have everything be perfect, but I really think the rest of your app is pretty solid. Schools like Mizzou don't give half a **** about the GRE (4% of your score is GRE, I think?). I think your experience and obvious determination will shine.

I know it's easy to say "don't sweat it too much" from the other side, but I'll say it anyway. 😉

For more tangible advice, looks like your weak spot is the quant. Is there a certain type of math question you're just botching? Trig review? Geometry? Etc?
 
I think my weak spot with the math is recognizing the "trick" to solve the problem quickly. Every practice exam I took there are always a few questions where I did not see the short way to solve it and took the long way, which equals more wasted time and a lower score. My quant score did vary considerbly which annoys me, 610 was actually my lowest score compared to all the practice exams I took, which on those my score was between 640-720.

I know I can handle vet school, I just need to be able to get in to show it!
 
I just took the GRE for the 3rd time and I scored an 1160 too!! This was an improvement for me, so I am hanging up my hat and calling it a day. I was shooting for 1200 as well, but it did not happen. I have taken a prep class and studied my a** off for this test and this is about as good as it's going to get. I know just how you feel, though! Standardized tests suck!
 
The best I can offer to you is go to the book store and look for something along the lines of "the crammers guide to the GRE" or "crash course to the GRE." I forget exactly what it's called, but I bought that along with all those other practice exam books and this one helped me out by far the most. I mean I can't emphasize that enough, I went through it a couple times and the night before the test I read through it and used all the tricks by working through some problems, so all the shortcuts and "tricks" were fresh in my head. It really paid off during the test and allowed me to accelerate through the problems.

The other area I think a lot of people have issues with (I know I did) was using a computer for the test. I knew going into it that I wouldn't be able to go back and change answers once I was done with the question and that's a big problem for me because when taking test by hand, I'll leave questions blank that I'm unsure of and then see if questions later on will jog my memory to push me towards the right answer. Being I did all my prep with books, it didn't fully hit me until the day of the test, I think getting used to the format of the test will help some and take some of the anxiety you mentioned. I'm not sure if the Kaplan test prep helped you with this or not, but it might be something to think about.
 
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UAphenix said:
The best I can offer to you is go to the book store and look for something along the lines of "the crammers guide to the GRE" or "crash course to the GRE." I forget exactly what it's called, but I bought that along with all those other practice exam books and this one helped me out by far the most. I mean I can't emphasize that enough, I went through it a couple times and the night before the test I read through it and used all the tricks by working through some problems, so all the shortcuts and "tricks" were fresh in my head. It really paid off during the test and allowed me to accelerate through the problems.
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totally second this, Princeton Reviews Crash Course to the GRE is awesome
 
Download 'PowerPrep' from the ETS. It will acclimate you to the computer testing style. It has full length tests as well as shorter exercises (with answer explanations included.) It's completely free so if you don't use it you are a silly, silly goose!

/the more you know
 
I used the ets powerprep software and I also took about 10 CATs so I know about the computer element to the exam. I have not found the crash course in gre book anywhere locally otherwise I would have bought it, I went just a few weeks ago to a few bookstores and did not see it.

I actually have a kaplan book which was called the streamlined review for people with limited time for the gre. I am not sure if the books I bought and the kaplan course I just finished would have covered all of those tricks/tips.
 
jtom said:
I used the ets powerprep software and I also took about 10 CATs so I know about the computer element to the exam. I have not found the crash course in gre book anywhere locally otherwise I would have bought it, I went just a few weeks ago to a few bookstores and did not see it.

I actually have a kaplan book which was called the streamlined review for people with limited time for the gre. I am not sure if the books I bought and the kaplan course I just finished would have covered all of those tricks/tips.
Click to expand...
IMO:
Kaplan has a very traditional teaching style. I feel that they are very conservative in that they want to TEACH you the material, like you really wanted to learn .

Princeton review could care less about you learning anything. They want you to learn HOW TO TAKE THE TEST. They are all about tricks and strategies.

It is obvious which one I preferred. I just wanted to get a good score. Look on Amazon for the Princeton book if you want to try a more strategic approach.
 
StartingoverVet said:
IMO:
Kaplan has a very traditional teaching style. I feel that they are very conservative in that they want to TEACH you the material, like you really wanted to learn .

Princeton review could care less about you learning anything. They want you to learn HOW TO TAKE THE TEST. They are all about tricks and strategies.

It is obvious which one I preferred. I just wanted to get a good score. Look on Amazon for the Princeton book if you want to try a more strategic approach.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think Princeton Review blows Kaplan out of the water. My boyfriend purchased Kaplan study materials and took my Princeton Review study materials. The only thing he ended up using from Kaplan were the lists of commonly used words. Princeton Review helped him so much more. I only used Princeton Review and it helped a lot for my SAT and GRE scores.
 
I have taken the GRE test and scored a 920. I did good on the Math but struggled with the Verbal. How in the world are you suppose to memorize 1,000 words and know what words to memorize? I did buy flash cards for GRE at book store. Did anyone ever memorize them and was it helpful on test?
 
I originally did you princeton review for my first time taking it. I switched over the kaplan for my second time because my first time was so poor and it went up about 100 pts and then took a kaplan course for the third time and it went up 50pts.

I still have the princeton review book that I bought for my first time, I will pull it out and see how they approach things.
 
TRYINGTOBEAVET said:
I have taken the GRE test and scored a 920. I did good on the Math but struggled with the Verbal. How in the world are you suppose to memorize 1,000 words and know what words to memorize? I did buy flash cards for GRE at book store. Did anyone ever memorize them and was it helpful on test?
Click to expand...

I just memorized the 200 (or 300 i don't remember) "hit parade" in either the Kaplan or Princeton Review books. That helped a ton. At least for me, it was a lot more worth it to know a couple hundred of the most useful words very well, rather than 1000 sort of. Because for me, it makes it much more confusing when I know I've heard of the word but can't remember the definition. Very frustrating when you're like, oh man, I know I memorized this a month ago!!! The only other thing I did for the verbal was just read some good newspapers/magazines to see the same words in context.
 
jtom said:
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

The GRE is only one component of an application, and usually a rather small one at that. I think that if you made an effort to work on the other problem points in your application as seen by UF, that shows an effort to improve. Plus you've increased your vet and animal hours which is always good. Some people don't get in even when they address every point on their review (which ties into your post about seemingly random selection), so the best you can do is the best you can do. If you don't feel up to preparing for the GRE again (and spending the money), I would advise you not to retake it, even if you wanted a higher score. If you go into it mentally drained as well as pessimistic I'd guess your score might reflect that. I think you should go with 1160 and be proud of your other strong points.
 
Hey jtom,

I feel like as far as the difficulty in the recognition of the short cuts to the math problems go, you and I are in the same boat. I've seen alot of 700+ scores on quant in the successful applicant stats but I have never been able to bring my quant score anywhere higher than the mid 600s. My suggestion to you is then to boost your verbal section. I know this sounds crazy and that most people do much more poorly on it, but it is one place that you can more easily prepare for with a lot of diligence. Basically I feel like the verbal section is one big vocabulary test...so boost your vocab. I did this by memorizing the top 150ish words seen by GRE as stated in the Kaplan book. In addition I memorized the next 200-250 words by buying Kaplan's "GRE Exam vocabulary in a box." What I did was memorize 10 words per day. In the morning when you wake up, look at the word and try to memorize the meaning. Test yourself again at noontime, and then again before you go to sleep. The next day, review the previous words in the morning and start a new set of 10. This really helped because a lot of those big words they threw at me I ended up recognizing, got my verbal to 660 with a 640 in quant, so 1300 overall.
 
that redhead said:
The GRE is only one component of an application, and usually a rather small one at that.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised that schools are considering the GRE to be a small part of the application considering there was research published recently showing that GRE scores correlate to NAVLE scores. I'd think that the schools would put a pretty heavy weight on the GRE if it is in fact indicative of NAVLE scores. Also, the GRE is a way to compare all students regardless of what schools they went to for undergrad. IMO, its hard to judge a GPA across thousands of schools because the difficulty of the program may vary.

I'm just a lowly pre-vet though, so what do I know? lol I may just be hoping this is the case because it'd help me out 🙄 Its hard to know what is most important in applications. I never know what to focus on. I'd love to have one day in an adcom's brain. :laugh:

My advice for the GRE: practice makes nearly perfect. Do as many problems as possible and try to learn as many words as you can. Its easy to get overwhelmed when you know that you have an entire dictionary to memorize, but every word you learn is one more you didn't know previously. I was able to raise my quant score 300 points by using the ETS practice book. I also raised my verbal about 200 by using GRE flashcards. Goodluck everybody.
 
HelloNello said:
I'm surprised that schools are considering the GRE to be a small part of the application considering there was research published recently showing that GRE scores correlate to NAVLE scores. I'd think that the schools would put a pretty heavy weight on the GRE if it is in fact indicative of NAVLE scores. Also, the GRE is a way to compare all students regardless of what schools they went to for undergrad. IMO, its hard to judge a GPA across thousands of schools because the difficulty of the program may vary.

I'm just a lowly pre-vet though, so what do I know? lol I may just be hoping this is the case because it'd help me out 🙄 Its hard to know what is most important in applications. I never know what to focus on. I'd love to have one day in an adcom's brain. :laugh:

My advice for the GRE: practice makes nearly perfect. Do as many problems as possible and try to learn as many words as you can. Its easy to get overwhelmed when you know that you have an entire dictionary to memorize, but every word you learn is one more you didn't know previously. I was able to raise my quant score 300 points by using the ETS practice book. I also raised my verbal about 200 by using GRE flashcards. Goodluck everybody.
Click to expand...

HelloNello, do you have a source for that correlation claim? I'd love to read that as it seems like the 'GRE sucks/is irrelevant to ved med' whinefest could use a little new perspective for a change👍
 
I just took a practice GRE and it told me my scores are Q700-800 and V400-500. Is that what they expect me to get on the real one? Also, I really spaced off after a while cause it's been a long day and I'm tired.

I'm foreign and some simple words are still hard to me, but I think I can do some good vocab work, because I'm good at that stuff and have had a lot of practice with different languages.

I had 55% of quantitative right. I know I could've done much better if I wanted because I was just too lazy right now to do some. But how does it tell me 700-800 if I only had about 55% right?

And I know.. gotta get more serious about this. I just wanted to give it a try. I just bought a Kaplan New GRE Review..
 
PetPony said:
I had 55% of quantitative right. I know I could've done much better if I wanted because I was just too lazy right now to do some. But how does it tell me 700-800 if I only had about 55% right
Click to expand...

I think that's probably wrong... even if all 45% of the questions you got wrong were at the end, there's no way you could score above a 700 I don't think.
 
I'm pretty sure most of them were at the end, but still. It's a little much..
 
I got a 730 on the quant. section and I don't think I am good about doing things the quick way. I always feel the need to like double and triple check my math before clicking the answer. What I decided to do for the test was really spend the time on the first 10 questions and then not worry so much after that. If there is one type of question you have an issue with, I'd recommend just clicking an answer that looks good at the time and moving on. Don't waste tons of time on one question! In my practice tests I was always running out of time, but in the actual test I had 3 minutes to spare at the end 🙂. For me, the hardest questions are the ones that are like if Tom has 5 more dollars than Tina and Tina has twice as much as Todd who has 30 dollars less than Tom, how much money does Tina have? I am always like 😕. I can spend 10 minutes on those questions and still end up with a wrong answer. The names are always so similar and I get mixed up even just trying the answer choices to see if they work out. I can usually rule out a couple within a minute of looking at the problem and then I guess 😀.

It's important to remember that you have your answer choices there so you don't actually have to do the problem. If you can quickly set something up to try the answers until you find the right one. Then of course make sure it isn't all of the above if that is a choice.

The verbal section was the hardest for me. I was shocked I got a 550 on it (which I was thrilled about!). I memorized over 1000 words before taking the test because my vocabulary is horrible. I think the quant section is much easier to study for because there are only a handful of different type questions asked, so if you can master those you're good to go.

Good luck if you decide to take it again. I know if I had gotten your score on the first test, though, I'd have been happy with it and not retaken it. I have a stronger GPA, though, so maybe a really good score could help boost you up. I think your pretty well off either way though.
 
Are you allowed to have a piece of paper to write down some numbers during the test? That would help me a ton. I did it last night without one and sometimes I got really confused trying to remember some numbers..

I kept having about 10 minutes at the end of the math sections.. ?
 
You do get scratch paper to use during the test.
 
That might just save me 30 points or something like that hahaha Thank you. 🙂
 
TRYINGTOBEAVET said:
I have taken the GRE test and scored a 920. I did good on the Math but struggled with the Verbal. How in the world are you suppose to memorize 1,000 words and know what words to memorize? I did buy flash cards for GRE at book store. Did anyone ever memorize them and was it helpful on test?
Click to expand...

I had trouble with vocab too, so I downloaded mp3 files from prof krupta. His accent was hard to get used to at first, but I thought it was very helpful to listen to him. I can give you the link if you want it. It's basically all of barron's words, listed in alphabetical order, and sometimes he explains the roots of the words as well
 
PetPony said:
I just took a practice GRE and it told me my scores are Q700-800 and V400-500. Is that what they expect me to get on the real one?
Click to expand...

I got about 150 points higher on my actual test than I did on any of my practice tests. Whether it was adrenaline, better focus, or divine intervention, I don't know. The atmosphere of the actual test for some is stressful, but was really motivating for me. When I'm at home taking practice tests, I tend to grab a snack, check Facebook, etc. So no guarantees, but I did do significantly better on my actual than on my practice tests. Not sure if others felt the same...
 
TRYINGTOBEAVET said:
I have taken the GRE test and scored a 920. I did good on the Math but struggled with the Verbal. How in the world are you suppose to memorize 1,000 words and know what words to memorize? I did buy flash cards for GRE at book store. Did anyone ever memorize them and was it helpful on test?
Click to expand...

I was in exactly the same boat...rocked math but verbal was sad at best. I can't just sit and memorize vocab words either, so I got practice books. I used this book "Barron's Essential Words for the GRE" and it was great. It did involve some memorization, but it also made you use the words in sentences and answer questions about them. It brought my verbal score up by about 100 points.
 
petdrhpful2015 said:
I was in exactly the same boat...rocked math but verbal was sad at best. I can't just sit and memorize vocab words either, so I got practice books. I used this book "Barron's Essential Words for the GRE" and it was great. It did involve some memorization, but it also made you use the words in sentences and answer questions about them. It brought my verbal score up by about 100 points.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat as many of you... I didn't do quiet as well as I wanted on the dreaded GRE either. I got a 1140 total :/ 530 verbal 610 math. yuck.

I'm trying to get in VMRCVM, I know, crappy scores for a really competitive school.
How did you end up doing on your GRE? And do you happen to know how high(ish) anyone of your classmates scored too?

I go to VT and I'm from Maryland. So VMRCVM it's my IS. I'm desperately trying to get in this year.
Any advice you have would be great!


And everyone else. I swear by the Kaplan top 200 vocab flashcards. They helped me a ton! I was a dork and would keep a stack in my purse so if I had some time to kill when I was out, I'd whip 'em out and study away. I highly recommend it!
 
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Kmeid said:
I'm in the same boat as many of you... I didn't do quiet as well as I wanted on the dreaded GRE either. I got a 1140 total :/ 530 verbal 610 math. yuck.

I'm trying to get in VMRCVM, I know, crappy scores for a really competitive school.
How did you end up doing on your GRE? And do you happen to know how high(ish) anyone of your classmates scored too?

I go to VT and I'm from Maryland. So VMRCVM it's my IS. I'm desperately trying to get in this year.
Any advice you have would be great!


And everyone else. I swear by the Kaplan top 200 vocab flashcards. They helped me a ton! I was a dork and would keep a stack in my purse so if I had some time to kill when I was out, I'd whip 'em out and study away. I highly recommend it!
Click to expand...

I ended up with 1330 total, 760M/570V and 4.5W
I have no idea how other applicants did. I applied twice, so when I spoke to the counselor after being rejected my first cycle, I was told my scores were above average. Feel free to PM with other questions about the application...I applied there twice and got in on the second try, so I'm pretty familiar with their process.

Best of luck to you.
 
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