Voiding GRE scores? Any thoughts :(?

[ssodium]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I am writing my GRE tomorrow and I am unprepared in every aspect - it's not one of those pre-exam scares 🙁 I have not finished going through the Barron's word list and I haven't even finished the practice questions from the prep books. I still need to brush up on my math concepts.

I did one diagnostic and two practice tests and I got 430/470/640 on verbal and 570/520/570 on quantitative. I don't think the 640 I got on verbal is very representative of my current ability and I might have been lucky with guessing. I'm really frustrated with the quant score because it's been consistently in the 500s, but I am really bad at math so I need more time to nail down the concepts and the questions.

My main concern is having a really poor GRE score on my record so I am seriously considering the option of voiding it after I'm done tomorrow. But some people are telling me that I should just submit it to see the scores and see how I did. I emailed few programs (clinical psychology) about multiple GRE scores and most told me that they look at all the scores with emphasis on the highest one. I am worried that even if I do manage to do well on my June exam, the scores will look less convincing because of my first set of really poor scores.

What do you guys think? Thanks 🙂 Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[FadedC]

I guess it really depends on how unprepared you really are, and that's a hard question to answer. Beyond the basics there isn't all that much helpful studying you can do for the GRE. Understanding the basic math formulas is the important thing, beyond that more studying of vocabulary words might help you get a question or two right, but is unlikely to bring a huge shift in your score.

When taking the test keep in mind that the GRE is adaptive. This means that no matter how well your doing you will often feel like your bombing the test because the questions keep getting harder until you have a hard time answering them. I got close to a 800 on the math part, and I felt like I was doing poorly because there were several questions that I could not figure out.

Finally remember that not all practice tests are created equal. I have found several that do a poor job of imitating the GRE and I found that they are more likely to be harder then easier.

 

[Psych2011]

Finally remember that not all practice tests are created equal. I have found several that do a poor job of imitating the GRE and I found that they are more likely to be harder then easier.

Related to this, does anyone have an opinion of GRE practice exams that are more reliable than others? I've taken a couple of Kaplan CATs, and a couple of Princeton practice exams (not CATs). I still have the ETS practice CATs to take. I'm guessing those are the most reliable ones, but I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the Kaplan exams are at least not easier than the actual exam. Anyone have experience with taking Kaplan GRE CATs before the actual GRE? Were your scores similar on the tests or were you positively or negatively surprised with the real score you got?

 

[lizzo76]

I swear by Princeton Review. I used them for PSAT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT. (Yes, I took all.) In my book, their practice tests are the closest to the real thing (other than, of course, the tests the real test-makers make.)

OP - is it too late to cancel this test administration? Back when I took the GRE, I was also totally unprepared (and thought you could use a calculator, which you couldn't! Although I believe now they provide one.) I had planned to take it my senior year of college but I got sick. I had one year in which to use my voucher, so when I suddenly realized the year was almost up, I quickly signed up for a slot. I did fine, but I could have done better had I prepared.

That said... it just doesn't seem like a great idea to take the test (and PAY for it) only to void your scores. If I were you, and truly felt unprepared, I'd cancel my appointment, if at all possible. I think I actually cancelled the DAY OF, and got a voucher, but that was awhile ago. It's true you might end up doing better than you think you will, but you could also do relatively poorly if you're really that unprepared, and if that's a real possibility, obviously it's in your best interest to skip this test and take it later.

 

[FadedC]

I also recommend Princeton Review, mostly because I thought that they had the best tips, tricks and advice. When it came to practice tests, I'm pretty sure that their regular GRE one was fine, but that the Princeton Review practice test for the Psych GRE was was much harder then the real one.

I swear by Princeton Review. I used them for PSAT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT. (Yes, I took all.) In my book, their practice tests are the closest to the real thing (other than, of course, the tests the real test-makers make.)

OP - is it too late to cancel this test administration? Back when I took the GRE, I was also totally unprepared (and thought you could use a calculator, which you couldn't! Although I believe now they provide one.) I had planned to take it my senior year of college but I got sick. I had one year in which to use my voucher, so when I suddenly realized the year was almost up, I quickly signed up for a slot. I did fine, but I could have done better had I prepared.

That said... it just doesn't seem like a great idea to take the test (and PAY for it) only to void your scores. If I were you, and truly felt unprepared, I'd cancel my appointment, if at all possible. I think I actually cancelled the DAY OF, and got a voucher, but that was awhile ago. It's true you might end up doing better than you think you will, but you could also do relatively poorly if you're really that unprepared, and if that's a real possibility, obviously it's in your best interest to skip this test and take it later.

 

[turtleturtle]

I took the GREs without preparing and got the same score that I had on my SATs. It was a good score. I remember having done a couple practice tests and not doing as well as I did when I actually took the test. If you test well (which I think you would know from previous scores), then I would just do it. I think the practice tests underestimate your score. Also the computer makes it much different. But if you don't have great grades, if for some reason you are really resting your laurels on this score then maybe just take it and void...I think it just depends on what you know about your past testing history.