Has Anyone Here Ever Taken The Gre?

[XClown1986]

I'm applying to graduate school and have to take this exam on Saturday. I was just curious to see if anyone here had ever taken it, how they did, and any pointers they have for taking it. Thanks.

[Ja Rhule]

My sister took it. She got one of the highest scores in the nation. I asked her how was it, she said its just like SAT.

Good luck sir.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

I took the GRE several months ago without studying for more than a few hours. Unfortunately I was busy with college work and just couldn't bring myself to sacrifice those grades for extra time devotions towards studying for the GRE. I didn't do as well as I hoped, but at the same time I did decent enough to get into my number one graduate program and school. I have heard that the majority of schools these days would prefer strong admittance essays, strong letters of recommendation, and an official transcript that shows dedication and your ability to get consistently better grades as the college years passed.

Pointers for taking it? I didn't exactly study but I did familiarize myself with the format so at least I know exactly what to expect going into the exam so there were no surprises. I did best on the two timed essay portions, and was about even in the math and verbal portions of the test. Take advantage of your ability to navigate the exam and skip over any questions you don't know the answer to initially. Then, when the timer for that particular section gets low, go back and fill in answers after you can narrow it down to 2-3 choices that you think may be right. Also, use the scrap paper they provide and research some tips and tactics online to better your score.

[XClown1986]

Thanks. I bought the 2012 Princeton Review "Cracking the GRE" book a couple of months ago, and only started looking over it recently. I was surprised at how blunt some of the suggestions were, like length, not content, is more often given the better grade in the essay sections. They are also likely graded by part-time workers in grad school themselves that spend less than 5 minutes grading the essays. Kind of nice to see some humanity in an exam book.

[PhillyB]

yeah i took it last year. studied vocabulary nonstop, brushed up on the math enough to get by. no way i was going to impress with a high math score so i went for broke on the vocab.

the essays are surprisingly esoteric. all the examples i'd read were significantly less vague than the ones i encountered on the actual test. they don't really give you anything to go on... just a one-liner like "Nature versus Nurture" and it's up to you do develop where you want to go with it structurally.