GRE Exam help

okay ..read this carefully..
the computer based test is 4 hours .. so build your stamina ..also you will have a dummy section ..you already know this right!!it can be either Quants or english ..be prepared and dont give up on any section ..as you dont know which is the dummy section and where it is placed ..it can be the first or the last ..all that is stable is the perspective and the argument..write well..because the checking is strict ,unlike other tests the TOEFl for example...
you get breaks between section..use them appropriately and rest the mind ,important
i really dont know how much you have prepared so i cant say how tough it is going to be ..but be prepared for being tested thoroughly..since its next monday i am hoping your word list is prepared ,the formulas are understood and ideas developed for your essays...if not you still have alot of time
you are not allowed to carry anything but yourself to the centre ..please dont try to sneak anything in ..they have cams...they give a limited supply of scratch paper and pencils.carry your passport and appointment details
About your score this is tricky...remember you dont have the choice after you see your scores so only if you think you f****up then reject the score ..you lose all your money though..if you dont reject then u get your score silly..
imp: after you get the score ETS lets you send your score to 4 univs anywhere in the world for free..any more univs and you pay about $10-15.. avail this there and then because this is a one time offer.
the result along with your essays scores get to your place in about 14 to 21 days

Reply 3

BAEconyr3

Hi

I am taking my GRE general exam on monday. I am doing the computer based exam and wanted some information on it from people who have done it. How difficult is it and how do you prepare for it? Also what are you allowed to take into the exam, calculator, pens paper? Any other advice? ALSO: Do I reject my scores if they are bad and if i dont what happens?

Thanks
Tej

Oh my god - practice, practice, practice. Buy GRE prep books with practice CD-ROMS (available from places like Waterstones or in any decent bookshop near a university, there are different ones available but I got the Princeton Review one and it was alright).

Like all standardised tests, the GRE doesn't really measure your intellect, it tests how well you can take tests (cue lengthy debate on the worth of standardised testing - argh).

I took the computer based GRE last October at a centre in London. You can't take calculators but you will be provided with paper and pencil for working things out (not that you will have a lot of time at all). If I can remember correctly, you can cancel your scores at the end of the test, but only before, not after, they are revealed to you (therefore don't cancel unless you are sure you did badly).

We Brits are unused to such tests (americans sit ones like them throughout their entire educational careers, putting them at significant advantage). I was advised to spend a month practicing before taking it. I think that's possibly a little excessive - the tests are not hard per se, so much as thery are tricksy (upper level GCSE level maths for example, which is sort of the level you're expected to do in the quant section, isn't hard, but I hadn't done it since I was at school, and that was years ago!). The practicing is to get the technique down more than anything else, once you've got that sorted you'll be fine.

Reply 4

BigDog04

GRE is hard spend about 2 months practising. The main problem is the format- once you conquer that you can score highly. Its not as simple as it sounds. UK are at a disadvntage hence you many need to spend more time revising.Id reccommend about 3 months full time to get a good score.pm for more

Reply 5

OP

Thanks for the help guys! Im doing soo bad on the practice online tests, am really worried now!!! Im going to buy a book tommorow and work over the weekend. Also, once you get the grade and it is bad, do you have to show it to the uni u applied to? I mean can you just leave it out in the application form. Manchester for instance doesnt require GRE exam so can I just leave that section blank?

Thanks
Tej

Reply 6

BAEconyr3

Also, once you get the grade and it is bad, do you have to show it to the uni u applied to? I mean can you just leave it out in the application form. Manchester for instance doesnt require GRE exam so can I just leave that section blank?

Thanks
Tej

Well, if you are submitting the scores to american universities, then they will see them, since at the end of the test you select up to 4 colleges from a drop down list on screen. These 4 institutions are automatically forwarded an official report of your scores (and your application will not be considered complete until they have received them) direct from ETS, the organisation which runs the GRE.

You say Manc doesn't require GRE scores - very few UK universities do - where else, may I ask, are you applying?

Reply 7

OP

Craigy_Boy

Well, if you are submitting the scores to american universities, then they will see them, since at the end of the test you select up to 4 colleges from a drop down list on screen. These 4 institutions are automatically forwarded an official report of your scores (and your application will not be considered complete until they have received them) direct from ETS, the organisation which runs the GRE.

You say Manc doesn't require GRE scores - very few UK universities do - where else, may I ask, are you applying?

Oh! Do you have to select the unis before you get your score? I was thinking, if i have done badly to leave the unis blank and request the information later if needed even if it costs money.

I am applying to:

Manchester - International business and management MsC (doesn't require GRE)
LSE - Management MsC
Cambridge - Development Studies Mphil (doesn't require GRE)

Reply 8

no the selection of the unis is after you see the score..you can skip it ..totally upto you.
i dont get it ..why are you giving your GRE ..most of your choices dont require it..also isnt the GMAT more appropriate for your course

Reply 9

OP

yeh but I wanna go to LSE which does require it! It prefers gre to GMAT!

Reply 10

wasnt the test today ..how did it go..?

Reply 11

OP

arsenic

wasnt the test today ..how did it go..?

YES Have to retake :< I got 560 in the Maths, I think thats the 75th percentile not sure and 340 in the Verbal which sux! The essay questions went great I think! So overall I rekon its the verbal section which brought my score down to 900!!!! But I didn't revise at all for it to be honest so this time I think I'm going to revise the vocab list and take it next again month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply 12

OP

I mean again next month, sorry typo error!!! lol

Reply 13

BAEconyr3

YES Have to retake :< I got 560 in the Maths, I think thats the 75th percentile not sure and 340 in the Verbal which sux! The essay questions went great I think! So overall I rekon its the verbal section which brought my score down to 900!!!! But I didn't revise at all for it to be honest so this time I think I'm going to revise the vocab list and take it next again month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eek. Sorry mate. Prepare properly next time and you'll be fine I'm sure. I ended up with 660 quant, 700 verbal and 5.0 (WTF?) for the essay thingy, and when I consulted some of my american friends they said that while these were alright, they were "not particularly competitive" scores. Some US universities set quite a lot of store by them (though that's highly controversial, and the consensus seems to be that if you do badly that might hurt you, though if you do well it doesn't make a lot of difference). But I really don't know how a british university would treat them and I'm really very surprised that LSE demand them of you (typical LSE, trying to be like an american college!).

Reply 14

OP

Craigy_Boy

Eek. Sorry mate. Prepare properly next time and you'll be fine I'm sure. I ended up with 660 quant, 700 verbal and 5.0 (WTF?) for the essay thingy, and when I consulted some of my american friends they said that while these were alright, they were "not particularly competitive" scores. Some US universities set quite a lot of store by them (though that's highly controversial, and the consensus seems to be that if you do badly that might hurt you, though if you do well it doesn't make a lot of difference). But I really don't know how a british university would treat them and I'm really very surprised that LSE demand them of you (typical LSE, trying to be like an american college!).

Yeh I really will need to retake! How did you do so well in the verbal section? I mean did you revise a set of words or did you just know them all? What course do u study and wat uni r u at btw?

Reply 15

BAEconyr3

Yeh I really will need to retake! How did you do so well in the verbal section? I mean did you revise a set of words or did you just know them all? What course do u study and wat uni r u at btw?

verbal was always going to be my strength (I'm not a mathematician or scientist) and then I just learnt vocab lists from the prep books - as simple as that! Which is why the GRE is such a scam - all it's testing is your ability to perform tasks like learning lists of words by wrote (how ludicrously childish)!

I did my undergraduate degree in law at King's College London, then my master's in political theory at LSE. I've been temping since I finished my master's last october, and in 2 weeks time I'm moving to the US to do a PhD in political science at Georgetown University, Washington DC (for which I had to sit the damn GRE!).

Reply 16

OP

Cool! Was it difficult to get a place at LSE. I want to do my masters in management there. Any tips on applying?

Reply 17

dont worry about your scores....prepare and give it next time and you will do well.remember quants is really scoring ..because it is high school math ..so try getting a full score there..relax dont take the score or the uni as the end of the world...

Reply 18

BAEconyr3

Cool! Was it difficult to get a place at LSE. I want to do my masters in management there. Any tips on applying?

Well I can't really speak to the management course - I should imagine that admissions for that are probably much more competitive than for the MSc I did there (political theory is actually a rather obscure subfield of political science and, because of this, the applicant pool itself tends to be rather more self-selective than for other degree courses, after which, as far as I'm aware, what's important is simply to have at least a 2:1 at undergrad and a good personal statement).

Indeed, I sort of ended up on the course I did by (lucky) coincidence. I don't know if this is still the case now, but when I applied back in 2003 you were allowed to enter 2 choices of course on the application form. My first choice was the MSc in International Relations (not sure why now - I knew hardly anything about IR other than that it sounded like a cool subject to study) and my second choice was the LLM (master's in law). I didn't get into IR, and they told me that by the time my second choice preference was considered, admissions to the LLM were full, but that if I wanted to pick another course that was still open, my application would be reconsidered. I flicked through the prospectus, read the entry for political theory and realised it was the course I should have applied for all along. So I rejigged my personal statement to emphasise the legal philosophy/political theory elements of my undergraduate background, resubmitted, and was rather shocked to receive an offer!

Reply 19

BigDog04