Took the GRE today and didn't go well....

[ash5321]

So I took the GRE today and it didn't go well at all. I've been studying for two months, but I'm just not good at standardized tests and I freak out under time. I did really well on the practice tests, but when it came down to test time, I froze.

I'm planning on taking it again in a month, but I was really hoping to send my applications in early. So my question is, can I apply to schools that don't require the GRE in the meantime and then once I retake the GRE, apply to the other schools that require it? I have a list of some schools that don't require the GRE which are: American International College, Clarkson University, Dominican College of Biauvelt, D'Youville, University of Scranton, University of Evansville, Utica College, University of South Florida, and George Fox University. If you guys know of any more please feel free to comment them. Or if you know of schools that have low average GRE scores.

Also, any advice for the GRE would be greatly appreciated. I used Kaplan and learned 800 new vocab words. I heard Magoosh is really good so I'm thinking about getting that.

Thank you!!

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[Skyris]

So I took the GRE today and it didn't go well at all. I've been studying for two months, but I'm just not good at standardized tests and I freak out under time. I did really well on the practice tests, but when it came down to test time, I froze.

I'm planning on taking it again in a month, but I was really hoping to send my applications in early. So my question is, can I apply to schools that don't require the GRE in the meantime and then once I retake the GRE, apply to the other schools that require it? I have a list of some schools that don't require the GRE which are: American International College, Clarkson University, Dominican College of Biauvelt, D'Youville, University of Scranton, University of Evansville, Utica College, University of South Florida, and George Fox University. If you guys know of any more please feel free to comment them. Or if you know of schools that have low average GRE scores.

Also, any advice for the GRE would be greatly appreciated. I used Kaplan and learned 800 new vocab words. I heard Magoosh is really good so I'm thinking about getting that.

Thank you!!

I can totally empathize; standardized tests really give me the willies. One thing that helped me was going for a run earlier on the day of the test, but I still had a borderline panic attack.

As for GRE advice, I used Magoosh and was very happy with it and had good results. I took 5-6 (2 ETS Powerprep, and 3/4 Magoosh) practice tests under test conditions, timed, no breaks etc + essays over a period of a little over a month. I used the Magoosh vocab flashcard app and a few of those words showed up on my test.

As for writing, I did drills using the posted pool of possible essay prompts, giving myself 3-5 minutes to brainstorm the outline of an essay. I did this dozens of times over about a month; one of my actual prompts on test day was one I had brainstormed. I prepared a modular introduction sentence structure that sounded good and could be easily adapted to various prompts, and I memorized 2 good quotes by John Muir/Abraham Lincoln that could be applied to many different prompts. Many of the prompts follow similar themes so I had a few historical situations and arguments floating around in my head for me to use. Feeling prepared to rock the essay really helped my stress levels and left me feeling good for the rest of the test.

 

[FutureDPT10]

So this worked for me, may not work for everyone. But there was only 3 words on my entire GRE I wasn't 100% sure of come test time and 1 of them was nuance and was in my study guide, but for some reason I grew up thinking nuance meant something completely different and I couldn't did that of my head.

That being said, what I did is I bought the Book created by the test makers and wrote down every word I wasn't 100% on. If I were you I'd take a few days at a local Barnes and Nobles so you don't have to spend the money and open up the half sized verbal books and the full sized one and You don't actually do the questions, just go page by page and write down the words you can't state their meanings right away. If you recognize a word but can't state the definition when seeing the word right away, write t down. What you will do is go one by one through every word in those books, whether they be the answers, or in their passages/questions. Then get a bunch of blank paper and write those words down. Then fill in the definitions when you go home. You will have a few full pages of computer paper at this point. I write extremely small so I had about 8 pages of words. I spent about 6-14 days on each piece of paper, working on a single sheet until I understood 90% of the words where I could blurt out what it meant easily. The rest of those 10% I didn't comprehend quite yet I'd place on a new blank sheet of paper. You continue that with each sheet until you compile 1-2 page of the words that still gave you trouble. Then you really spend your focus there. I still had trouble with reading passages fast because that my weakness, but because I knew every vocab word, I did well on the rest of the verbal section and that's what kept my score high! Hopefully this helps a little bit, if any!!

 

[jodom55]

If you use magoosh they guarantee a 5 point increase in your overall score or your money back. So this would be a good investment because even if it doesn't go as well as you want you can still get your money back. Just send in your previous scores before the other test and they will refund you

 

[InspiredPT_2020]

I'm in the same situation as you. I took the GRE last week and didn't do as well as I would have hoped. My quantative score was very low and I'm going to retake it next month. In the meantime I'm still going to apply early to schools that don't require the GRE or don't have a minimum score. After I retake the GRE, I'm going to update my scores and apply to the other schools I had already planned to apply to.

 

[ash5321]

I can totally empathize; standardized tests really give me the willies. One thing that helped me was going for a run earlier on the day of the test, but I still had a borderline panic attack.

As for GRE advice, I used Magoosh and was very happy with it and had good results. I took 5-6 (2 ETS Powerprep, and 3/4 Magoosh) practice tests under test conditions, timed, no breaks etc + essays over a period of a little over a month. I used the Magoosh vocab flashcard app and a few of those words showed up on my test.

As for writing, I did drills using the posted pool of possible essay prompts, giving myself 3-5 minutes to brainstorm the outline of an essay. I did this dozens of times over about a month; one of my actual prompts on test day was one I had brainstormed. I prepared a modular introduction sentence structure that sounded good and could be easily adapted to various prompts, and I memorized 2 good quotes by John Muir/Abraham Lincoln that could be applied to many different prompts. Many of the prompts follow similar themes so I had a few historical situations and arguments floating around in my head for me to use. Feeling prepared to rock the essay really helped my stress levels and left me feeling good for the rest of the test.

Thanks for your response!! I've seen really good reviews for Magoosh and I'm definitely thinking about buying it. If you don't mind me asking, did you take the GRE before using Magoosh and if so, how much of an improvement did you see? That's a really good idea to memorize a few quotes for analytical writing, I'm definitely going to do that!

 

[ash5321]

So this worked for me, may not work for everyone. But there was only 3 words on my entire GRE I wasn't 100% sure of come test time and 1 of them was nuance and was in my study guide, but for some reason I grew up thinking nuance meant something completely different and I couldn't did that of my head.

That being said, what I did is I bought the Book created by the test makers and wrote down every word I wasn't 100% on. If I were you I'd take a few days at a local Barnes and Nobles so you don't have to spend the money and open up the half sized verbal books and the full sized one and You don't actually do the questions, just go page by page and write down the words you can't state their meanings right away. If you recognize a word but can't state the definition when seeing the word right away, write t down. What you will do is go one by one through every word in those books, whether they be the answers, or in their passages/questions. Then get a bunch of blank paper and write those words down. Then fill in the definitions when you go home. You will have a few full pages of computer paper at this point. I write extremely small so I had about 8 pages of words. I spent about 6-14 days on each piece of paper, working on a single sheet until I understood 90% of the words where I could blurt out what it meant easily. The rest of those 10% I didn't comprehend quite yet I'd place on a new blank sheet of paper. You continue that with each sheet until you compile 1-2 page of the words that still gave you trouble. Then you really spend your focus there. I still had trouble with reading passages fast because that my weakness, but because I knew every vocab word, I did well on the rest of the verbal section and that's what kept my score high! Hopefully this helps a little bit, if any!!

Wow, this is a really good idea. Thanks for taking the time to write all that out. I'm definitely going to try it!

 

[ash5321]

If you use magoosh they guarantee a 5 point increase in your overall score or your money back. So this would be a good investment because even if it doesn't go as well as you want you can still get your money back. Just send in your previous scores before the other test and they will refund you

Thank you! Did you use Magoosh and if so, how did you do? Thinking about buying it today because I've seen really good reviews for it.

 

[ash5321]

I'm in the same situation as you. I took the GRE last week and didn't do as well as I would have hoped. My quantative score was very low and I'm going to retake it next month. In the meantime I'm still going to apply early to schools that don't require the GRE or don't have a minimum score. After I retake the GRE, I'm going to update my scores and apply to the other schools I had already planned to apply to.

I'm sorry that you're in the same situation as me. The GRE is such a tough test and I wish I didn't have to worry about it anymore lol. Good luck with everything and I hope everything works out!

 

[jodom55]

Thank you! Did you use Magoosh and if so, how did you do? Thinking about buying it today because I've seen really good reviews for it.

I didn't. I made the mistake of taking the test last minute and didn't study at all and got a 301 and a 4.5 writing score. I was planning on retaking it, but I'm also retaking some classes that are more important for me to do well in. If I don't get in this upcoming cycle I will probably take it again the next go round. If I do retake it I will definitely use magoosh.

 

[FutureDPT10]

Wow, this is a really good idea. Thanks for taking the time to write all that out. I'm definitely going to try it!

No problem. I took the GRE 3 times. First time I did alright but not what I wanted. I tried Magoosh for the second exam, but for some reason that wasn't my best way learning the words and I saw more words that weren't on the exam then what were and I actually got a score decreased in verbal from my first exam. The third time I took the time to go through all the GRE companies books and go through their words and do it that way and received a 9 point increase on my verbal which I was happy with and allowed me to apply to all my schools with an above average score! So I'm sure it depends on your learning style but I found with the GRE comparison books, they use those words years after year. If I can find any of my old lists id be grateful to send them to you in a message! But I saw 85-90% of the words I considered my trouble words on my particular GRE exam and went through those verbal questions with ease!

 

[Skyris]

did you take the GRE before using Magoosh and if so, how much of an improvement did you see?

Only took the GRE once. I can't say whether Magoosh is better than Kaplan or not. The opinions I read beforehand leaned toward Magoosh so that's what I used.

I took a diagnostic ETS practice test w/ test conditions including essay before I started studying and got 163V 157Q. My final score was 165V 160Q. Magoosh "gaurantees" a 5 point increase so if that practice test was a real test, I did 5 points better and wouldn't have gotten my money back. The ETS practice tests are pretty similar to the real one.

 

[hockeygoalie]

So I took the GRE today and it didn't go well at all. I've been studying for two months, but I'm just not good at standardized tests and I freak out under time. I did really well on the practice tests, but when it came down to test time, I froze.

I'm planning on taking it again in a month, but I was really hoping to send my applications in early. So my question is, can I apply to schools that don't require the GRE in the meantime and then once I retake the GRE, apply to the other schools that require it? I have a list of some schools that don't require the GRE which are: American International College, Clarkson University, Dominican College of Biauvelt, D'Youville, University of Scranton, University of Evansville, Utica College, University of South Florida, and George Fox University. If you guys know of any more please feel free to comment them. Or if you know of schools that have low average GRE scores.

Also, any advice for the GRE would be greatly appreciated. I used Kaplan and learned 800 new vocab words. I heard Magoosh is really good so I'm thinking about getting that.

Thank you!!

Northeastern University does not require the GRE or at least they didn't last cycle.

 

[Dptgirl00]

Northeastern University does not require the GRE or at least they didn't last cycle.

They do now

 

[JOWS6]

If you score higher on the second attempt, will the school also see your lower score? Is there a way to only send your highest score?

 

[scrawnyguy]

If you score higher on the second attempt, will the school also see your lower score? Is there a way to only send your highest score?

According to ETS, on test day you can choose either to send your more recent or all of your scores. After the test day you can also choose to send a specific score if you have taken it multiple times. Here's a link that explains everything in more detail.

https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/scoreselect/

 

[ash5321]

No problem. I took the GRE 3 times. First time I did alright but not what I wanted. I tried Magoosh for the second exam, but for some reason that wasn't my best way learning the words and I saw more words that weren't on the exam then what were and I actually got a score decreased in verbal from my first exam. The third time I took the time to go through all the GRE companies books and go through their words and do it that way and received a 9 point increase on my verbal which I was happy with and allowed me to apply to all my schools with an above average score! So I'm sure it depends on your learning style but I found with the GRE comparison books, they use those words years after year. If I can find any of my old lists id be grateful to send them to you in a message! But I saw 85-90% of the words I considered my trouble words on my particular GRE exam and went through those verbal questions with ease!

That's great! I would really appreciate it if you could send me the lists in a message...that would be really helpful!! Thank you so much!