Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Graduate students

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 2
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous 1 2 template Next
    #1

    Graduate students

    I think there are a few on here.
    Share with me your GRE experiences and perhaps what worked for you for preparation and what didn't!
    I have a general practice book and just ordered an additional one that's pure vocabulary and practice exercises, since everyone tells me that while they studied a lot for the math section, the vocab was where their score got hit hard.
    I'm feeling that enrolling for a prep class might be more a waste of time than helpful. Yes or no?

    ?????????????
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Graduate students

    I didn't do formal prep and got slightly-better-than average scores. Which won't help you. You had better pray for FANTASTIC scores.

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Graduate students

      I didn't really study very much and I ended up in the 90th percentile for Verbal, around the 80th for Analytical Writing, and I think around 50th for Math. I was definitely caught off guard by some of the math questions, but I've never really been particularly good at math. I can tell you that if I were to take the test again -- which I will, because I'm putting off going to grad school until later -- I'd definitely try to fit in some preparatory classes and study harder so that I could bump up my scores.
      Last edited by Vanilla Iced Tea; 02-06-2009, 09:12 PM.

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Graduate students

        I definately plan to study math as I've never been that good with it either... I looked through the vocab in my book and my feeling is kind of like, really? Most of them are not unfamiliar or are not so obscure that I couldn't make educate guesses with, but I'm going to use the book I ordered just to be safe.
        I'm not really worried about the writing section at all; I've never had a problem with writing like, ever, and I don't anticipate it now.

        But I'm treating it kind of direly because I need the highest I can get to be competitive- my GPA is the average for applicants last year for the kind of program I'm looking at.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Graduate students

          I too need to start studying for the GREs; I'm supposed to take both the general and the physics one this fall. I've been told if you get more than 15% of the physics GRE right, you're a genius.

          I'm so scared of it, I'm thinking of postponing taking it until fall 2010. That way I'll have an entire summer and half the fall semester to study without having to worry about classwork getting the way.
          In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and is widely considered as a bad move.

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Graduate students

            What are you going to grad school for, and are you applying to the masters or Ph.D. program? I can give suggestions from someone who studies computer science. If you're going for a non-technical field, your mileage may vary.

            The general feeling from professors I've talked to is that everybody who applies is going to do well on the math section, and so they don't really care if your score is a 750 or an 800. The verbal section, however, is where there is a lot of disparity between scores, and if you want to make yourself stand out, a good way is to do well on that. I'd say practice tests and straight up flash cards for the most "commonly seen" words are a good approach.

            However, much more important than slightly higher GRE scores is recommendations and prior research. If you have some good research background, and have professors who are able to write good recommendations for you and even contact someone personally, you are at a huge advantage.

            Another critical thing to do is to find a professor that you want to work with at wherever you're applying and contact them yourself. Express interest in working with them, see if they're taking students, and so on. For Ph.D. programs at many schools, who gets in is pretty much decided by the professors, because they hand-pick the students they want to work with.

            If you're not applying to a Ph.D. program in a technical field, this is only half-relevant, but hopefully it helps some. Good luck with this whole deal. Where are you planning to apply?

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Graduate students

              Oh, whoops, I forgot to say that was my Psych GRE test-taking experience. :V

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Graduate students

                Ah, do you mean high school graduate or college graduate?
                162, representing

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Graduate students

                  He ment high-school graduates.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Graduate students

                    What's a GRE? That somethin' to do with big numbers and weird stuff like dividends and derivaters?

                    Just become a teacher instead. Highest, most stable job demand in the country!
                    ...and that's why.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Graduate students

                      Originally posted by Loki View Post
                      He ment high-school graduates.
                      lollers

                      Anyway, Mex: psychology. I have a year's worth of experimental research experience (which is still building as I'm an active research slave in a lab now) and through that my letters are all more or less in the bag. My GPA is a 3.74. Yadda yadda. Essentially my GRE score is the only thing I'm really "missing", that and frankly more research experience because literally the more the better (I've been a co-author on a presentation at my subfield's annual conference, but the next step would be to co-author a published article, which for an undergrad is f'in hard to do but theres nothing saying I couldn't get there.)

                      Mora: I've heard that the general way to practice for the subject test is to break out your intro psych text from freshman year and just essentially re-read it. I hope to not have to take it.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Graduate students

                        Yeah, you sound like where I was when I was looking to get into graduate school. Spoiler: I didn't for like a year and I had to settle for a master's program at a small school.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Graduate students

                          Weren't you applying for clinical though? All the fields are tough to get into but clinical is ridiculous.

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Graduate students

                            Second time around it was counseling. Still a *****!

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: Graduate students

                              You should apply to Minnesota; their psychology program is A plusses.

                              Comment

                              Previous 1 2 template Next
                              Working...
                              X