So I took the GRE today, as the previous posts would suggest. It was an interesting experience.
The analytical writing section was first, and I think I did pretty well on that. I won't get my scores for a few weeks (around 6 I think). I wrote an essay about the benefits of studying history, and another essay punching holes in a statement about writers going into television rather than print.
Then came the verbal. Verbal on the GRE is a tricky beast because of the obscurity of the words they use. I finished with a few minutes to spare, and felt like I had done alright. I think I got the first question right, which is the most critical question, and by the end I wasn't getting easy stuff, so it seemed like I was doing ok, but my score was somewhat disappointing (see the bottom of the post).
A quick stretch later I was taking the quantitative. Now, math is my strong point. The quantitative is 28 questions and you get 45 minutes. (Verbal is 30 questions, 30 minutes). So it requires more time for each question. I was moving along doing my work on the provided scratch paper, and I realized I was running out of time. I wasn't keeping a good enough pace. So I began hurrying up a bit. I then had to really push through the last 5 questions, jotting down a quick calculation and then making an educated guess. So by the end I was a little frazzled (since I'm usually good at this) and was unsure what to expect from the score, but you'll see I did pleasantly well.
I wrapped up writing another quick essay for the research area, which doesn't count for anything, and then went for the scores. I had my expectations going into this of doing fairly well. I was expecting a 7xx for the Quantitative, and a 6xx for the Verbal, my scores were not quite what I expected:
Quantitative: 800 (Woot!)
Verbal: 540 ( :-| should have been better)
Strangely the percentile scoring for these two sections do not relate to the number score the same. According to the estimates I've seen, 800 Q is 92 percentile. 540 V is 70 percentile. However a 760 V is 99 percentile; so the Verbal is clearly harder than the quantitative for reasons uknown to me. My scores are plenty good enough to get into the Master's program here, so I should be all set for next year.... now all I have to do is apply for the program, and graduate in April....
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3 comments:
Congratulations on passing the GRE. You scored a little better than I did on the Quantitative (790), and I was a math major.
You might be interested in learning that in the time period May 1967 to April 1970, when I took the GRE, a score of 800 in the Quantitative put you in the 98th percentile for men, or 99 percentile total. A score of 540 on the Verbal was better than 58 percent of the men, and 54 percent of the women.
Back then a score of 760 on the Verbal put you in the 98th percentile, for both men and women. Had you gotten a score of 540 on the Quantitative you would have done better than 43 percent of the men, but better than 69 percent of the women, or 59 percent better than the total.
Yeah, that verbal section is a beast. I mean, who knows like calumny and fusillade anyways? Congrats on acing the quantitative.
When I take it, I'm not telling my scores. I'm sure I'll still hate them.
:)
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