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The GRE/MCAT Mega-Thread - Ask Related Questions Here!

>>My question with the GRE is why, if you are applying for a PHD program in say literature, must you complete or score well in the math sections?>>

humanities (and related) programs put much less stock in the math section.

ebola
 
good lord i'm nervous about taking this test.

i got acepted by a grad program, but not the university yet, and they require the GREs. i can get into a test in a couple weeks, but that leaves very little time to prep.

*runs out and gets the Barron's guide*
 
American Post-Grad Programs Without GRE

I'd like more information on which American Uni's currently accept Doctoral candidates for their Humanities programs without requiring them to submit GRE scores.



I already have my B.A and M.A from Stateside Uni's which though major State Schools were in reality more focused on excellence in hoops or the gridiron than in the classroom 8)



I've taken the GRE on multiple occasion....all with dreadful results.....but since finishing Grad School I've managed to compile a fairly impressive resume and as long as those darn scores don't come into the equation I should be able to cajole some Uni into letting me into a post-Grad program.
 
Taking the GRE

I performed a search but I really didn't find anything that was very helpful. I'm not very good at studying. I didn't study for the SAT and I got a TERRIBLE score, because of my math section, but I didn't study for it either. I received a really good verbal score. Now it's time to take the GRE.

Should I take a class for the GRE? My school offers them in summer, but they're $237 per class, and I would want to take both the verbal and the math review. I need to get an excellent score on it because I haven't been amazing in college, so my admissions will probably be based off of my scores and my letters of recommendation.

So should I shell out the $474 to take the classes, or should I just buy the books and study on my own?

Also, have any of you taken the computer based test? I'm curious as to how it is, or if I should take the test this way as opposed to on paper since it's way more convenient on the computer.
 
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I went to a mediocre undergrad school and then got into my top choice for grad schools in sociology. Here are my experiences:

1. The verbal section is like the SATs, only with more esoteric vocabulary. Trying to fill your head with new words won't really work, as any number of words could appear on the test. You have to learn how to guess effectively.
2. The math section is EASY, covering only stuff up to basic algebra and geometry. Consequently, the percentiles are way skewed: a perfect score is only 90th percentile. The only way the questions are difficult is if they are trickily worded.
3. The writing section is new, but I found it to be the easiest. Honest to god, post-whoring on message boards prepared me for it. :)

Fuck the expensive prep courses. You can likely get a Kaplan book from your campus library (or something equivalent) and do some practice tests. I only studied for 10 hours, which was likely a mistake. I coulda done better.

The computerized test is weird. It has an algorithm that ratchets up the difficulty of your questions (and its predicted score for you) if you get a question right. Because of how it works, the questions at the beginning count for a lot more than those at the end. I don't know much about the paper and pencil test.

My particular admissions committee cared a lot more about my letters of rec and statement of purpose than the GRE. YMMV.

ebola
 
My genetics professor said that the best way to prep for the vocab part of the test is to read a medical/scientific article once a day for a few months. Don't just breeze over words you don't know...look them up! He said it will help you immensely.
 
GRE vs. GMAT

I am in the process of researching grad school programs. I have selected a few I like and one school offers the choice of either a GRE score or a GMAT score to get into the program. A couple of the others say I either need the GRE or GMAT. I am leaning more towards the GMAT because the main thing Im interested in seems to be wanting that test more than the other.

Im worried because I am terrible with math. In high school I only did to algebra 2. In college I tested and had to retake pre-algebra, algebra 1 and 2. I am terrified to have to take an exam on anything math related. I went and bought a GMAT book by Kaplan and its really helpful.

I was wondering what your experiences were? Which exam is harder would you say? Why would one school want the GRE and one school want the GMAT even though the program is almost identical.

Also one school Emerson requires only 10 courses...Suffolk requires 12. I guess I just thought it would be more standardized.

I would be going towards Integrated Marketing Communications.
 
I heard the GRE was harder than the MCAT, but of course that's just a few opinions. I've never heard of the GMAT? As I've gone through school, the only 2 tests people talk about have been the MCAT and GRE (I'm a biology student).
 
"GRE stands for the Graduate Records Examination; it is a multiple-choice and standardized test given by the Educational Testing Service. Colleges and Universities use the results of the GRE to help them decide which students to accept to their graduate programs. Therefore it is similar to the well-known SAT test except that the GRE is used for acceptance to graduate instead of undergraduate. The GRE is a computerized test that can be taken at authorized testing centers at virtually any time during the year."

More info: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-gre.htm

"The GMAT is the Graduate Management Admission Test, a test meant for people who wish to pursue graduate study of business. Most graduate schools of business use the GMAT as one of the criteria by which they assess potential students. The weight given to the GMAT when applying to a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program varies from school to school, with some giving it a great deal of importance and others focusing much more on an interview or prior experience in the business world."

more info: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-gmat.htm

The mcat I believe is for medical related fields, right? I find the GRE and GMAT to be very similar to each other from what I have googled around and found. On various message boards I found in the search people said the GMAT quantitative section was harder. The GMAT is also available as a computerized test.
 
I'm using a Kaplan guide for the GMAT, no test prep otherwise. IMHO the GRE is easier but I'm a business major so GMAT it is. Can't really offer advice except to do the practice exams over and over. I have a strong math background but the essays have me worried! Anyway, best of luck :)
 
For Medical schools, I've heard that the scores for the essays don't really hold much weight. It might be the same for the GMAT? I've taken the MCAT (yes, it's for med school DG), and it's a bit strange how I scored. I did very very well on the verbal reasoning which is the one part most people run out of time and can't even finish. It's usually one's lowest score whereas for me it was my highest score and I had about 15 minutes left over. I wish I had done so well on the other parts. :-/ I'm thinking about taking it over again to see if I can do better.

Anyway, good luck vandalaay. The whole day is pretty tiring. For the MCAT it is from 8am to 5pm with a small lunch break in between. It's so mentally exhausting!
 
Wow thats a full work day! The GMAT is only 4 hours long.
 
4 hours is heaven compared to the MCAT. You start at 7am to check in. I thought that 5pm was just an extrapolated figure and we would finish earlier, but nope...5pm sharp was when we were done. I think I slept for the entire day afterwards. LOL

I heard they changed it though? I heard you can take parts of it now without taking the whole thing? When I took it, you had to do the whole thing.
 
mmmm...maybe. With regards to the general GRE (not any subject-specific test), the esoteric words lay outside of stuff that you'll commonly find even in scientific writing.

ebola
 
ebola? said:
mmmm...maybe. With regards to the general GRE (not any subject-specific test), the esoteric words lay outside of stuff that you'll commonly find even in scientific writing.

ebola
Click to expand...


I didn't realize the GRE was something taken for non-science majors. I just looked it up and realized it's different from the MCAT in that there are variations. I thought they were the same since a lot of my classmates were studying for either the GRE or the MCAT. Now I see the GRE is more diverse than the typical DAT, MCAT, GMAT, etc.
 
Well, it can be 2 tests.
There is the general GRE, which the vast majority of entrants to academic grad programs take. And then there are subject-specific GREs for many disciplines.

ebola
 
Who's really hard is actually DRE:

070222dr-dre.jpg
 
Before I started working on my MBA, I took both. The GMAT is something that's going to come a bit more naturally if your undergraduate work has been in business as well, but the GRE is far more generalized and, personally, took quite a bit more prep work.

Admissions boards for graduate business programs are careful and thorough enough to take notice when someone has prepared well for and taken both exams. If you're really at an impasse and can't decide which to choose, try calling an admissions representative from a few of the schools you're considering.
 
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