11 August 2006

a GREvious requirement

So, the GRE. I have taken it twice now. Not for a better score, but because after five years, your scores “expire.” I guess, after five years, it would be easy to forget the antonym of “encomium” and what the ratio of the sides in a 30-60-90 triangle is.

So, I got to take the GRE for the second time last week, seven years after I took it the first time.

I am one of those annoying people that does not get nervous before standardized tests. I only took the SAT once (and I never took the PSAT or the SAT in junior high or any of that crap), and got a 700 on both sides. That was fine with me. Maybe I would’ve felt differently if I hadn’t done as well, but I never felt like I should get a higher score on the SAT or that the score was somehow indicative of how “smart” I was.

The first time I GRE’d, there were verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections. At that time, analytical was basically logic problems and generally gave test-takers the most trouble. Because of my training in philosophy, that’s the section I scored the highest in (I can’t remember the number, but it came out to 94th percentile). I scored in the 60th percentile in math, which was fine with me because I was pursuing a Ph.D. in the humanities. In verbal, my score was only in the 85th percentile. I was disappointed with this score, because I felt it didn’t accurately reflect my facility with language. However, I wasn’t disappointed enough to re-take the $100 exam (that was the price in the late 1990s).

After taking the GRE again, I’ve confirmed that my math skillz are bad. Well, really, they’re more “rusty” than “bad,” if that distinction makes any sense. I scored in the 50th percentile in math. And that score would’ve been much, much worse if I hadn’t done some test prep.

This time around, verbal score went up quite a bit—from 85th to 95th percentile. I guess grad school and work have made me a little smarter, after all. That feels good.

Of course, ETS has eliminated the section on which I scored the highest the first time around, analytical. However, I am sure that this time around, I would not have scored so high on that section. It’s been a long time since I took symbolic logic.

Instead, there was an “analytical writing” section in which I was given a choice of two statements. I chose one and had 45 minutes to write a persuasive essay based on the statement. Then, I was given a short paragraph about an issue, on which I had to write a critical assessment of the argument in 30 minutes. I felt pretty solid about those, though that kind of writing always feels so contrived to me. I don’t get my score on the writing section for another two to three weeks, so I may have more to write then.

Of course, none of this commentary means that much, because the GRE is supposedly undergoing a major overhaul. ETS is rolling out a new, and supposedly much different, version in Fall 2007. I still think the GRE sucks. Educational testing is a racket! At $130, the GRE is, by far, the most expensive part of preparing a graduate school application. Yet, GRE scores, in my experience, do not correlate to one’s success or failure in grad school. At all.

It’s hard not to feel more than a little cynical about ETS’ call for more “accountability” (read: testing) in higher education. ETS is supposedly a nonprofit, but I don’t buy that for a minute.

I was a bit nervous about telling Grad Director about my GRE math score. Mysterious Discipline isn’t particularly math-oriented, but it does use applied math quite a bit and certainly values the math score a lot more than a humanities program. He said my math score was above average for the discipline and that my verbal score was excellent, boosting my strength as a candidate. So, $130 and a few stressful weeks later, I guess I accomplished what I needed to on the GRE. But it doesn’t it make me any happier about having had to do it.

I know the GRE is a distant memory for most of my readers, but how did you feel about the test? Your scores? Their impact on your grad school application?

7 comments:

Musey_Me said...

I don't have many memories about my own GRE other than I know that the scores got me an assistantship which was awesome! From the other side, I can say that the folks with whom I've worked have a love/hate relationship with GRE scores. If they know the candidate, it seems that they are more willing to overlook inadequate scores. I also know that between the two programs within which I look at scores, there is a HUGE difference in the scores that are considered acceptable. So, I think the best thing to do is make sure one or more people in your new department have a chance to meet you - then the scores aren't as big a deal (though, they still count even then.) Of course, with the verbal score you got, you should be in good shape either way!

Another Damned Medievalist said...

I loved the analytical part -- and scored highest there, too. And bombed the math. But everyone seemed really impressed by my scores, and Big Name at Beachy U thought they would get me in anywhere. (I had a 700 verbal and 740 analytical). But I'd never taken the SAT (I transferred from a CC, because I didn't want to ask my mom for the money to take the SAT or the PSAT, because money was really tight. If I'd known that they could get me money ...). But like you, I've never worried about standardised tests. The big problem I had was with the GRE subject test. I tested in History, and had taken TONS of History with an almost double major in Latin. Maybe 15% of the questions were on Europe before 1500. At least half were on US stuff, and it seemed like there were just tons on the transcendentalists. So I didn't apply anywhere that required the subject exam.

Terminal Degree said...

I didn't have to take the regular GRE a decade ago when applying to schools. One uni required the music GRE, however, so I took it for that. It simply reminded me of how much I didn't know.

The irony? None of the schools at which I was accepted actually required the darned thing. Talk about wasted time, energy, and money!

comebacknikki said...

I didn't have to take the GRE for any of the MA programs I applied to. They all had a requirement of 3.8 GPA or higher in undergrad or the GRE. However, all of the PhD programs I'm looking at require it, so I'm a little freaked out. I've never had trouble w/standardized tests, but I've heard really horrible things about the test.

unsafe.at.any.speed said...

Musey--hooray for assistantships. I guess that makes taking the GRE worth it, literally! Interesting about knowing vs. not knowing a candidate; I agree that makes a huge difference. I am hoping that my mad charm is winning the Grad Director over, along with my verbal score. If he loves me, it's surely not for my math scores.

ADM--Dang, you are a GRE genius! Subject tests seems difficult and even more patently unfair, as "subjects" vary so widely between institutions. Particularly for history that cover so much, well, history.

Terminal--that totally stinks. But I guess one can never know in advance where one will be accepted and/or want to attend.

comebacknikki--I hear you about not being excited. GRE definitely falls in the "necessary evil" category for me. When are you planning on taking it? Let me know if you want me to send you the GRE test prep book I got--what the heck else can I do with it?! I'd love to send it along to a blog friend ...

Ewan said...

Honest? - I loved the GRE. It allowed a non-US (and hence non-GPA) applicant to have a quantified score of something vaguely correlated with intelligence (although, agreed, not with grad school success). Plus, watching the faces of my fellow test-takers as I went for coffee halfway through was glorious :).

[I have a brain set up for this kind of test. Too bad about the move to more continuous assessment these days ;)]

Anonymous said...

wow gold
wow gold
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow gold@@@@
World of Warcraft Gold
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
rolex replica
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
replica rolex
powerleveling
powerleveling
powerleveling
powerleveling
power leveling
power leveling
powerleveling
powerleveling
power leveling
power leveling
power leveling
power leveling
power leveling
power leveling
power leveling
power leveling
rolex
wow gold
wow gold
Warcraft Gold
Warcraft Gold

中高年 転職
アルバイト 求人情報
ブライダル
転職
競馬
FX
ダイエット
お見合い
競馬 予想
新築マンション
新築マンション
コンタクトレンズ
婚約指輪
合宿免許
人材派遣
東京都 墓地
派遣会社
人材派遣
パチンコ 攻略
おなら

货架
OCR
OCR
手机词典
高速扫描
机票
灭蟑螂
蜗轮减速机
减速机
齿轮减速机
丝杆升降机
租房
租房
北京租房
北京租房
搬家公司
北京搬家
北京搬家公司
上海机票
上海机票
上海打折机票
上海打折机票
上海特价机票
上海特价机票
搬家公司
搬家公司
北京搬家公司
北京搬家公司

dgffjhghk