proximoception: (Default)
proximoception ([personal profile] proximoception) wrote2005-10-04 01:15 am

(no subject)

I'm wondering if this GRE prep book was maybe a waste of money: I've taken most of the sample tests and the recent scores are about the same as the first. Also I'm deeply distrustful of preparation guides in general. I got one out of the library the night before I took the SAT, earned high 1500s on two sample tests and went to bed happy. I got I think 1370. Not the end of the world but the library deserved its money back. Also the questions I'm missing in this GRE book are too frequently equivocal or insane, esp. the ones for Reading Comprehension (my personal trouble area, apparently); I hope against hope that these aren't representative of the actual exam. Clearly my vanity plan of drilling my way to 1600 won't pan out; but my position's precarious enough given my education history that I need to score as high as I'm capable of. Anyone who's gone through this have any tips?

[identity profile] ex-commonpl.livejournal.com 2005-10-04 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
If it makes you feel any better, I don't remember the GREs; I forgot there was a reading comprehension section at all. The way the scoring system shakes out, you can miss quite a few and still be in the 97th or 98th percentile, even though your raw verbal score is 92% or something (which, if memory serves, is not quite how the SAT works). So you'll feel like you're doing a lot worse than you are, in my experience: the test-taking experience will be extremely demoralizing, but you'll turn out okay. As the commentor above said, you might as well ignore the quantitative section, I've been told that nobody looks at that, unless it has some relation to your field.

(I curse the GREs. I will soon be paying those bastards about $150 that I don't have to send my scores out again. Makes me sick.)

[identity profile] proximoception.livejournal.com 2005-10-04 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Tried looking this up and found an SAT/GRE IQ estimated conversion site, http://members.shaw.ca/delajara/GREIQ.html

On the shaky basis of practice tests I've gained ten IQ points in the last twelve years. I'll attribute this to art films and doing the Jumble and try to ignore how wildly invalid this makes all these tests look.

[identity profile] proximoception.livejournal.com 2005-10-04 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Also: I KNEW IT. They re-weighted the higher scores for 1995 and after! My 1370 is like today's 1450. Justice and vengeance are mine, mead for all!