<p>Anyone else find this the case? This test seems even less well-designed than the SAT.</p>
<p>GRE Verbal
So it's really a luck of the draw with this section, unless you happened to master Latin or memorize the dictionary. My scores have ranged anywhere from 350 to 700 on this section regardless of amount of study, mainly due to which words showed up and which I remembered.</p>
<p>GRE Quantity
Why is the scale messed up? 700-something is 80th percentile, compared to 600-something for verbal? And 800 is only 94th percentile?</p>
<p>GRE Writing
Particularly the Issue topic part. I think this is self-explanatory.</p>
<p>Of all of the tests I've tried so far, LSAT seems the best designed because it completely tests you on thinking ability rather than bogus memorization.</p>
<p>Math is “messed up” cuz many math/engineering/physics students get 800’s. If you want an 800 to be 99th percentile, the test would have to be much harder, and many non-science students would be royally screwed.</p>
<p>Verbal
Your Verbal scores are insane - I have taken 2 practice, 1 real GRE and the total spread of my verbal was 20 points. A 350 score on the Verbal represents far more than a vocab issue. I would say vocab for most people should not affect scores more than 100 points at worst.</p>
<p>Quant
The scale is messed up because the test is intended to measure fundamental mathematical skills, not whether or not you took calculus - they have a seperate test for that! When you are limited to algebra and geometry, a large number of STEM graduates are going to cruise through it, affecting the scale. Another issue is that more accurately evaluating the true math skills of more advanced graduates would require a smaller number of more complicated problems, which would shut out liberal arts majors from the possibility of higher scores, increase variability in test-to-test scores, and generally make it even more capricious than it is now.</p>
<p>Writing
There are many problems with this section, which is why no one really cares as long as you beat a 4.0.</p>
<p>Have you designed a test like this? You praise the LSAT, which is designed to test future lawyers and can therefore specifically target certain skills and knowledge that applicants can be reasonably expected to possess. The GRE has to accommodate current and future philosophers, engineers, and journalists.</p>
<p>I agree this part is flawed for non-native English speakers, simply because the question difficulty rating is very skewed. A Latin or Greek based word for instance might be very difficult for a native speaker, but it could be trivial for me just because the same word exists in my language. On the other hand, a relatively common used word might be hard for me just because I do not have an equally deep English vocabulary as a native speaker.</p>