GRE score interpretation...

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm applying to some pretty well-regarded CS PhD programs and today took my GRE. I was pretty tired and hungry throughout the test due to a lack of foresight on my part. I ended up scoring a 800 Quant, 650 Verb, and I felt just okay about my essays. Should I retake? Is a 650 Verb score that bad? My other qualifications are pretty good - 3.95 GPA, getting an MS in 4 years, 3 years of research, etc.</p>

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Is a 650 Verb score that bad?

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Not in the least -- a 650 on verbal is above the 90th percentile for all test takers. (The latest available percentiles are on page 13 of this</a> pdf, but it's possible that the percentiles you'll get on your score report will be a few points different because percentile/score matches are recalculated frequently.)</p>

<p>A 650 in verbal would probably be perfectly adequate if you were applying for English PhD programs; as a CS applicant, your verbal score won't be looked at particularly closely anyway.</p>

<p>Aye, scores mean nothing if you don't look at how they're interpreted -- in this case ~94th percentile quantitative and ~90th percentile vebral -- and extremely strong combination. Don't be deceived by the verbal scores, this isn't the SAT -- 700 is top 3% and 600 is top 15% of all test-takers.</p>

<p>I have a question regarding the GRE. So there's a quantitative portion (math), verbal, and writing. Which is the analytical portion? Is it different from analytical writing?</p>

<p>analytical writing replaced the analytical section a couple years back</p>

<p>ah. the schools probably still had the statistic on their website because the scores are good for like 5 years. thanks.</p>