My kid was asking me about this today, and I didn’t find it with an initial search. But my guess is that it has been asked before.
Her regular GRE went great on her first attempt. But her subject test was pretty awful (taken last spring). So she studied and took it again this fall, and did MUCH better (over a 50% jump in her percentile, to a very respectable score vs the first one).
Some of her grad schools want her to upload the results. The only apparent way for her to do that is to click on the button in the GRE site to create a .pdf of her scores and upload that, but that one shows all the scores (including the dismal one). They don’t actually say she should send official scores (they say they will make a decision with unofficial ones). But… if the application doesn’t require the upload for submission (you CAN hit submit and it will take the app without the upload) and does not say that all scores are required, should we just pay to have official scores sent using score select to show just the latest scores? This difference in scores is HUGE.
The other thing about her app is that her GPA is not terrific (overall or in her major). It is probably skimming the lower level of acceptable to most of the programs she is applying to (although it is for a college known for rigor and in a difficult major, physics). So I think that does boost the importance of the subject test GRE – if she had a solid GPA, I would probably tell her not to worry about it and just upload the .pdf that shows all scores.
Thoughts?
I presume that the subject score is in physics? I would suggest to use score select because if she is applying to highly selective programs, the GRE and GPA are what they look at to do an initial triage for the applications. If she is applying to some smaller programs, they will look at all the applications and make their decisions based on all factors.
The Physics GRE is problematic because it is well known that women and under-represented minorities consistently do more poorly on it. Many physics programs are paying attention to this and trying to pay a little less attention but when you have hundreds of applications an initial cut needs to be made.
In discussions with my advisees at Illinois Tech, I tell them to apply to one or two of the highly selective programs but also look into a few programs which are not as selective but which have very good researchers. The most important thing for your career in physics is your thesis advisor. I know that the students graduating from IIT with a good advisor generally have no problem getting good positions even though our program is small and not one of those highly ranked ones.
In any case, good luck to your daughter and if she wishes to have a more detailed discussion, i am certainly willing to help. Itis easy to find me.
Yes, @xraymancs, physics. First shot last spring (pretty much cold) was 22nd percentile (ouch). Second shot this fall after studying was 74th percentile. She is not applying to tippy top programs; she has 9 programs on her list right now (one is a funded masters program, and she may look for one more of those), and 2-3 of the PhD programs her advisor considers a reach. He has steered her away from a few where he thinks the program has a poor reputation with women grad students, or are “easy to get into but hard to get out of”, and has pointed her to some that he thinks have good thesis advisors in her area of interest. She is interested in experimental solid state/magnetism work with the eventual goal of working in a lab or industry, and has a pretty solid dose of research on multiple projects under her belt, with a first author position on a poster presentation at a national conference.
The problem comes that some colleges require that the GRE score report be uploaded before they will allow application submission (even if they also require having the official score sent from ETS). If she could do score select and send a report to herself, then upload that, it would work – but there is no way to send a report to yourself, either, only to colleges. I guess she is going to have to bite the bullet on the ones where they insist on an upload and give them all the scores. But if at all possible, she will send the formal score using score select instead. Thanks for the input. 
74th percentile is pretty good for a US student in general. This will not harm her at all and if any reasonable program sees both the scores, they will understand that the second score is more representative of her ability. We have about 30% female Ph.D. students and we typically look at the whole application instead of focusing on the GRE scores. Personally, I think the GPA is more indicative of the ability of the student.
I think she will likely get into a number of the programs she is applying to but if she wants to hedge her bets, she should look into the [American Physical Society Bridge program](http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/) and put in an application there too. Even if she does not get into the Bridge program, her application will be distributed to all the Bridge Program partners, many of whom will eagerly make her an offer in July. The Bridge Program only considers students after the April 15 National decision day deadline so if she does not get into the programs she wants, this can be a great backup.