<p>i plan on applying to the top mechanical engineering grad schools this fall, such as stanford and berkeley, for a MS or phD</p>
<p>I've heard from my advisor and others that some graduate programs have a minimum cut-off score for the GRE verbal where they are very unlikely to accept applicants who do not meet that score.</p>
<p>i emailed a few of the schools and they all said that they dont have a minimum score, but a couple did give away their averages, which were in the 520-550 range. they do let in others with scores lower than that, but i assume those applicants had superb gpa, letters of rec, etc. My gpa (3.85) and letters of rec will only be about average compared to other applicants</p>
<p>on the practice exams, i'm scoring in the low 500 range (about 500-520) . should i be very concerned about this?</p>
<p>No, not very concerned however I’d be somewhat concerned. Many top engineering grad schools do include the verbal averages or the combined score in thier entering class stats.
If they do that, its gotta be worth something. </p>
<p>The the thing is with GRE verbal, you can up your score by studying. Get the Princeton review book. It has wordlists in it. I’d spend the time memorizing them. Also get the GRE 10th Edition test prep book. Take all the verbal tests, and memorize the words that make you miss questions. You’ll get your score up by 40ish points on verbal.</p>
<p>Try to practise Reading Comprehension, there are the easiest points.</p>
<p>But do not fret over it - you should get a good quantitative and a decent GPA (usually they say anything from 3.5-4.0). Focus on adding research experience and being a perfect fit.</p>
<p>You cant increase your verbal score by studying! My test had like one word from all of the review books! It helped on one question, which obviously will not increase your score. I would still make sure you do this method of studying though. </p>
<p>You may want to email programs directly and ask them if you will be competitive with your verbal score or if you should retake it. I am in another science field, but my guess is that you may be fine if you get a 500+. Just make sure your essays are great! You will get comments about your score being so low.</p>
<p>500 is not low for engineering, and a score above 500 does not bring anything useful to the program - they are not looking for writers and novelists! Since you have not yet taken the exam, spend a little time studying but focus more on the quantitative - in engineering a 500V is okay but a 750Q is a little low!</p>
<p>i’ve taken two computer practice tests for the quantitatitve, and scored 770 and 790 on them, so i’m not worried about that</p>
<p>i’m thinking of just taking the exam asap so i can get it over it. but i’m really worried that i may score less than 500 on the verbal. how bad will it look if i have to retake the exam?</p>
<p>i didnt want to create a new thread, but i just took the GRE today, and must say… i BOMBed it badlyyyy</p>
<p>got a 710 math, and 490 verbal, but havent seen my essay scores yet, though i’m sure i got at least a 4.5 on that. but the math score is bugging me like hell since its so bad. i was getting 770+ on the practice tests… do i need to retake the test?</p>
<p>Mobius: I’d say you should retake. I got V:600 Q:700 on my recent test and am really considering retaking because of the low Q score. I was also scoring higher (750) on the practice tests, but ended up not finishing on the actual test. Personally I think it has to do with the 1.75 hours of writing/verbal before it that brought down my Q score. </p>
<p>Average scores for graduate engineering programs hover around 750 from what I’ve seen. I’m thinking about retaking and am NOT considering the high caliber schools you mentioned (and am only interested in MS programs which have lower requirements than PhD programs), so I would say you should definitely retake to up the Q score and make sure to get a V score in the 500’s. The schools don’t want novelists, but at the same time I think it’s worth taking the time to get in a higher percentile rank than 500 will give. I just studied flash cards and went up 80 points consistently on the practice tests and ended up with +100 from my original score.</p>
<p>Mobius, since you are applying to top engineering schools, I strongly suggest that you retake the test, as painful as it will be. The low verbal score isn’t the issue as much as the Q score. Even if you hit 750, that would be better. For most programs, the GREs don’t matter as long as they are within a certain range; however, engineering programs, particularly top ones, seem to weigh the Q scores more heavily than other grad programs.</p>
<p>Remember that the first 10-15 questions determine your eventual scores, so answer them with care. But also make sure you leave enough time to solve the tougher questions. (Like JohnWillkins, my D ran out of time, and she randomly guessed on the last ten questions. Although she still scored over 700, she kicked herself for not being more careful with the time because she probably would have scored 800 otherwise.)</p>
<p>If you are still in school, sign up to take it again next month before the semester gets crazy. Study for both sections since you could probably get your verbal score higher as well. Although people have said on this forum that you can’t study for the verbal, I disagree. Yes, you may not see any of your newly memorized words on the test; however, the process of memorizing them and of thinking of vocabulary, as well as practicing how to solve the analogies and how to look at the reading passages, hones your verbal thinking skills.</p>
<p>'Remember that the first 10-15 questions determine your eventual scores, so answer them with care. But also make sure you leave enough time to solve the tougher questions. (Like JohnWillkins, my D ran out of time, and she randomly guessed on the last ten questions. Although she still scored over 700, she kicked herself for not being more careful with the time because she probably would have scored 800 otherwise.)</p>
<p>If you are still in school, sign up to take it again next month before the semester gets crazy. Study for both sections since you could probably get your verbal score higher as well. Although people have said on this forum that you can’t study for the verbal, I disagree. Yes, you may not see any of your newly memorized words on the test; however, the process of memorizing them and of thinking of vocabulary, as well as practicing how to solve the analogies and how to look at the reading passages, hones your verbal thinking skills.'</p>
<p>i dont what was with me, but i missed about 4 or 5 questions on the end for the verbal and quantitative each. on the practice tests, i did have some issues with time management as i barely finished on time (literally answered the last question in the final few seconds)</p>
<p>i dont know about first 15 questions determinign your score. i’m pretty sure i got 1 wrong on those at most for the quantitative, so that doesnt explain my very low score</p>
<p>whats ironic is that i took another practice test today for the Q, and got 780. this time, i never double checked my answers as i focused primarily on just time management</p>
<p>would a score of 780 make up for my 710 Q, and still allow me acceptance into the top schools?</p>
<p>First, your Q score was not “very low” – it was just low for a top engineering program. I think a lot of people take the GREs twice, and most universities will look at the second, or most recent, score.</p>
<p>Even if you can’t raise your Q score, don’t give up. Apply to a few top programs with the hope that they’ll decide from the rest of your application that you just don’t test well. You’ll have to add a few less competitive schools as well, however, just in case.</p>
<p>OK in all seriousness, I am not an expert here, but is this really necessary? As an aspiring grad student, I would remind those giving advice that we have lots of other things which may be more important to be doing! I strongly feel literacy is all one needs, but could be wrong. I hear that even GPA for engineers isn’t quite as important as research experience, and I certainly can’t see the GRE verbal being taken into consideration much. It certainly is not for math graduate schools, judging by friends’ stats + their success in admission. Further, for math it tends to be true that the Q section of the GRE is ridiculously trivial stuff to judge someone on, and the subject test (though also not altogether super important) is considered more strongly. Is there not an equivalent statement to be made about engineering graduate school?</p>
<p>It really would not make much sense to me for there to be much weight given to anything beyond schedule, research experience, and letters of recommendation, with a possible extra bit of weight for the good ol’ GRE subject tests…</p>
<p>I am expressing surprise and skepticism more than making any assertions.</p>
<p>Mathboy, if Mobius takes it a second time, he will do well to show improvement in both areas. He cannot decide to send only the math (I don’t think). Besides, a 490 V is still low for a top program. He should break 500 because of the psychological factor when the committee sees his application.</p>
<p>It would be foolish to retake the GRE, get 780 in Q and get <490 in the verbal.</p>
<p>‘It would be foolish to retake the GRE, get 780 in Q and get <490 in the verbal.’</p>
<p>what if that actually happens? i thought i got the 490 because i didnt answer the last 4 or so questions at the end. but i took another practice test yesterday, answered all the questions, and got a 450! </p>
<p>i took two prior practice tests before last week’s actual test, and got above 500 in each of them, so maybe thats not something to worry about?</p>