<p>how hard are they? is it like the SATs? i have to take it next year.</p>
<p>I've heard the math portion was comparable to the SAT's, but the verbal or whatever section was a tad harder.</p>
<p>I've heard similar to Knavis, but that the math problem was easier! But that's from a smart workaholic who's going to be studying with one of the most famous psychologists ever next year, so how about for the average college student thinking about grad school. Anyone?</p>
<p>Strong positive correlation between your SAT and GRE scores. You can improve the GRE math through review as most takers take very little math in college.</p>
<p>Your GRE score is pretty easy to bring up given some dedicated studying. In most places, you can take the test at the test center almost any day of the year, so take it at a time when you're not busy (I took it a few weeks ago; summer seems like a good time) and study beforehand.</p>
<p>Edit -- And I do think the math was easier (8% of people get a perfect score! You can't get a higher percentile than 92nd). You can't use a calculator, so they can only test math you do in your head. Although, they're changing it for 2006, so if you're taking it next year you can use an on-screen calculator. Details about the change are at <a href="http://www.gre.org%5B/url%5D">http://www.gre.org</a></p>
<p>I would actually argue that the questions on the math section of the GRE are SIGNIFICANTLY harder than the questions on the SAT-math. What happens on the computer-based test is that if you get a bunch of fairly easy initial questions correct, the difficulty of the later questions ramp up extremely quickly, such that you end up with some unbelievably difficult questions at the end. For example, I seem to strongly remember having to do some truly nasty factorizations of quadratic terms (of which the factorization ended up with a bunch of fractional terms), without the use of a calculator (at least, until 2006), and having only a little over a minute to do each question. </p>
<p>This is why merely studying the GRE books doesn't really give you a good idea of what to expect, because those books don't give you the feel for the dynamic nature of the exam. You should try some of those CAT-simulators, where the most you get right, the more difficult the questions become, until you finally end up with a long string of killer questions. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, I would agree that, if you're good at math, it isn't that hard to get an 800 or to get a high percentile. A GRE math 800 isn't really 'perfect' in the sense that you got all questions correct, it's just a scaled score, meaning that you managed to get yourself into the "supremely difficult question realm" and managed to perform respectably once you were there.</p>
<p>I guess my perception might be clouded by the fact that I didn't study at all for the SAT, but I did study quite a bit for the GRE, and my scores reflect that -- 690M on the SAT, 800Q on the GRE.</p>
<p>I suppose perhaps the questions might be difficult to answer without a calculator, but I think it's easier to play strategy on the GRE math than on the SAT. I spent almost half my time on the first ten GRE questions, making sure I was answering them correctly, and I have no doubt that's why I got the 800.</p>