<p>So I just recently got back from taking my second GRE exam, and I got a V:330 and Q:450, yeah a very dismal score. This is my second time taking the test and I simply just don't know what to do anymore. The first time around I got roughly the same score and after the first time I knew I needed to study. So I bought the Kaplan book, I bought the GRE test book, and my parents were kind enough to hire a tutor but apparently all of that was a waste of time and money.</p>
<p>I can understand doing bad at the verbal because that was never my forte but, the poor math score kills me because I'm an Applied Physics Major! On every practice test I've done up until now I've always scored in the mid-600s to low 700s range in the quantitative section. I took two practice computer tests yesterday and I scored in the 500 range in the verbal on both and mid-600s in the Q on both. </p>
<p>I'd also like to mention that I've never had time issue on the math section but on the test today I had to leave 6-7 questions blank because I ran out of time.</p>
<p>Should I even bother taking this test again? The grad school I'm applying to doesn't require GRE scores but if I want financial aid, I have to do well on them...</p>
<p>To say I'm extremely frustrated is probably a big understatement.</p>
<p>Did you rush in the beginning of the test? I found that spending a little more time to answer correctly the first 10-15 questions of both sections helps you score higher even if you answer incorrectly on the last couple questions.</p>
<p>Maybe you should consider getting a math workbook if you decide to retake it. However, you should check if there is a desired test date available this close to deadlines.</p>
<p>Is English your native language? If so, 330 is extremely low. I suggest you take some drastic measures to improve it. Read, read, read. Get Barron’s 800 high frequency vocab word book and just pound on it until you’ve gone through it 5 times. Also, just practice, practice, practice reading comprehension passages. As an applied physics major, how do you have such an incredibly low Q score? You should at least break 650. Forget understanding the concepts right now. Just take as many practice tests as you can and TIME yourself every single time. Do not take any practice exams and give yourself as much time as possible, you will be in a very bad habit come test time. Once you have your timing issues resolved, move on to improving which areas you are weak in.</p>
<p>If those “two practice computer tests” are GRE POWERPREP, they are actually a pretty good indicator of what your real scores are going to be. It looks like you had really the worst luck ever when taking the second test (the first one might be because you didn’t study) since you somehow ran out of time while in practice you’ve never had issues. Are you only studying on paper-based? Maybe the different format of paper and CAT caused you to freak out since you’re not used to it.</p>
<p>As you might’ve noticed, the CAT is pretty different from paper-based where the first 10 question weigh SIGNIFICANTLY more than the next 10 and much much more than the last 10. On powerprep, I tested scoring the first 10 correct 9/10, the second 10 correct every 3 questions, and the last 10 correct every 2 questions, and I got 720ish. When it’s done in reverse, I got 500ish. So some tips:
- make sure you get the first 10 questions correct - this will guarantee 600+ score.
- for the other 20 questions, don’t get them wrong continuously (i.e. 4 wrongs)</p>
<p>About the verbal… I’m not trying to raise alarm but 330 is low, if English is not your native language that’s kind of understandable, but still I suggest you do two things:
a) memorize GRE words, at least all of Kaplan’s 500 word (yes those do help)
b) practice many practice books, especially reading comprehension when you can get it right easily. By many, practice virtually ALL prep books you could (I did 20), e.g. go to bookstore (Borders etc), </p>
<p>English is also not my native language, my first practice scores was 300-400ish and for two weeks I stared 12-18 hours/day in front of computer memorizing 3000 words. It failed, of course, but I memorized 1500+ or at least gotten familiar with them, and it did help raise my score to 500.</p>
<p>If you are planning on taking the real GRE again sometime really soon, you may want to approach studying differently than if you are not planning on taking the real GRE again for some time (and thus perhaps postponing applying to grad school).</p>
<p>If you really want to take the GRE again soon, I might be wrong, but for a physics program, maybe it’d be better to just entirely forgo studying for the verbal section, and focus entirely on the math section. I’m not doubting your studying capabilities or anything. I’m just saying that maybe if you have a strong enough math score, especially since a physics program would probably care a lot more about your math score, a bump of your verbal score from 330 to maybe a 500 or so (even this much is tough for anyone), wouldn’t really matter that much in the eyes of the admissions committee.</p>
<p>Check out the link provided by the 3rd poster here to see that even students with very low verbal scores get into electrical engineering programs: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/gre-prep/1046539-i-only-get-3-aw.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/gre-prep/1046539-i-only-get-3-aw.html</a></p>
<p>On the other hand, remember that there is nothing wrong with postponing applying to grad school even for upwards of 3 or 4 years, as long as you’re spending that time productively (e.g., studying for the GRE, doing conference-presentable research posters (even small on-campus conferences are fine), and other concrete things that you could mention in your application essay). So if you do decide to postpone applying to grad school, then you can take a deep breath and take your time studying for both the math and verbal sections of the GRE.</p>
<p>tldr: It might be better to decide whether you’re going to apply to grad school now or later when deciding how you’re gonna tackle studying for the GRE.</p>