<p>I am also having a plan of retaking the GRE in new format. But I am hesitant towards that. Whether it is possible to score good in this new format ? (I scored 1250 in old format)and how long did u prepared for the new GRE? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I’m a rising sophomore and took the new GRE today. My estimated scores were 750-800 (Q) and 690-790 (V). I went in there with about an hour of preparation—I familiarized myself with the format and went through a couple of practice sections (one verbal, one quantitative). With the exception of my second quantitative section (in which I ran out of time and had to guess on a couple of questions), I think I did pretty well. In fact, I was pretty surprised that my verbal estimates were lower than my quant ones—I thought I did much better on the verbal section. Background: math major, good standardized test taker (800CR, 740M, 800W on the SAT). Is there any consensus on the accuracy/variability of the estimated scores or are they complete bull?</p>
<p>Just got back from taking the GRE for the first time. I’m a third year senior at UCSD studying IR and spent about a month preparing for the test. I purchased the set of 500 Kaplan vocabulary flashcards as well as the Kaplan Premier and Kaplan Math supplement book. I took three of their full length practice tests online and scored like this:</p>
<p>Test 1: Q740-800, V700-800 (last weekend)
Test 2: Q750-800, V620-720 (Saturday)
Test 3: Q750-800, V720-800 (Sunday)</p>
<p>I ended up with a range of V640-740 and Q710-800. Overall, I felt like Kaplan did a good job preparing me for the test and there really weren’t too many surprises on test day. My test center even gave me a pair of noise canceling headphones so I was able to focus pretty well. The one thing that threw me off was that I was given an incredibly difficult 2nd quantitative section that in retrospect I think was the experimental. I’ve struggled with sections before in my practice but this was more so than those situations. It affected me in the next section as I was second guessing myself throughout the second verbal section. Now that it’s done with, I think I have a better idea of what to expect when taking the real thing and am planning to retake it in 60 days at the end of November. My goal is to get a 1400 or higher on the old scale but with a large range it’s hard to tell where my actual score will fall at this point. Now for the worst part…waiting</p>
<p>I’m wondering myself to what extent the supposed inflation of test scores on the new GRE as reflected on this site is due to the general makeup of people who are here. I’m sure that most of us are outliers when it comes to standardized test performance, and it seems like with the most recent poster, scores are pretty much in line with that received on practice exams. </p>
<p>Maybe this is just wishful thinking that the estimated scores that I got on the exam will hold up. 
They are somewhat in line with but higher than my SAT scores were, but given that I took the SAT cold and actually did significant preparation for the GRE, that is not that surprising.</p>
<p>Warning: long post, but here’s my take.</p>
<p>Background: Personally, I consider myself to be of high intelligence, although I’m not a genius. I test well but I also have anxiety problems and moderate ADD. School has and always will be hard for me, but I’m pushing myself to get into a top public health program and my goal is to eventually get involved with either health policy and reform or bioethics. I’m 25, have been out of undergrad for three years, and have a job where high vocabulary and mathematical skills aren’t regularly exercised.</p>
<p>Prep/Old Vs. New: I prepped for the old test but did a bit of a rush job. Kaplan told me I was getting in the 650-700V 600-650Q range on the old test. I attempted to take it the last week it was offered, but I was seated by the window in Midtown Manhattan and all I could hear were fire engines, even with noise cancelling headphones on. I stopped halfway through and ETS gave me a refund.</p>
<p>I prepped with Kaplan again for about a month (just the book) and took the new test the other week. I received an estimated 660-760V and 700-800Q, which was pretty much in line with what Kaplan said. I had three verbal sections and verbal was a bit harder than I expected. Math was pretty in-line with expectations. The ability to go back and forth allowed me to relax a lot more and I think really helped. The new test just feels like it’s testing intelligence and skills a lot more than the old, which felt more like a test of how well you take the GRE. The new one wasn’t necessarily easier, but it was different.</p>
<p>My Take: I would say that there’s probably a high “self-selection” bias in the people who post on this forum. I think that if you’re motivated to be on this forum, you’re also concerned about getting in and getting into good programs. I’m also guessing your average poster is of above-average intelligence. If the test truly is a test of intelligence and real skills, then having an easier time of it should be expected. My girlfriend is getting her doctorate but I have a better vocabulary than she does. I’ve been worried about how easy prepping for the test was for me, but I think we should all remember that many people don’t study, many people just take the GRE as a procedural hurdle to get into a not-so-great school, and that many people just aren’t that smart. I found the SAT easy, why shouldn’t I find the GRE relatively easy?</p>
<p>The other big thing to remember is if you took the old one and took the new one relatively soon afterward, the studying for the old one probably helped. That’s probably pretty obvious, but worth pointing out.</p>
<p>Just got back from my test and am super happy with my score range. I had taken the LSAT twice in undergrad when I was in my “I want to be a lawyer and have a Mercedes and work downtown” stage and bombed it both times with more study than I put into the GRE. And by bombed I mean below the 50th percentile – so I’m not fishing for compliments with feigned dissatisfaction. That was an anomaly (top 10 GRE word!) for me havind done at least very good on every other standardized test I’ve encountered, but I did begin to doubt myself. PLEASE tell me that the score range estimates seem realistic… I need a self-confidence boost! I got 700-800 on both.</p>
<p>Do you guys think that as we get closer to November – when official reports start coming out and with a bigger sample size – ETS it is widening the score ranges? Or would that be reason to narrow them? The bigger the sample, the more precise they could be unless they discovered they were a bit off the mark. I guess the fact that some of you had a 100 point spread on one section and a 50 point on the other disproves that. Or does it?</p>
<p>P.S. There is nothing wrong with lawyers or Mercedes or downtown offices, but those are perks that come (hopefully) with a tough job – one I realized does not suit me!</p>
<p>^No, no, I don’t think you understand. I think all the GRE ranges are intended to span 100 points (i.e. V500 - 600). </p>
<p>However, some students who do exceptionally well and have scores 700+ receive more narrow ranges. (i.e. Q720 - 800 or Q740 - 800) The highest projected score you can get I believe is 750 - 800. For individuals with low end scores projected to be 700 and lower, the range will always be 100.</p>
<p>
The Kaplan projections for your Quantitative section were off by a range of 100 - 150 points. I consider that a lot. -.-</p>
<p>Yeah, I read up on that earlier this morning and I get it now. Haha. That was my immediate post-test reaction. I was on another board that claimed a range of 700-800 didn’t exist, so I think that confused me. Well, it does. I am proof. I hope I am not on the lower end of that range. I assume that the upper end is probably reserved for those with the 750+ score band, but a 730-750 would be mighty nice!</p>
<p>One thing, though: don’t you think that if my range was 700-800 that it is very likely a 700+ score (albeit very near to 700?)? You say that people with 700+ scores have narrower ranges.</p>
<p>Just as a point of clarification, what do you mean that the Kaplan projections for my quant section were off by 100 - 150 points. I don’t understand how that could be. I would think it would be from 0 to 100 points off. After all, even if I got a 600 I would be off by 100 points only. Am I missing something?</p>
<p>During my prep I did get one 740-800 and one 750-800 prep.</p>
<p>I calculated the my ranges by subtracting your ETS and Kaplan projected high end scores and low end scores. </p>
<p>So my math went like this:
Q <[(ETS low end) - (Kaplan low end)], [(ETS high end) - (Kaplan high end)] >
Q <(700 - 600), (800 - 650)> = <100, 150>
But, now that I think of it, that probably wasn’t a great way to calculate it. (Sorry about that.)</p>
<p>Given we took your high end Kaplan score, 650, and assumed you got between the ETS range of 700 - 800, your score will be 50 - 150 points off from your Kaplan projected score. </p>
<p>(That’s still a big gap in my book! Nothing really changed except the way I presented the range. -.-)</p>
<p>
Hmmm… I never thought of it that way.</p>
<p>Now that you mention it, the prevalence of people with 750 - 800 ranges would mean that there are a lot of people that outscored you and so it does mean that you’re less likely to get 750+ and more likely to get close to 700. Of course, if very few people got 750 - 800, you could still get 750+. </p>
<p>We really don’t know anything unless we find out how many people got 750 - 800 relative to 700 - 800.</p>
<p>My score from a mid-August test is now available online. My score range was accurate.</p>
<p>Oh, scores are up early! My score range was accurate, as well.</p>
<p>Verbal Reasoning: 170 (est. 750-800)
Quantitative Reasoning: 165 (est. 750-800)</p>
<p>I do want to point out (because I, at least, hadn’t really looked at this) that it’ll be harder to get a “perfect” score on the quantitative reasoning portion than it was before. Before, if you were at about the 96% rank, you got an 800. Now, your score will be a 166. So according to the concordance table, my score of 165 would be roughly between a 790 and a 800 on the old scale. On the other hand, it’ll be easier to get a “perfect” score on the verbal reasoning section than it was before, as a 760 on the old scale roughly corresponds to a 170.</p>
<p>Link: [GRE</a> Revised General Test: Understanding Your Scores](<a href=“http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/understand]GRE”>http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/understand)</p>
<p>Took a look at the scores, and they seem about right and tend to hit more of the low to mid-range.</p>
<p>V: 160 (est. 610 to 710)
Q: 162 (est. 750 to 800)</p>
<p>At this point, I wonder how admissions will look at our scores, especially since what BookAddict makes a lot of sense with regards to “perfect” scores.</p>
<p>My score range was accurate as well.</p>
<p>Score ranges were accurate (from a mid-September test date):</p>
<p>Q: 169 (estimated 750-800)
V: 164 (estimated 690-790)</p>
<p>I’m a tad disappointed with my verbal score, but it doesn’t matter since I’m going into a technical field.</p>
<p>How are we going about translating the new format scores to the old to get perspective on them?</p>
<p>Look for the link that says “Concordance Information”: [GRE</a> Revised General Test: Understanding Your Scores](<a href=“http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/understand]GRE”>http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/understand)</p>
<p>Just got my scores for Nov 3rd sitting:</p>
<p>Q: 168 (est 750-800)
V: 151 (est 440-540)</p>
<p>S2, applying to EE - MS (study 2 books on and off during summer and Fall semester). Test date Oct 2011. 1st time will not take it again, good enough.</p>
<p>Quantitative - 165; 93%(750-800) accurate prediction
Verbal - 163; 93% (700-800) not accurate prediction
Writing - 4.5; 72%</p>
<p>I found my new verbal score fell on the lower end of the predicted score range based on the old system.</p>
<p>Quant score fell around the higher middle of the predicted score range. I was quite surprised by that.</p>