<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I am graduating from a university in Australia with a math and overall GPA of 3.7. The GRE is expensive to do here, and we need to fly across the country to sit the subject test (we don't use the GRE for admissions here, and in fact never even hear about it). Assuming good results from the general GRE, how much would it hinder my applications to math PhD programs to not have a subject GRE result at all?</p>
<p>Thanks,
Elizabeth.</p>
<p>It would hurt you tremendously. Most of the better math PhD programs require (not recommend) the math subject test for admission. I have heard from several departments that they pre-sort applicants into piles by their subject GRE score, and a few departments even set minimum scores for admission.</p>
<p>Nobody cares how you do on the general test, but the subject test is marginally important. Not as important as your letters of recommendation or academic transcript, but important enough that you don’t want to blow it off.</p>
<p>Thanks for that info, I guess I am taking the test! You mentioned that some schools have a minimum cut-off - what kind of scores would you be talking about there? Just as a guide, are there some well-known numbers like top-tiers only accept 800, mid-schools only take above 700 or something?</p>
<p>Berkeley and Penn use the 80th percentile (750) as a minimum standard for admission.</p>
<p>Also remember that on the Subject GREs it is possible to get over 800 (as 990 is the high score). Which is kind of silly, but is how it is.</p>
<p>I think the math subject test is currently scored on a scale of 300-900. All subjects GREs report scores in the range of 200-990, but the range for individual subject tests is usually smaller than that.</p>
<p>Firstly, how did you get 3.7 gpa since australian universities don’t give you gpa. I know this because I’m studying in Australia also. Where are the test locations for the GRE subject tests?</p>