<p>Does it make your app look good if you do well ?</p>
<p>The GRE is like an SAT II for grad school. I’d recommend that you spend your time focusing on doing well on standardized tests that are actually required for undergraduate admission, and maybe if you have time left over, you can go outside and be an interesting person or something rather than just taking more tests so you can “make your app look good”.</p>
<p>I don’t know how they would react to the GRE. It probably won’t have the impact that you think it will at the high tier schools. Maybe it would at Caltech. It seems like MIT has a kneejerk negative response to “proving” one’s knowledge.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it is impressive for physics and/or chem at least. Getting in the mid-700’s (out of 990) is an ok score for someone interested in a top 10 school in chemistry.<br>
So a high school student with a high score would represent a very large knowledge base, indeed. And, believe me, if you walk into your first research position as an undergrad with a good score, the professor will be impressed. And that will help with future recs.</p>
<p>Presumably, people wouldn’t study specifically for the GRE but rather it would be the culmination of a couple of years of college-level study, either in school or independently. You had better have mastered college-level organic chemistry and at least thermo to begin with. I think I remember a lot of electrochemistry problems on there too. It’s pretty orgo heavy though. I mean, if you just aced AP chem and that’s it, don’t bother trying to study for the GRE. You don’t know enough.</p>
<p>Anyway, admissions-wise, spending time on a research project will impact admissions a lot more than the GRE.</p>
<p>I think taking the GRE as a high school student is an excellent way to make an individual a “more interesting person”. Not only will it provide a boost in admissions, it will also send a succinct and overwhelming message to admission officers of your ability and passion in that given subject.</p>
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Agreed.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the subject GRE in other fields, but the biology GRE is fairly trivial. When I took it for graduate school applications, I mostly reviewed material from 7.013 (introductory biology) – there were a few questions that required biochemistry or cell biology, but it would not be hard to get a good score based on high school biology knowledge and guessing. I got a high score despite the fact that a third of the test is on ecology, evolution, and organismal biology, which MIT doesn’t even teach.</p>
<p>The GRE doesn’t say anything about anyone’s scientific aptitude, just the ability to memorize facts. It’s not even a very interesting test. If you want take a test, go take something that will challenge your problem-solving abilities – something that isn’t multiple-choice. </p>
<p>At least in my field, the subject GRE isn’t heavily weighted even for graduate school admissions. As such, I don’t think it would be a productive use of time to take as a high school student.</p>
<p>Ye if u want to test ur knowledge, y don’t u go for USABO, USAPho, USNCO, etc. instead of GREs, cuz u have to pay $100 for the latter one.</p>
<p>The GRE subject test is more respected in chemistry and physics, and it is actually used in admissions. However, I’m not sure an admissions officer would know that.</p>
<p>The chem olympics qualifying exams are a lot more simplistic; they are closer to AP tests.</p>
<p>^not if u make it to the final round. It really depends on how well u do on it, and how far u go. If u make the ICO team and get a medal, its much more impressive than getting a perfect score on GRE, and btw, olympics are certainly more appropriate for high school students. Of course, I think taking GRE is another way, but its rather unfounded to spend $100 when you can do olympics , which is primarily designed for high school students</p>