<p>The GRE is changing in August 2011. (GRE</a> revised General Test)</p>
<p>I was planning on taking the GRE at the end of the summer. I just finished my sophomore year. I'm in for a difficult junior year, so I wanted to get it done before I start that.
Now that I found out the GRE is changing soon, it's more complicated. Here are some things I'm considering and I'd like your opinions on:
- There's a lot more information out there about the current GRE. The test prep companies have had years to prepare their books and come up with strategies, and they have a ton of old tests to reflect on. Will the new test be more difficult to study for because it will be so new when I take it?
- The scores from the tests taken between August and November 2011 will all be reported in November, rather than the 10-15 turnaround. If I take it then, the summer before my senior year, I won't have much time to decide whether or not to retake it before applications are due.
- A lot of people applying at the same time as me will have taken the new test. Would I look bad in comparison?
- On the flip side, will graduate admissions committees really know what they're looking at with the new GRE scores? The test won't even be scored on the same scale. They might prefer to see the old scores that they're accustomed to.</p>
<p>Basically, I think it sucks to be applying to grad schools in 2012, right after a new test is instated. What do you all suggest? What will you be doing?</p>
<p>Honestly, you’re better off taking the GRE later. For one, GRE scores are only good for up to 5 years and who knows what will happen to you after college graduation. For example, I took the GRE in 2007 in my senior year and used them to get into MA programs. I applied for PhD this past cycle (for Fall 2010) and didn’t get accepted anywhere. Now if I still want to re-apply, I have to do so by Fall 2011 as not to re-take the exam… which is scary because I really don’t want to re-take it and I have to make a decision by this fall about when to re-apply before the scores expire.</p>
<p>When the SAT changed a while ago, many colleges ignored the scores to some extend because it’s a transition period. Kids took both old and new SATs and it just gave schools an idea of how new SAT scores compared to the old ones. I’m not sure how graduate school will respond to this, especially in STEM field.</p>
<p>It sounds like you have a lot on your plate already, why add this 200 dollar pain in the ass to the mix? Admissions committees, at least in the biomedical sciences, don’t pay much attention to these scores as they only fulfill some vague requirement to the graduate college to verify that the applicant met some basic measure of competency in high school math and english. You can deal with this at a much later date and focus on what is really important now like research and courses.</p>
<p>ok, thanks for the replies. i’ve already started studying vocab, so i think i’m going to stick with that for now and get really good at it. then i’ll take the new test next summer.</p>
<p>I’m in the class of 2012, entering my jr year in the fall, I was wondering the same thing. Is there anything that I can do right now to prepare, ie study vocab? Right now my summer is pretty lax, but it will be picking up hard core during the school year. Will getting a practice GRE book be of any help, since the test is changing ?</p>
<p>Studying for the GRE is not a big commitment. At most, dedicating a month of summer to practice is usually enough. Why don’t you take it July 2011?</p>
<p>I took the GRE in August 2002, 2 months before they changed the GRE the last time. The change they made in 2002 was to remove the analytical section and replace it with the writing section. I did that because I knew my strength would be in the analytical section,(scored an 800 in that section.) An added benefit I found when taking the test, was that when a writing prompt came up I knew that was the “test” section - so I was able to skip it and save my energy for the sections of the test that would count. None of the grad schools, I looked at had any issues about it being the old test. I think they actually preferred it, because they knew what to expect based on my scores. So my answer is really to take the test that you think will show off your academic strengths the best.</p>