How hard is the GRE??? (skill, schools, counseling, program)
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GRE is similiar to old SAT (early 90's version). It is much harder than new version. My advise is practice and practice. I took three years ago and I study about three months. For most programs, 1300 is very good score.
Just wanted to update my original post. I finally took the GRE, and to my surprise, it wasn't as hard as I expected. Somehow, a lot of the math skills that I learned from high school and undergrad are still retained in my little ole' brain. In fact, I was amazed at how some of the information rushed back. I didn't do as well as I'd have liked on the verbal part. I grilled myself with flashcards from the Kaplan GRE prep book. I bought the 2008 version and it really helped me to prepare.
I agree that the GRE is harder than the SAT. It seemed as though the verbal section was much harder, but the math part wasn't much different.
All in all, I'm fine with my score. I should stand a good chance of getting into grad school. Thank you all for your responses as they did help me out
I confess I took it several years ago. In the 90s. But I thought it was so easy! I had recently taken the LSAT and the analytical reasoning was like a dumbed down version of the LSAT. And ... my scores were so high, quite a bit higher than my SAT scores. I also thought the GRE was easier than the SAT. But I think it was mainly the contrast to the LSAT that made it seem so easy to me.
Are you Chinese guy, I saw before A lot of Chinese students who would like to apply some US university for further education, A high GRE score is a MUST-BE, and they always read and keep a lot of never-used word in the mind, it 's really a terrible nightmare for them but A red book (a book with red cover) is truely helpful, but If you are a American native, I think the GRE is nothing ...
I had a math intensive major in college, and a lot of my friends took the GRE. A few of those rocked the math part (I guess its up to and not including calculus) and suffered horribly on the english part. So my suggestion? Learn Latin or begin reviewing flash cards.
I took it and scored 1600 out of 1600 and never studied for it. I say this not to brag but simply to tell you that it's impossible for others to "tell" you how difficult it is. For some, it isn't much of a challenge, and for others, the challenge is enormous.
I took it many years ago so it may have changed a lot since then, but this was my impression too. Like nativeDallasite said, a little tougher than SAT but not much. If I recall, my scores were very similar to what I made on the SAT. (But I took it right as I graduated from college because I was advised that you usually scored better then.)
The GRE, and prepping for it, is important if you are concerned about getting in to some tough to get into schools which have a high applicant pool, or are trying to get scholarships/stipends. Most other grad schools (of the lower tier) are just happy to get applicants. So you have to decide if getting into a top-tier grad school or scholarships are important - if it is, a 2-3 month prep (with full practice exams about every other week) trying to bolster your weak points.
Keep in mind that you took the SAT in high school, whereas you're taking the GRE in college. The SAT seems harder because you remember it that way. As a college student you've picked up a lot a lot of experience in both math and grammar/vocabulary. Hence it would seem to be easier. Whether it is or not, I don't really know. By the time I took the GRE, I had already taken the MCAT, DAT, and GMAT. Each of those exams had a math and/or verbal and/or writing section. So each subsequent exam seemed easier than it ought to have been.
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