Question About GREs And Timing

[njdevilsfan87]

I'm taking the GREs tomorrow, and recently I did some timed practice tests just to get a feel for them. On both the verbal and math sections, I rank out of time twice. I had about 4-5 questions left with about 30 seconds left, so I just blind guessed the rest of the way through.

So my question: because I am having trouble finishing these on time, should I just focus on getting the first 80-85% of the questions, and blind guessing the rest? From what I understand, the last questions do not impact your score very much. It's the first 5-10 that have a large impact, the next 10-13 that somewhat effect your score, and the last few that do little.

Thanks.

 

[tokie]

Yes, the last few questions will matter between a 780 and 800, but once you are up there you dont really need to worry about it.

Focus on the first ~10 questions.

 

[thehstrybean]

You need to speed up. Hate to say it, but I just took them and am taking them again in a couple of weeks....I finished with 3 questions on the practice stuff, but ended up with time to spare on the test....guess the adrenaline pumped in...

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I bombed the verbal because of terrible time management. I had about 4 minutes to go when I reached question 19/30, and the next 3-4 were reading comprehension, which I had to pretty much blind guess because my mind was racing and I couldn't form a coherent thought. Then I had to blind guess 3 more at the end because I was out of of time. I'm pretty sure up to question 19 I was at about a 500, and then from there it only went down. But to be honest, I did not prepare much for these, and because of that, I was not yet capable of going through the verbal section quickly and efficiently.

My scores: 760Q 380V

How important are these for graduate school?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I bombed my real verbal. I practiced 90 points higher.... Even my original diagnostic score was higher. I really hate it but I'm just gonna apply with these numbers. 800/530/5.5

360 is a bit low. Shoot for 450 at least if you're engineering.

BTW, you can miss like the last 4 in math and still get an 800. Based on that you can be ok if you're close to the very end and you run out of time. Definitely speed it up a bit.

 

[TuxDave]

I bombed the verbal because of terrible time management. I had about 4 minutes to go when I reached question 19/30, and the next 3-4 were reading comprehension, which I had to pretty much blind guess because my mind was racing and I couldn't form a coherent thought. Then I had to blind guess 3 more at the end because I was out of of time. I'm pretty sure up to question 19 I was at about a 500, and then from there it only went down. But to be honest, I did not prepare much for these, and because of that, I was not yet capable of going through the verbal section quickly and efficiently.

My scores: 760Q 380V

How important are these for graduate school?

What degree are you looking for? Engineering you should consider increasing it a little. My craptacular score of 520V was able to get me into a top 3 engineering school because I aced the math sections.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

What degree are you looking for?

ME, at a top-25 school, but that awful verbal score might be limiting my options now.

If I do take them again I'm going to order some software and get some real practice in. That was pretty much my first go, and it was BAD. I was considering canceling at the end but I figured I did fine in the quantitative and I didn't want $150 to be wasted. At least I know I have practice to do should I take them again.

I'm really just hoping a good GPA, over a year of research experience, my letters of recommendation, and good personal statement can offset this score entirely. I really, really don't want to take another one. I'll find out soon when I contact some schools.

 

[Brainonska511]

The math was longer than I expected when I took the real test. I ended up leaving the last 2 or 3 blank and having to run through the 2-3 before that fairly hastily. I think it was more a lack of preparation on my part though - didn't do enough math practice to get a good pace.

Strangely, the verbal I was paced very well, finished everything easily.

Despite the math issue, I think I did fine overall for what I'm applying for (chem/biochem PhD programs) (Q/V/W - 680/620/5); now I have to wait on my chem GRE score... just took that on paper this past Saturday.

Anyway - don't blindly guess on the last set - you get a number of them wrong in a row, it could still hurt you a good amount. Certainly focus on the first ten, but try not to linger on other questions as well. I found that running out examples/counter examples for the compare A/B questions ate up a decent amount of time.

 

[Brainonska511]

ME, at a top-25 school, but that awful verbal score might be limiting my options now.

If I do take them again I'm going to order some software and get some real practice in. That was pretty much my first go, and it was BAD. I was considering canceling at the end but I figured I did fine in the quantitative and I didn't want $150 to be wasted. At least I know I have practice to do should I take them again.

Just get the Princeton Review whatever year you take it edition. They have 4 online tests that run like the real thing included with the price of the book.

 

[TuxDave]

Strangely, the verbal I was paced very well, finished everything easily.

Me too! You'll be surprised how fast you can finish a section when you have no idea what the right answer is. 🙂

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Well I went into it thinking "30 questions, 1-minute per question" completely forgetting the fact there were reading passages.

Then I hit the reading comprehension questions at question 18 and just went, "oh shi..."