nawl

Yes! I agree, the GRE TOTALLY SUCKS!!! I just took it (general test) on Dec. 28th -- and did my scores SUCK! I needed to take the GRE as part of the application/admissions process for a Ph.D. program that I'm interested in pursuing, and have been preparing since July 2007. (I didn't need it for my Master's program.) Well, I hate to say it, but my scores (V&Q combined) were LESS than 700! I will have to wait 3 weeks to get my score for the writing portion. Currently, my graduate GPA is 3.6/4.0, and I have 3 (STELLAR) letters of recommendation to boot. This stupid test has just flushed my dreams down the toilet. Thanks ETS -- you money grubbing bastards! I hope all the master-minds behind the test catch crabs!

Yeah, I just got my GRE results in the mail. So I did better than 90% of the test-takers on verbal, and I performed worse than 78% of test-takers on the quantitative (go figure--I'm an English Major!!), but I just about lost my mind when I got my analytical writing score back: 4 !?!?! Out of 6? You must be kidding. For an English major, a 4 out of 6 is just bad. I'm really pissed. I thought I knocked that part right out of the park. And on top of this insult, if you ask for a re-evaluation of the test to see what in the hell went wrong, you have to pay an extra $55 dollars? And get this: in the description for this service, look at what they say--"If the score review process results in a higher or lower score, the new score will be reported." "Lower?" Is this a veiled threat? It sounds as if they're saying that if you bother us with this, we'll not only ream you again financially, but we'll also lower your score. F%#@ your moms, ETS. All of them.

I just took GRE general test. I'm a computer science + math double major. I've spent my entire undergraduate life dealing with numbers and computer programs, and half of my undergraduate life doing researches on related areas. And GRE is the most sucking thing that stands between me and grad schools. I mean, the math part is ridiculously f&%king easy that no further scientific research works in whatever fields would use math that's even slightly remotely related to the ones on GRE; and the verbal part, it is plain evil; how the f#&k does knowing the meanings of a bunch of weird-a$$ words reflect my potential to succeed in my interested scientific field? I mean I'm an ace cs+math student in my university, and I hate vocabulary; and now in order to get into grad school I have to be tested on something that completely ignores my strength and focus on a subject that was and will always be useless to me!!!
to me, the 800 upper limit for math is an insult, as well as the existence of the verbal section.

I'm from the Caribbean and we only have the paper based exam, it costs $170 USD which is about $1020 in my money and I just think it such a GIGANTIC pain. I'm afraid to begin to devote the finances,time,effort and emotions that studying for this is going to take. It's such nonsense. I have a high GPA, I graduated my BA with honours, I've got letters of recommendation, work experience...you name it...Boy if I thought SAT was elitist and unfair I didnt know that GRE was the older more menancing brother around the corner!

The people at ETS are constantly amassing huge amounts of negative karma for charging such and exorbitant fee for a "service" that has been proved to be indicative of nothing (other than financial means). The worst part is- I've been accepted into my educational program already, but they require a GRE test after acceptance. WTF?

i will take the test last week of august. just wandering, whether i shall have to inveigh GRE like this ! I am afraid gyz !!
:((

All I can say is..The GRE fucking sucks..I am in Grad school and I still have to take the thing..WTF?? I have spent 2 months preparing for it..practice tests..both paper and comp adaptative..took a 9 week Kaplan course..did all their requirements..have been using barrons for a little while now..This test has complelety taken over my life..I am so drained..The biggest fear I have..is that my dept I am in.. (Grad school already)..will kick me out if I don't get their minimum math requirements..what happens to me then?

All I can say is..The GRE sucks..I am in Grad school and I still have to take the thing..WTF?? I have spent 2 months preparing for it..practice tests..both paper and comp adaptative..took a 9 week Kaplan course..did all their requirements..have been using barrons for a little while now..This test has complelety taken over my life..I am so drained..The biggest fear I have..is that my dept I am in.. (Grad school already)..will kick me out if I don't get their minimum math requirements..what happens to me then?

I just took the GRE General Test and it totally sucks. Most of the words were completely esoteric. I don't know how that actually helps you in graduate school. Most textbooks are written in plain english mixed with the jargon of whatever field it is. Even as an English major I would have to wonder what the value of the esoteric words is.

The math section was tough. I was a CS Major and math minor with 3.964 GPA and I found the math section to be challenging (mostly because some questions required long computations, or asked me to compute a standard deviation right there [I forgot how to do this]). I ended up with about a 650-700 I forget what the test reported. Still I question how this is relevant. In a real math test you finish the test and then go back and check your answers/rework the problems and no doubt uncover an arithmetic mistake or two. In the GRE there is no checking your answers which is a critical part of any math section or anything requiring attention to detail.

Basically the big vocabulary words seems like what the pompous and arrogant aristocrats throw around at parties. The GRE smells of a bunch of old elite losers trying to get more members to their club.

Also the GRE is supposed to predict graduate school performance while the SAT is supposed to predict undergraduate performance. I got an 1190 on the SAT (not a great score, in fact lower than average at the college I went to) and yet I ended up with a 3.964 GPA. While several other people with much higher scores on the SAT ended up with a much lower GPA or even dropped out. I know because occasionally people would say I must have scored a 1600 or something on the SAT (more the first year of college) and were shocked to discover that I only scored an 1190. But at the same time when the college test scores came back my 1190 performance was enough for higher grades. So I guess the SAT failed in my case. And I hope that the GRE similarly fail to predict graduate performance. Because It gave me I think 580 on the verbal and 660 or so on the quantitative. Ultimately that is only 1240 which is not that great a score. For a computer science major with a math minor you would think I would get a 750 or so on the math section.

I'll admit if I practiced more the score probably would have been better. So maybe the GRE predicts your dedication to learn obscure vocabulary and to do a bunch of practice questions. Perhaps the thinking is that if you can learn those esoteric vocab words and do computations effortless and with full attention to detail that you can learn anything. I can't argue with that. However I would rather not waste my time studying for it. I'll take what I can get with the score and that is that. I'm not going to spend a year or two studying for the GRE and memorizing a bunch of useless vocab words. And I prefer to let my computer do the math problems for me.

gre sucks big time.i do not understand what these a??holes are trying to test us on, thru this mind-f??ked exam..

You know what I think folks? That this is MONEY MONEY MONEY business between all these organizations, and who suffers over and over again is "US" the citizens who are trying so HARD to get ahead in life!
I don't undersand why this test is so important to colleges and universities around the country, all the math that is seen on the GRE is seen throughout your bachelors anyway and the English words are words that you will NEVER EVER use them again! I am so MAD about this whole ordeal and America shouldn't be put up with this!

They HATE people who don't want to make it ahead and lived out of the governmet, but when you are trying hard to get ahead, they make all ways impossible for you to advance.

So.... it means that if you don't pass this nonsense test you are not good for grad-school! Yeah right! Like a single score weights more than what you have done and proved with dedication and perseverance throughout four years. I find this test the most STUPID and MONEY WAISTE test I have ever seen in my entire life.

I am glad to hear that some universities are banning this test and I wish that in the nearest future ALL universities nationwide will do the same. Again, this test is nothing but PULLING MONEY from our pockets!

And what if you are not from the U.S. but you are a U.S. citizen and English is NOT your first language, then is most likely that you will fail this test, that does not prove that you are incompetent for grad-school, it means that you were wrongful played with this GRE test! It's incredible that America is not a third world country, but by all this unjustice, it makes me believe so at times.

I had this stupid test at the beginning of this month (October 2008). After about 2-3 weeks of study, parallel with my work, research and business start-up, I noticed no improvement in my verbal skills, while analytic writing skill is practically impossible to measure. Result? 480 Verbal, 3.5 AW, 800 Quantitative. Also, the return of investment for the GRE Kaplan preparation book was zero slashed. Well .. I am not English native speaker, but I think it is pointless even trying to learn those words usually CEOs use in their mass layoffs letter (see Bob Nardelli's letter about Chrysler layoffs), which are available in any dictionary and do not reflect anything else that your capability to bullshit your audience. The Verbal and Quantitative were OK for the Graduate School I am pointing to (Master in Computer Science) but the AW one not, they require a minimum of 4.5.
I understand the "holistic admission" used by US institutions, and I understand I have good chances to be admitted. My background is software engineering and business, almost 10 years of experience, with two successful software startups abroad.I have good letter of recommendation form the people I worked with both academic and business people.
Still this standardized AW and verbal test does not reflect anything that your capability of eating shit on a long term base. I could easily imagine a method to train somebody to improve the Math score (and I think sometimes this could be my third business I establish) but I can give no one the guarantee that learning 3000 fancy, alien used words, will give that person an gauzy (really? not on GRE list?) improvement on the score.

So... just took the GRE after 4 weeks of studying pretty much everyday. I took 2 full written exams and 4 computer pactice tests from Princeton Review that came with the book I got to help study. My practice scores averaged about 580 verbal and 570 quant... I thought, great thats good enough for a History Masters. I scored a 600 in the quant and 430 on the verbal... how did that happen? The verbal section was much more difficult than anything I practiced. Oh well... better luck next time.

Ok, so I am not as far as all of you who have already taken the GRE, but it has already screwed me over. I paid the registration fee of 140 and then realized that the school I was applying to needing all the items by December 15 and I was scheduled to take the test on December 13. I immediately went to cancel the test without reading the fine print. Turns out now I only get 70 dollars back and it is going to take them 6 weeks to do so, wtf?? Now I have to pay an additional 140 bc I have to take the test anyways and then wait a whole year before I can apply to the program of interest, bc they only accept people once a year. I am so perturbed...

The GRE had pretty taken over my life for the past nine months of this year. I ended up taking the GRE twice. I studied for a few months the first time. Then did not get the scores I needed. Then studied really hard for a month. I ended up WORSE scores. I decided to apply to the programs anyways just to see what happens. I am upset at the thought that my dreams perhaps may be compromised by this test...

oh and also ETS charges 2 TWENTY DOLLARS PER SCHOOL you want your test scores sent to.

I hope everything works out because I am at the end of my rope on this one.....