Page 1 of 1

October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 12:23 am
by dlee5h
I thought it might be helpful if we started a thread sharing how we did on today's exam. Here's how it went down for me:

Completed: 55/66
Guesses: 3-4
Wrong (estimated): ~8 (this exam was hard for me, so I'm overestimating this number)
Raw score (estimated): ~45

Based on the practice booklet on the ETS website, that would put me at around the 79th percentile. I'm hoping it'll be a lot higher LOL.

Once I get my score, I'll post it on this thread.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 12:46 am
by rsk
Definitely retaking in April. Only answered 33 of them. Evidently 2 months at 4 hours a day wasn't enough time to fully prep for this thing. Was only able to fully review single-variable calculus and linear algebra in that time, and didn't have enough time left at the end to focus on everything else and on getting faster in general. Really would've needed more like 4 to be where I wanted to be by this week. Knew it going into the exam. Eh. C'est la vie.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 1:05 am
by MathCat
I answered 53, 4 of them were educated guesses though. There were several questions that I felt I really should have been able to answer, but I must have been making some dumb mistake because I kept getting answers that weren't there. I hope not too many are wrong, as I tried really hard to be careful about my work (that was my downfall on the practice tests - putting speed over accuracy). We'll see, but I'm not that optimistic that I'll get that target 800.

The test was different than I expected. I wish I could take it again before apps are due, but it is what it is. I don't think it was a disaster. The wait for scores is gonna be painful...

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 1:52 am
by xor
.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:02 am
by petepete
I've taken it yesterday too and have to admit that it seemed much harder to me than all the released tests. I tried to work more accurately on the problems than when I did the released tests but somehow miscalculated time and did not really work on several of the questions. So, anyhow:

Completed: 57/66 (if I remember correctly)
Guesses: 2 (of course educated)
Wrong (estimated): ~5 (hopefully not more)
Raw score (estimated): ~51

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:32 am
by diglett
Took it both Sept and Oct, and have to agree with xor that Oct seemed way easier. Only answered 45 (involving guesswork) or so in Sept, although I did quite a bit more preparation now.

Completed: 59/66
Guesses: 4
Wrong (estimated): ~5 (according to practice performance, and immediately afterwards checking a few to be right/wrong guesses with WolframAlpha)
Raw score (estimated): ~53

Did not really ace it as I had hoped, although maybe it is better that I stepped off any gambling.. Time management seems to be a problem no matter how you handle it. Hope I get a little less wrong than usually and get somewhere around 90%. Well, without any surprises I should at least be able to avoid retaking the damn thing.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:48 am
by dlee5h
I thought the easy questions on the Oct test were a lot easier than for Sept, but at the same time, I found the hard questions a lot harder. Anyone else feel this way?

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:55 am
by buzzlumberjack
I took both Sept and Oct tests and actually the October test was more diffucult for me, it seemed less "typical". But I had better pacing the second time.

@dlee5h : Yes, I solved first 30 questions in about 30 minutes or so, but then it became tougher...

Completed: 57/66
Guesses: 3
Wrong: at least 3
Raw score (estimated): ~50 ?

What raw score do you guys think will be necessary for the 80th percentile?

BTW
A guy next to me solved EVERYTHING.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 1:42 pm
by MathCat
dlee5h wrote:I thought the easy questions on the Oct test were a lot easier than for Sept, but at the same time, I found the hard questions a lot harder. Anyone else feel this way?
I didn't write the Sept one, but I did feel that the easy questions on the Oct one were really easy. Although I still managed to screw one of them up. So mad at myself :? The harder questions seemed quite hard to me, and several of them were not really things I expected to be asked.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:28 am
by bijection
Answered: 64/66
Wrong: At least 4, 8 at the most
Blank: 2
Raw Score (Low end): 54
Raw Score (High End): 58

We'll see! Last time did a lot worse (or so it felt) and got 82% so hoping for 90s

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:11 am
by xor
.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:35 pm
by petepete
What I find quite unfair is that none of the real tests to be found on the internet (there are four, right?) properly shows how hard the subject test actually has gotten by now. I found all of them much easier and unfortunately did not read enough on this forum to know that I should prepare more. I actually thought when reading through the Princeton Review that the exercises did not really fit the real tests as they involved too much computation. So I just spent 150 USD to see that the test is not really what I expected it to be.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 10:42 pm
by riceophile
rsk wrote:Definitely retaking in April. Only answered 33 of them. Evidently 2 months at 4 hours a day wasn't enough time to fully prep for this thing. Was only able to fully review single-variable calculus and linear algebra in that time, and didn't have enough time left at the end to focus on everything else and on getting faster in general. Really would've needed more like 4 to be where I wanted to be by this week. Knew it going into the exam. Eh. C'est la vie.
I have very similar situations. I only fully reviewed Cal I and pre-Cal and I just reviewed Linear algebra the day before the test (Read the Princeton book and did the practice problems ) I only answered around 33 and can't say how many I got right.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:23 am
by jfredett
Answered: ~55/66
Guesses: ~10, mostly educated (usually a 1:3 or better)
Wrong: more than 5, less than 11.
Likely score: abysmal, because I'm a pessimist.


I was seriously not as prepared as I'd hoped. I'm perhaps a little different than some of you in that I'm actually about five years out of school at this point. I'm aiming to get *back* to school at some point before I'm thirty (three years from now). I went into this with about three months of review and I can say it was not enough at all. I got my ass kicked on a number of the more tricky calc problems in particular, and was particularly demoralized by a topology question which was stuck on the tip of my pencil but wouldn't shake off. I'll likely be taking it again, unless these results end up being stellar.

What I can say is that -- looking as some of these other replies, I'm glad to see that I am not alone in having answered roughly 55 questions. At the end of that test I was seriously dejected, thinking I'd not only done poorly, but failed to even finish. My wife reminded me that this shit is graded on a *very* big curve, and that it's hard to judge actual results based on local performance. I am heartened by the fact that others seem to have performed similar to me (except a few of you curve busters), and hopefully we've all done better than we expected.

Re: October 2014 mGRE

Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:47 am
by Mathwhiz25
I took the math subject test this past Saturday. I found the first 22 doable. After that I encountered some difficulties. I was saying to myself, "What the hell!" when I saw some of the problems. I wasn't expecting some of those kinds. You really have to study from all kinds of sources to do well. The four practice test posted online are not enough; they are so much easier. Even those books that are supposed to prepare you will not be sufficient. You just have to study everything. I wasn't risking guessing because of the 1/4 penalty for each problem wrong. If I could not work out the problem or use process of elimination then, the problem was omitted. I believe I managed to answer 51 out of 66. I was little upset after the exam because I thought about three problems I left out and I figured out how to do them. The exam conditions and time constraints are different though. You are pacing yourself against a stinting amount time and are highly likely to make mistakes. I am sure that exam was either form B or form C. It definitely wasn't form A, one of the easiest versions. I wanted to retake the exam to redeem myself, but I can't go through that torture again and I feel that I would be wasting money. I am hoping to make the mid 80s or more in percentile.