Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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Aramark
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:36 pm

Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by Aramark » Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:47 am

Hey everyone!

So, GRE subject test scores just came out, and I got a 790 (77th percentile). I've registered already for the October one, but I think they give a partial refund for cancellation, and there's also the money saved from having to take a cab for an hour to and from the testing center. (Also with very busy classes + writing apps, there's probably not much time for studying, and chances are this would take up half a day) I'm kinda wondering whether it's worth it to retake or should I just settle for this and focus on other stuff.

As it stands my list is kind of up in the air. Some subset of top 6, probably MIT and Stanford for sure, then UCLA, Michigan, Cornell, Columbia, Madison, Penn, Northwestern, UIUC, Washington, and Twin Cities.

Also I guess this is a good place for our general collective angst. :cry:

young556646
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:33 am

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by young556646 » Fri Oct 12, 2018 3:53 am

I got 900/94%. Much better than expected; I didnt even try to solve about 10 problems as I had no time for them, and I don't think I solved other things perfectly.

djysyed
Posts: 359
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:59 pm

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by djysyed » Fri Oct 12, 2018 7:00 am

I certainly knew my score was going to be in the 750-820 range and was kind of disappointed that it was a 760...

yac123
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:04 am

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by yac123 » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:07 am

same score also wonder whether it's enough. :(

blahquaker
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:36 am

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by blahquaker » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:19 am

my score somehow was lower than the one from April. I definitely wasn't expecting that.

ponchan
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:30 pm

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by ponchan » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:23 am

my score is lower than the one in April as well. Quite depressing since I studied a lot for this one and not at all for the last one.

MMDE
Posts: 123
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:04 pm

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by MMDE » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:44 am

My score is also a lot lower than expected, quite disappointed as I spent a lot of time preparing. Hopefully the next test goes well, though I've barely studied due to coursework and applications. You guys think it's possible to somehow make the most of the remaining two weeks?

ponchan
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:30 pm

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by ponchan » Fri Oct 12, 2018 10:25 am

MMDE wrote:My score is also a lot lower than expected, quite disappointed as I spent a lot of time preparing. Hopefully the next test goes well, though I've barely studied due to coursework and applications. You guys think it's possible to somehow make the most of the remaining two weeks?
There are like 10 questions I'm haunted by from that test. I should have gotten them right, but I forgot some simple fact. I'm just trying to recall all those questions and to make sure I know how to solve them.

superballzach
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:54 pm

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by superballzach » Fri Oct 12, 2018 10:43 am

**** everything.

Bottomology
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2017 2:09 am

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by Bottomology » Fri Oct 12, 2018 12:31 pm

Aramark wrote:Hey everyone!

So, GRE subject test scores just came out, and I got a 790 (77th percentile). I've registered already for the October one, but I think they give a partial refund for cancellation, and there's also the money saved from having to take a cab for an hour to and from the testing center. (Also with very busy classes + writing apps, there's probably not much time for studying, and chances are this would take up half a day) I'm kinda wondering whether it's worth it to retake or should I just settle for this and focus on other stuff.

As it stands my list is kind of up in the air. Some subset of top 6, probably MIT and Stanford for sure, then UCLA, Michigan, Cornell, Columbia, Madison, Penn, Northwestern, UIUC, Washington, and Twin Cities.

Also I guess this is a good place for our general collective angst. :cry:
I took the math GRE for a second time in September, and got an 810 (80th percentile). I really didn't prepare much more than I did last time, but I had the advantage of having taking a math GRE before and having gotten more sleep - both factors are seriously understated in how much they help. I improved from a 770 (74th percentile) in the October 2017 test.

Conventional wisdom (at least, among most of the posts that I've read on this website) seems to be that if you apply to top schools with at least an 800 or 80th percentile, if you get rejected it won't be because of the GRE. We're both basically on that borderline, so my guess is that it won't help our applications to schools like MIT and Stanford (which I'm also applying to), but it won't hurt either. If you're absolutely set on going to a top 6 school, then I'd suggest a retake and aim for around an 850, but a 790 is definitely high enough so your application won't get thrown out anywhere. Otherwise I'd say cancel and buy something nice with your $75, and celebrate never having to take a standardized test pretty much ever again!

That being said, I'm probably going to cancel, because taking the math GRE three times sounds awful, and I'd consider the top 6 schools reaches for me. I'm hoping that schools like Michigan, NYU, Duke, UCLA, and Caltech can be considered "matches" for me, which I believe an 810 is good enough for (someone please correct me if I'm wrong though).

cater99
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:29 am

Re: Retake? Also let's cry on each other's shoulders

Post by cater99 » Fri Oct 12, 2018 12:57 pm

Aramark wrote:Hey everyone!

So, GRE subject test scores just came out, and I got a 790 (77th percentile). I've registered already for the October one, but I think they give a partial refund for cancellation, and there's also the money saved from having to take a cab for an hour to and from the testing center. (Also with very busy classes + writing apps, there's probably not much time for studying, and chances are this would take up half a day) I'm kinda wondering whether it's worth it to retake or should I just settle for this and focus on other stuff.

As it stands my list is kind of up in the air. Some subset of top 6, probably MIT and Stanford for sure, then UCLA, Michigan, Cornell, Columbia, Madison, Penn, Northwestern, UIUC, Washington, and Twin Cities.

Also I guess this is a good place for our general collective angst. :cry:

https://math.cornell.edu/graduate-admis ... pplication

https://lsa.umich.edu/math/graduates/ph ... tions.html

From what's stated here you should be fine for Cornell but not so much for Michigan.



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