<p>I am an international student (UK) and will be applying for fall admission to UPenn.</p>
<p>I have never taken the GRE before, tbh honest I hardly know anything about it (I am about to start reading the wiki article on it now…)</p>
<p>My question is how many hours of revision are generally required?
How intensive was your preparation?
Is the GRE the most important part of the application or do personal statement/recommendations/etc hold equal weight?</p>
<p>The opposite - the GRE is perhaps the least important part of the application. Generally, the GRE is used in one of three ways: to set a baseline cutoff, to “save” someone’s application that might be weak in other ways (i.e. someone with a not-great GPA but really really strong GRE scores might get at least looked at) and to sort candidates for fellowships and assistantships.</p>
<p>The three most important parts of a graduate application are the SoP, recommendations and transcript.</p>
<p>What is SoP ?</p>
<p>Statement of Purpose - a short (500-1000 word) essay explaining your purpose in applying for graduate studies. Generally, you’re expected to outline your research interest, discuss your qualifications for pursuing that interest, explain what makes that institution a good fit for your studies and talk about your goals for using the degree.</p>
<p>Got it. Thank you.</p>
<p>Wow.
I was under the impression that the GRE was really important.
Thank you polarscribe, can I ask what your source is please?
Do anyone else agree/disagree with polarscribe?</p>
<p>Also, I would still like to know how much preparation is necessary even if it is only a little.</p>
<p>Thanks all!</p>
<p>can anyone please tell me how much prep you did?</p>
<p>Regulator, I’m from the US. Attended college here and then went to work for ten years. So I haven’t been in school since 1999 (13 years… wow). I am studying 30 minutes to an hour every day, mainly vocabulary, reading tips on how to write the essay (because it’s different than the professional writing I’m used to), and making sure I’m familiar with the question formats.</p>
<p>I think the key to getting a high score if you’re fresh out of college is to be familiar with the question types. The Princeton Review has a FREE online test, and you can pay something like $5 US to get your essays graded on top of that. You can see how hard it is for you.</p>
<p>Also, check to see whether British spelling will count against you in the essay portion, and make sure you’re familiar with the American five-paragraph essay. It’s a very simple formula but I wrote an expository essay on my sample test instead and I think I got graded down for that because they are really looking for that five-paragraph essay format.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>And regarding the importance of the GRE–I suppose it depends on the school. Some schools are so popular that they do have a lower-level cutoff for GRE scores. Some schools are more purpose-oriented but I doubt you can get into a grad program for physics with a 450 Q, you know?</p>
<p>You can always call and ask the school how important the GRE is to them. They know you’re prioritizing your time and that is not something that you would otherwise do. It is definitely NOT like what you have in Britain with those tests after your high-school, what is the GSCEs? However it could make the difference between financial aid (like a scholarship) and none, particularly for a foreign student such as yourself.</p>
<p>I only studied for a week and I still got a 1470. The actual test was so much easier than any of the practice tests I took. I wouldn’t say it requires that much preparation beyond learning the test format.</p>
<p>It definitely depends on the person. I would take a full practice test and see how you do on it. If you do well enough, don’t worry to much about studying. However, if you do poorly, you’ll have an idea of what you need to focus on. The one type of studying that everyone should do it learning the formatting of the questions, and how the computer based testing system works. You really need to know about how specifically they want the essays formatted. </p>
<p>I read through one GRE book and did the practice tests there, and got a 1450, 5.5, but I’ve also always tested well. (These scores are almost identical to my SAT scores). Each person will be a bit different on this.</p>
<p>definitely agree with the advice on taking some practice tests first before deciding how much you need to prepare. i’m a terrible standardized test taker, and my first practice test yielded a 550 V 550 Q score. i studied pretty much nonstop for a month (not realizing that the GRE isn’t all that important, like polarscribe said) and eventually got a 720 V 670 Q on test day. just shows that one month should be enough for anyone to raise their scores considerably if they feel like they need to.</p>
<p>From your explanation, the SoP is kinda similar to the Analytical Writing part of the GRE test.
I’m to take GRE test this August. After all, wish all the GRE testees have a good grades.</p>
<p>It all depends on the person. I have a friend who studied 2 weeks, and aced almost the entire thing. If you’re weak with the fundamentals of mathematics, you’ll need about a few months and work a couple of hours a day on that. Same goes for the verbal and writing sections. Generally, most students study a month, but some might go up to 6 months.</p>
<p>The GRE is important, make no mistake. If you want to get into an Ivy League school - you’ll need a very high GRE to compete with the others, not to mention a subject test. However, if you have limited research experience or a mediocre (less than 3.5) GPA, the GRE can do nothing for you. </p>
<p>The same applies in the other direction, if you have >3.75 GPA, solid research experience and letters, and you absolutely bomb the GRE or do below average, you might get wait listed. They’re looking for consistency at the highest level.</p>
<p>I don’t think GRE is unimportant. It could be not so important after your score reach a safe place. For example yale and harvard describe their requirement on GRE scores, as shown below:</p>
<p>───────────────────────────────────────
What are the average GPA and GRE scores of admitted students?
The BBS Program does not publish GPA or GRE data on our applicant pool. Our main guideline to applicants is that although a high GPA and high GRE scores are attractive to admissions committees, they do not guarantee admission. On the other hand, GPAs below 3.0 and GRE scores below 500 Verbal, 500 Quantitative, or 3.0 Writing are detrimental to your application.
[FAQ</a> > Biological & Biomedical Sciences | Yale University](<a href=“http://bbs.yale.edu/apply/faq.aspx]FAQ”>Frequently Asked Questions < Biological & Biomedical Sciences)</p>
<p>───────────────────────────────────────</p>
<p>*The admission committee considers several different factors when making admission decisions, including your current/previous academic performance (e.g., GPA), statement of purpose, and letters of recommendation, in addition to your standardized test scores.</p>
<p>Your GRE test scores are one important part of your application, and you should allow sufficient time to submit your best possible scores. We review them closely, because we have found that to some degree, those with strong scores are best positioned to succeed in graduate study at HGSE.</p>
<p>If your GRE scores are significantly low (i.e., below 460 V, 580 Q, and 3.5 AW), your chances for admission will be greatly reduced. We have seen that the program can be quite challenging under these circumstances. In recent years, successful applicants with lower scores have presented compelling professional experience and provided evidence of demonstrated academic ability in other areas of the application.</p>
<p>Please note that your scores are not the sole determinant of your admissibility. This means that strong scores do not guarantee admission, while weak scores do not automatically disqualify you.*
[Harvard</a> Graduate School of Education - FAQs: Standardized Tests](<a href=“http://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/faq/standardized_tests.html]Harvard”>http://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/faq/standardized_tests.html)
───────────────────────────────────────</p>
<p>Originally I also thought GRE is not important. I had a bad score previously: 420 in V and 770 in Q. After finding forementioned descriptions, I decided to take GRE again, prepared for one week, and ended up with a safe place: 680 in V and 800 in Q. I don’t know whether this score is going to help me a great deal, but at least I don’t have to worry about this obvious drawback any longer in my application. To be successful in application, you should not have any disadvantage that cannot be ignored.</p>
<p>From my experience, I wish I had spent more time taking timed sections. I ran out of time on some of the last questions and was forced to make blind guesses.</p>