The teacher becomes the student
How come on the GRE (or at least on the practice test I took) an 800 in Quantitative is 92nd percentile, while a 98th percentile in Verbal only gets you a 730?
If 8% of test-takers don’t miss *any* of the math questions, then I’m guessing the first mistake you make will dock you 20 or 30 points, at least. Boo. Also, if that many people can get them all right, it means you need to make the questions harder.
GRE math isn’t bad at all—maybe half a step up from SAT math—and most of the Verbal is okay, but the vocab? Is hard. And I’m good at vocab. On the antonym questions in particular, not knowing the definition of *one word* can screw you out of an 800. There are so few questions that it ultimately comes down to luck. I am not a fan of luck.
On both the Quantitative and Verbal sections, I’d like to see them make the test harder, longer, or both, so that the top few percentage points are actually differentiated by skill and not by that confounded luck. Since it’s already adaptive (it gives you different questions depending on how you answer the first few), this shouldn’t be hard to implement. ETS is coming out with a revamped version* of the GRE in October 2006, so we’ll see how they do.
On the practice test I missed two antonym questions (and one reading comp question). FYI, vitiate has nothing to do with living, and jejune means immature, not happy.
I know there’s not a huge practical difference between 98th percentile (730) and 99th (800, I presume), but I’ve got a heaping helping of pride on the line here, goshdarnit. I AM SMARTER THAN THIS TEST.
Does anyone else remember that time I auditioned for Jeopardy!? BECAUSE I DO. I *need* this 800, you see. It will be my revenge. On…the world, I suppose.
The test is on Tuesday, and it costs $115, so I’m only taking this sucker once. I think I might actually study for it, or at least the vocab part. Surely there are GRE vocab cards or exercises or books lying around somewhere…working for a test-prep company does have its perks.
Must. Beat. Test.
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I might get to field-test this AND get paid for it. How much fun would that be? You can do it too if you’ve taken the GRE this year. Go here.
Tags: miscellany
November 27th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
Yeah, I too hate the GRE percentile curve. With the Quantitative percentiles the way they are, the test is clearly designed for English majors. There’s practically nothing I like about ETS and the GRE: since every test is “unique” due to the adaptive testing, ETS are not ever required to release the answers, and no one will know if someone made a typo and misgrades a question. Moreover, since you have to sign an NDA with them before you take the test, you are not allowed to tell other people if you suspect a question has a mistake in it. ETS comes off as being weak by hiding from and supressing any possible mistakes they might make, and lazy by reusing the same questions year after year. Since the whole thing is computerized, I really can’t justify the $115, either. $80 or so should be more than enough to cover the salaries of the two people you talk to, the electricity bill, and the two people who read your essays. Stupid fat-cats!
November 27th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
Good to hear I’m not alone. Hopefully grad schools understand how skewed the scoring is.
I just took another practice test. Same thing for Quantitative—800 and 92nd percentile, but this time in Verbal I was at the 96th percentile, and it was a *690*. You. Have. Got. To. Be. Fucking. Kidding.
This is ridiculous.
November 28th, 2005 at 8:01 pm
Okay, first of all, I GRE resent you. I got 720 on the math first time, perfect on the writing….not so hot on the verbal, which is unfortunately so important seeing as I major in ENGLISH. I don’t know what the problem was. Seriously, if I don’t get 700 or above on the verbal when I retake the test I’m going to jam the pencil they provide into my eyeball.
Also, I took that field test study and it’s pretty bogus. Bogus in that it can’t really be considered a practice for the real GRE because it’s so completely different. The verbal section has NO antonyms, NO analogies…there’s more reading comprehension and fill in the blank. For the math part, you get a little calculator. Also, at the end, you don’t get a real score, just what percentage you got on each of the four sections.
The field test study is not a CAT either….the questions don’t get harder or easier and you can go back and review previous questions.
Makes me wish I was taking the GRE a couple of years from now, looks like it’s going to be a lot easier.
November 28th, 2005 at 8:16 pm
It really looks easier? I’ve heard they’re making it harder (as I think they should, at least on the math); I certainly won’t miss the antonyms and analogies. Maybe you would’ve gotten to the hard questions if it had been adaptive. Either way, for 115 bucks I’ll take whatever test they care to give me.
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:36 am
I HATE the GRE! I completely bombed it the other day with scores so horrible — I won’t even tell you how bad they were. (Oh God, they are sad.) The GRE is NOT an accurate way to judge a persons intellect. ETS is a crappy company that doesn’t have to pay taxes. I hope the “master minds” behind the general test catch crabs!