2011 GRE FAQs
As 2011 draws to a close, we thought it best to take a look back at the year. 2011 was a big year here at Manhattan GRE. On August, 1st the Revised GRE came out, and in preparation for that change we released our 2nd edition strategy guides. We also revamped our website and unveiled a new logo. With all of these changes going on we got a lot more student questions than normal, so I thought I’d recap some of the questions our students asked most often this past year.
1. What is the new 1000?
On the old GRE scale (400-1600) the score of 1000 was commonly thrown around as a cutoff score below which your chances of graduate school acceptance were severely impeded. Based on our research this score cutoff was something of a myth, but it was very widely believed. Sure, certain schools asked for it, but in reality, 1000 just sounded like a nice number and didn’t really say much about an applicant’s ability level. (For instance, a perfect 800 quant score and the worst possible verbal score of 200 added up to 1000, the same way two 500s do, but those candidates would be extremely different.)
ETS did not like this 1000 score cutoff rumor one bit. With the new GRE, they have taken pains to prevent a similar situation from starting up. ETS has explicitly told admissions offices not to use cutoff scores or combined scores in the evaluation of candidates. Because the 130-170 scale is so new, admissions offices will likely be sticking closely to ETS literature (which includes the no cutoff and no combination directives). For now, at least, there is no new 1000.
2. Will business schools take the GRE Seriously?
Over the past year the GRE became even more widely accepted by business schools. While not universally accepted, the list of B-schools that accept the GRE is still expanding. However, for some reason, most students who I talk to seem to think this is some sort of trick. Well, despite what a certain cephalopod admiral might tell you, the GRE is not a trap at all. Business schools are accepting the GRE to encourage nontraditional applicants to apply. There is no malicious intent here; schools just want the best applicants. If a certain student has a good GRE score that helps make them a good applicant, kudos to that student. That’s the whole point of schools allowing the GRE.
This rumor largely stems from the fact that the old GRE had an easier quant section than the GMAT. Schools are largely looking at your percentile, not your raw score, to compare the tests, so the GMAT vs. GRE difficulty argument was largely erroneous. Furthermore, the new GRE quant is significantly more difficult than the old quant section, further reducing the gap between the GRE and GMAT. In summary, if your school of choice accepts it, don’t be afraid to apply with a GRE score.
3. Any final advice?
Students often ask me for a bit of final advice on the night before their test, and my answer is always the same: be ready for a hassle at the testing center. The sign-in procedure for the test is intense “ worse than checking in at the airport, even! They will ask you to empty your pockets, pose for a mug shot, and they might even run you through a metal detector.
The worst part for me was the paperwork. Before you take the test, you will have to write out a little statement saying you won’t cheat on the exam. That sounds easy, but you must write in cursive script rather than print. Personally, I hadn’t used cursive since 4th grade, so that really threw me off my game. Be prepared for a bit of cursive. At least that is one surprise you can be prepared for on test day.
4. What is your favorite GRE vocabulary word?
Truthfully, no one asks me that. I just wanted to tell you all that my favorite GRE vocab word is manumit. (It was the first one I learned in my studies.)
Happy Holidays everyone! Good luck with your studies!