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GRE Scores By Discipline

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Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#31

Post by plinkplonk »

Dilpil wrote: post #18
blackguardx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain? The verbal section consists of antonyms, analogies, sentence completion, and reading comprehension. I don't know much about discreet math. How does it apply in this case?

The antonyms and analogies are usually a matter of figuring out which of the answers is a valid type- for instance, most of the antonyms will have 2 or 3 words that actually mean the opposite, but only 1 will be the same figure of speech, and usable in the same type of sentance. It's basically like acting as a compiler and finding type mismatch errors. As for the sentence completion, the task is to memorize a set of…

" It's basically like acting as a compiler and finding type mismatch errors."

This is exactly how I answered many questions in the Verbal section. (Score: 800 (verbal) 790 (quant) 6.0 (writing)).

as for knowing difficult words, I found that reading a lot helps (vs memorizing word lists). You've seen most words in context before, which helps to distinguish between similar words with different shades of meaning and so on.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#32

Post by sanj »

PAWebb wrote: post #26
atarashi wrote: post #17

Verbal and Quantitative have vastly different distributions. Simply adding them together favors those in quantitative fields. I think that the smaller variance in verbal scores should have tipped him off.

Yeah. This is true, and it's the first intelligent thing anyone has said in this thread. The verbal section is much more challenging. And it is not word memorization, although that is part of it.

I talked to the dept head in aero at MIT during the 90s and he told me that the verbal section of the GRE was the only correlation he'd seen to success.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#33

Post by dissenter »

ojbyrne wrote: post #10
Alex3917 wrote: post #9

The fact that every discipline uses the same test for admissions says more about the quality of academia than the scores.

There are eight additional subject specific tests related to specific discliplines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examination#GRE...

Yes, and let's not forget that a generalized test is still useful at the graduate level, for a variety of reasons. The one that comes to mind when you mention subject tests is that people sometimes switch disciplines. I have several friends who went from math to physics and vice versa. They intended to research problems which are closely related to what they've done in their own department but that just happen to be worked on by professors in the other. Does it make sense to hold a math major up to the standard of a physics major taking the physics subject test? No way---he couldn't possibly compare, even though he may be more ably suited to tackling a problem that's being worked on in the physics department. So having a generalized quantitative/analytical section is helpful in at least this case. If the physics professor looking at your application knows nothing about what his colleague is doing (your intended advisor), at least he has a reasonable indication you aren't a dunce.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#34

Post by ibsulon »

Dilpil wrote: post #3

Interesting that Math and Science graduates barely scored lower on the verbal sections. I've always felt that the so called verbal section is really more of a discreet math/type theory test plus vocab.

There are many people who take the GRE for math and science who have English as a second language. This is less true for the humanities and social sciences (besides Anthropology, a major exception.)

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#35

Post by offs3t »

Does anyone know where I could find data on more recent scores, or scores preceding 2002? I'm just curious to see if there any trends and whether the standings have changed much in the past 10 years or so.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#36

Post by dissenter »

sanj wrote: post #32
PAWebb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. This is true, and it's the first intelligent thing anyone has said in this thread. The verbal section is much more challenging. And it is not word memorization, although that is part of it.

I talked to the dept head in aero at MIT during the 90s and he told me that the verbal section of the GRE was the only correlation he'd seen to success.

Funny, I heard a rumor that the only people who got 800s on the verbal section were foreigners. (Read: people who can't speak English.) The explanation was that they were the only ones willing to invest enough time to form-fit the ETS's method of verbal testing.

In my own experience the verbal section of the GRE was entirely nonsensical. The vocabulary was difficult and exactly the type of vocabulary I would use if it was my goal not to be understood, but at least I could see how it might be a useful and reliable differentiator.

Nobody uses these words often enough for them have any statistically meaningful shades of meaning. If the goal of communication is having other people understand you, why would you deal in words that are notable precisely because they are difficult to understand?

The reading comprehension made less sense. I don't think it's possible to select a passage that has an unambiguous meaning and yet will be misunderstood by a statistically meaningful number of ambitious, college-educated people. So the question-making process must necessarily be corrupt.

I recall many questions which wasted much of my time. Several possible responses, none of which are obviously wrong. I know which one I feel is right---or maybe I do. Which one does the GRE feel is right? Even on sample tests, where I could see the supposed answer, I would read and reread the passages, and understand little about what the correctness or incorrectness of the responses had to do with the meaning of the passage.

I don't think you can presume to have an objective and clear-cut A or B answer as you might on the SAT. The granularity of college-level material is simply too fine. The only thing you can measure is how well you have matched yourself to the GRE's way of thinking, and that is not a particularly valuable expenditure of time.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#37

Post by Prrometheus »

dissenter wrote: post #36
sanj wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I talked to the dept head in aero at MIT during the 90s and he told me that the verbal section of the GRE was the only correlation he'd seen to success.

Funny, I heard a rumor that the only people who got 800s on the verbal section were foreigners. (Read: people who can't speak English.) The explanation was that they were the only ones willing to invest enough time to form-fit the ETS's method of verbal testing. In my own experience the verbal section of the GRE was entirely nonsensical. The vocabulary was difficult and exactly the type of vocabulary I would use if i…

I have friends who have done very well on both sections. They didn't practice much. They tend to be polymaths and read a lot.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#38

Post by dissenter »

SapphireSun wrote: post #20
fgimenez wrote: post #19

How is it that the average verbal scores are so much lower than math? A math major averages 714 on quantitative whereas an English Lit major averages 573. Is the math that much easier, or do we not speek so goode nemore?

They math questions are math questions and the verbal questions are mostly an obscure vocabulary test with a dose of reading comprehension.

Wrong answer. (Though a true statement.)

The tests are scaled differently. That's all there is to it.

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0809_interpreting...

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#39

Post by aneesh »

dissenter wrote: post #38
SapphireSun wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They math questions are math questions and the verbal questions are mostly an obscure vocabulary test with a dose of reading comprehension.

Wrong answer. (Though a true statement.) The tests are scaled differently. That's all there is to it. http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0809_interpreting...

You mean the math is intentionally "scaled up"? Or that the math is just easier & there is no effort made to rescale it? Given that these scores are used for comparison so often, you'd think they would normalize the scores so that a 700 means the same thing on both sections.

For what it's worth, this is a trend on other standardized tests as well (including the SAT).

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#40

Post by [deleted] »

time_management wrote: post #12
Alex3917 wrote: post #9

The fact that every discipline uses the same test for admissions says more about the quality of academia than the scores.

At good schools, the GRE is just a formality, especially the general test. Research experience and recommendations are more important. Top math and CS departments don't really care about the GRE general at all.

[deleted]
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