GRE Scores By Discipline • Hacker News Board

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#21

Post by jerf » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:26 AM UTC

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…

Well, I admit I was somewhat skeptical about your claim, but at the risk of engaging in some confirmation bias, that is definitely an accurate description of how I got through my ACT/SAT verbal section. (Never took the GRE.)

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#22

Post by Alex3917 » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:26 AM UTC

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.

So the "best" schools make you take a test they don't even care about? Yeah, they sure sound really good to me.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#23

Post by Alex3917 » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:32 AM UTC

tokenadult wrote: post #16

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.

"The fact that every discipline uses the same test for admissions says more about the quality of academia than the scores." What discipline is completely without use for reading skill, or for the kind of secondary school mathematics that appears on the GRE quantitative section?

"What discipline is completely without use for reading skill, or for the kind of secondary school mathematics that appears on the GRE quantitative section?"

The GRE doesn't measure reading skill, that's what the NALS is for. The GRE verbal is just a test of how many wank words you've memorized. Same goes for the math test.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#24

Post by ekpyrotic » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:52 AM UTC

Ego boost or what?!

I study physics, math, and philosophy. They each take a top in category award. Know what? I'm going to treat myself to a coffee.

[I'd like to see the same done for the individual branches of philosophy. I have a feeling the moral philosophers drag us down. What? Who said that?]

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#25

Post by physcab » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:53 AM UTC

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.

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

That is not necessarily true. Its a testament to how education is treated as a commodity by College Board and ETS. Academic programs don't care what your scores are. They only use them to help you get fellowships so they don't have to pay for your salary.

The real shame with the GRE is that it says nothing about the quality of the student. I knew someone who just failed their qualifying exam and is getting kicked out, even though he scored a PERFECT on the GRE and had external funding.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#26

Post by PAWebb » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:54 AM UTC

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.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#27

Post by eli » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:55 AM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #22

time_management wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So the "best" schools make you take a test they don't even care about? Yeah, they sure sound really good to me.

Well, no, it's not required everywhere. And the GRE isn't meaningless, it's merely one factor among many.

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#28

Post by PAWebb » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 2:56 AM UTC

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.

Sounds easy. Why does everyone do so bad?

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#29

Post by physcab » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 3:07 AM UTC

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?

The GRE math questions are almost the same difficulty as the SAT.

I would guess that if you're applying to graduate school, you've done a fair amount of reading and writing no matter what your major, so those questions are "tougher".

However, its not the same for math. There is still a general requirement, but the exposure to rigorous math is much more varied. Which reminds me, I kind of remember seeing a "Math for Dancers" class in the catalogue...

Re: GRE Scores By Discipline

#30

Post by blackguardx » Tue, Jan 06, 2009, 3:11 AM UTC

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…

I see what you mean.

The GRE verbal section uses very difficult vocabulary. Learning new vocabulary well enough for the GRE was a very daunting task for me.

If you know the words, the test is easy. The trick is knowing the words.