Did you take the GRE and got a score that wasn’t quite in the range you wanted? Are you wondering how to know if you should retake the exam? Not sure what kind of GRE score increase is even possible? Let us help you decide!
Retaking the GRE: Is It Worthwhile?
It may seem like deciding to retake the GRE is a straightforward decision. You didn’t get the score you wanted, so you opt in to a retake. Easy, right? In reality, it’s worth giving yourself some space and time to consider whether you really want to retake the exam and why. Here are some considerations to work through in making your retake decision.
Your Original Score Goal
The first thing to assess is your original score goal. Was that goal accurate to both your abilities and your application needs? We talk to students about their score aspirations a lot. And often what we hear is that they arrived at their goal because it seemed like it was a good score. Not because it’s what they knew they needed to get into their intended program. It’s true that by using percentile rankings you can see the benchmarks for overall good and great scores. But, in truth, a good GRE score is the one that gets you into graduate school. The GRE is just one step on your ultimate journey to a certain career and it’s smart to treat it as such. Go back to your original score goal and compare it to your list of targeted programs. If that original score goal still feels accurate, that’s a good indication you’ll want to retake the exam.
Your Application Timeline
After your test attempt, sit down and consider your timeline until applications are due. Do you have enough time to not only wait the required 21 days between test attempts, take the test, and get your scores reported? Do you have enough time to meaningfully study during that window? While acknowledging that applying to graduate school is expensive and time consuming, if you don’t have time for a test retake it can still make sense to apply to schools with the score you have. You’ll still have the next cycle to retake the exam and apply again if you don’t get the acceptances you want.
Your Study Habits
Your study habits are worth considering along with your timeframe. The fact is that it takes time and effort to improve your GRE score. There’s no real way to cram for the exam. When considering a retake, you should be thinking about what worked and didn’t work from your first time studying. Do you need more concentrated practice? More time to review your mistakes? Can you realistically and reliably increase the amount of time you have for GRE prep each week? Committing to a retake and then studying the same as you did the first time isn’t a guaranteed way to improve your scores – you’ll often need to shake things up a bit. Having a game plan beyond just retaking the test is a great way to help meet your goals.
The Rest of Your Application
In deciding on a retake it can often be helpful to consider the rest of your application. Do you need a high GRE quantitative score to make up for a lack of quant related coursework on your college transcripts? Is your verbal score not quite where you want it to be, but you know you have an excellent writing sample to show off your English skills? An application that demonstrates excellence in coursework and/or research related to your intended field is often more impactful than your GRE score. Issues like a low GPA, a lack of related coursework, or no research experience can be offset with a strong GRE performance. When deciding on a retake, consider the whole of your application and not just your test performance.
Your Test Day Experience
One last thing to consider is how your test day went, especially if your test score is lower than what you were consistently achieving in practice exams. Did you get a good night’s sleep the evening before the exam? Were you feeling unwell during the exam? Did something happen that caused you to feel extra stress or distraction during the exam? Even if you can’t point to something in particular, remember that test anxiety is real. For many students test anxiety can lead to a worse performance than they are truly capable of. In these cases it can often help to retake the exam – you’ve done it once and have some experience to settle your nerves.
How Big of a GRE Score Increase is Possible?
The truth is that the size of the score increase possible is likely determined by the amount of time you have to study. There are a few points that we can consider to be generally true:
- The higher your score, the harder it is to improve.
- For most students the verbal section will be slower to improve on than quant.
- Score increases of more than 10 points will usually take at least 10 hours per week over multiple months.
Each test taker’s score improvement abilities will depend on their own study habits, available time, baseline score, familiarity with the material, and aptitude for standardized tests. With that said, here are some general guideposts for GRE score improvement:
- 0-5 points: Possible with one hour a day of studying, five days a week for a month.
- 5-10 points: Possible with ~2 hours a day of studying, five days a week for one to two months.
- 10+ points: Possible with 2-2.5 hours a day of studying, five days a week for multiple months.
Ready to Retake the Exam?
Once you’ve committed to your retake, you should get a hold of your GRE Score Diagnostic report. This report will show you the types of questions you got wrong and their difficulty. Spend fifteen to thirty minutes thinking about your test day experience and writing down everything you remember. You likely won’t remember exact questions and it’s not worth spending time trying to remember them. But it can be very helpful to “download” your experience to notes to see what you recall as being difficult. Maybe you remember that you felt rushed all through the exam or didn’t finish all the questions. That would point you towards working on your test taking timing and pacing strategies. Or maybe you remember that you saw a lot of vocabulary you didn’t know. Time to jump into verbal problems and vocab flashcards.
This is also a good time to go through your prior practice exams and error logs. Remember that every missed question is an opportunity to gain points on the exam. Focus on your weaknesses to make strides improving your score. Consider a Magoosh Premium Plan to access a study plan for your retake, practice with real GRE questions, pore over expert explanations of problems, and construct targeted practice sessions. A GRE score increase is possible when you devote time and energy to smart test prep.
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