• As far as we know, it does not matter which address (home, school or work) you give at registration vis-a-vis where you take the exam.
  • Yes, we think you should take it this soon, even if you are working. The idea is to get it done early enough for a retake if necessary, and to also get it out of the way so you can focus on the physics GRE ASAP.
  • Fee reduction voucher: If you qualify for undergraduate financial aid, apply for the GRE fee reduction voucher before taking the test. This same fee waiver can be used to waive graduate school application fees at many universities.
  • Accommodations: you will need to act early to get approved in order to use any acccommodations in taking the exam. Factor in this lag time when you do your planning for the GRE's.

  • If you are a student in a quantitative major like physics, math, computer science or economics, be aware that you may be expected to do very well on the math part of the exam. So, do spend some time preparing for it, even though many of the questions may seem very easy to you.

  • The general advice from previous students is to do as many practice exams as possible, and to drill vocab.


Answers to student questions below (thanks for Walter for helpful comments):

Q: On Princeton Review, page 24, there is a paragraph that claims that there is no penalty for guessing on the GRE. (As they put it, "A skipped question and a wrong answer count the same.") I feel like I read on the GRE website that in fact there is a penalty for guessing. The answer to this has a little bit of an impact on the strategy the Princeton Review takes towards guessing on questions you don't know the answer to.

A: The policy for the general GRE is: "The raw score is the number of questions answered correctly." This quote is taken from the FAQ about the GRE on the ETS website: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/faq/

So, the Princeton Review book is correct--guessing does not hurt you on the general GRE. Indeed, random guessing might net you a few correct answers!

HOWEVER, if you take a subject GRE: Note that the scoring policy for at least some subject GRE does not reward guessing: each wrong answer counts as -0.25 points, so that random guessing on average gets you neither positive nor negative points. In theory, guessing does not hurt you on the subject GRE's, but that's only if you guess randomly--or if you guess wisely by narrowing the pool of obviously wrong answers.

Q: Also in the General Strategy section, at the bottom of page 25, under "POE and Guessing," it says, "You must answer each question to get to the next one, so you'll have to guess sometimes." I find this odd because they just spent several pages talking about how you can skip questions and come back to them.

A: (Walter): I'm fairly sure that it is not required for you to answer questions before you move on. At least in the PowerPrep II software, you can definitely move on without answering a question.Q: The book also mentions that scores are good for five years (page 12, second paragraph).

Q: Does this mean that after I take the GRE (and get a good enough score), I can use it in grad school applications for up to five years without having to retake it? I ask because I'm not sure I'll be going to graduate school the year after I graduate, but it would be nice if I could rely on GRE scores from this summer or this fall.

A: (Walter) Yes, General GRE scores remain valid for 5 years, as specified on the same FAQ website.
Last modified: Monday, June 10, 2013, 9:59 PM