Have RARE GRE Math SUBJECT Practice Tests???

pelunia

Does anyone have any of the rare practice tests for the GRE math SUBJECT exam? NOT the ones that are currently being sold in bookstores (the Princeton Review and REA ones). I learned online that there are several practice tests that are no longer in circulation. I was hoping to get this question out to the general community so that if anyone has access to the practice tests, or knows of anyone who does (friends, grad students, professors, etc), I would appreciate it if I can purchase it. Thanks.

abelian jeff

I would love to see some of these, too. I've got the real thing coming up in 2 weeks and I still need more practice.

lunabgd

hi Jeff, did you take the test on this saturday? How was it?

abelian jeff

Hi luna,

I did take it this Saturday. My friends and I were very surprised; it was much harder than the practice tests we took. On the practice tests we did pretty well and had plenty of time at the end to go back and check our answers. On Saturday, time ran out on me. Many of the questions were considerably more difficult than the practice tests.

I spoke to some friends at other schools, and they agreed.

The thing was, I didn't feel like I could have prepared any more than I did. I felt completely ready for that test. So hopefully it turned out okay and I don't have take it again in October... Since the general consensus seems to be that it was very difficult, I'm hoping that means that the scores will all balance out.

-Jeff

thelight

Did anyone ever get the practice tests that the original person asked about?

i am hoping to take the MATH in the fall.

lunabgd

Hi Jeff, thanks for reply. I feel much better now. My friend and I took it also and we can’t agree more. At one moment I felt like complete idiot because I couldn’t solve half of it. And like you said time was flying.
Hopefully we will have good results at the end. Thank you again and fingers crossed for us. Luna

sutupidmath

Sorry for just bumping into conversation, but i am just curious to know what would be considered as decent GRE scores? In other words, what score on GRE would give you some good opportunities to be accepted to some decent grad schools, if not the top ones, like UT at Austin UCLA etc?

Diffy

Pay more attention to the Percentile you fell in rather than the score itself. When I was asking grad schools what scores they required, they said that percentile was more important as it compares you to your peers.

JonF

If you take it as an undergraduate you should expect to not know a lot of the questions as it is material you mostly likely haven’t seen before. When I took it I pretty much wrote off topology and statistics.

ralphhumacho

Check your university's library or ask some math professors/grad students. I found a copy of one of the rare tests (from '93 I think) at my city's public library.

sutupidmath

Isn't one supposed to take it while he is an undergrad? What is the point of taking it if you already are in grad school?

exk

i thought subject tests (especially math) were primarily for phd type programs so undergrads generally don't need them anyway.

sutupidmath

Well if you apply for a phd math programm, aren't you supposed to take GRE including subject tests in math? I am just asking for getting information.

Gokul43201

Correct.

The top schools often require a 99 percentile result. The next tier of good schools (still ranked in the top 20) will accept, on average, international students with about 85% or better and domestic students with about 70% or better scores.

abelian jeff

Thanks for that information. I can't call and get my scores until May 14th, and I've been wondering what kind of scores should be my "cut off", such that I will decide not to take the GRE again in October. Many of my professors think that I should take it twice no matter what (unless I get an unexpectedly high score, which I don't think will happen), while others seem to think that a percentile above 70 would suffice. Tough decision! The GRE was definitely not fun, so I would certainly like to never take it again..

Gokul43201

Do you think you'll do noticeably better on a second attempt?

I would recommend a second try only if you think you'll improve by at least 5% and the risk of a poorer score is small.