Did anyone here take the physics GRE today?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around participants' experiences and thoughts regarding the physics GRE taken on the same day. Participants share their approaches to the exam, perceived difficulties, and concerns about their performance, as well as specific questions related to the exam content.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant attempted around 60 problems and estimated a score in the 50-60th percentile, noting that they are not applying to programs requiring the GRE.
  • Another participant answered approximately 85 to 90 questions, using a strategy that involved answering easier questions first and then returning to more complex ones.
  • A different participant found the exam easier than expected but expressed concern about not achieving a high enough percentile for top schools.
  • One participant aimed for the 80th percentile but would be satisfied with anything above 70, comparing the exam's difficulty to previous years' tests.
  • There was a question regarding a specific problem involving a plane's velocity and wind direction, with participants discussing how to approach the vector algebra involved.
  • Another participant expressed confidence in their understanding of the problem but questioned if they were missing something in their reasoning.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying levels of confidence in their performance and understanding of specific questions. There is no consensus on the difficulty of the exam or the correctness of approaches to the vector problem, indicating multiple competing views remain.

Contextual Notes

Participants' responses reflect individual strategies and uncertainties regarding their performance and understanding of specific physics concepts, particularly in relation to vector algebra and kinematics.

leright
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Did anyone here take the physics GRE today??

If so, how do you think you did? I attempted ~60 problems and I might have gotten like 10-20 of them wrong. So, I didn't do all that great, really. I pulled maybe 50-60th percentile. However, I realized that I am not applying to any programs that require the physics GRE so it's not that big of a deal. I am applying to applied physics, material science, and EE programs. (the area of research I am interested in is done in those departments.)

As I was driving home I started realizing all of the mistakes I made...bah... :(
 
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I took it today as well. I think I answered about 85 to 90 questions, who knows how many I got right. I read through the whole test once, and tried to to answer questions where I didn't have to do a lot of algebra. Then I went back through and did problems that required algebra. Then I took some guesses at some others by testing answers using limits and units (I did this the first run too). Then I finished by going back to problems that I got stuck on.
 
I took it today

I answered around 80 or so questions

It was easier than I thought it would be so I'm afraid that I didn't do as well, percentile-wise, as I would like.

No chance of an 850+ (which means no top 25 schools for me, being a Canadian but not a U.S. citizen), I'm hoping I get over 800 so I can get into some top 50 school.
 
Yep, count me in. I answered about 75 of them and hopefully got most of them right. Hard to say what my actual score will be though. It seemed to be on the same difficulty level as the 96/01 exams, so I did not feel like it was too crazy. I am aiming for 80th percentile but would be happy with anything above 70th really. Looking at either medical physics or schools with AMO physics research so maybe my score will help me decide...
 


For the question with the plane going north 200 km/hour, did you guys ignore the wind going 30 km/hr west. If you pointed the plane north, all the wind would do is add to your velocity going right, but you velocity going north would be the same... right?
 


sol66 said:
For the question with the plane going north 200 km/hour, did you guys ignore the wind going 30 km/hr west. If you pointed the plane north, all the wind would do is add to your velocity going right, but you velocity going north would be the same... right?

You're taking the physics GRE and aren't sure how vector algebra and kinematics relate? Of course the north-bound speed is the same.
 


I thought that question was pretty damn easy, I didn't know if there was something that I was missing.
 

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