# Should I skip my GRE's since I haven't had time to study? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452 "2002-05-23T07:22:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diletante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Diletante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diletante)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/1 "2002-05-23T07:22:09Z")
I’m scheduled to take the GRE’s on Friday. I scheduled it a month ago, cause I foolishly thought I’d have plenty of time to adequately prep for them. However, between graduating, celebrating, moving back home, and preparing for my imminent departure to the other side of the Earth (I’m moving to China for a year), I haven’t put too much time crackin the books. What I’m not sure of is, how do grad schools generally view multiple scores? When I was applying to college, I was told that they just looked at your highest SAT scores, so you could take’em ten times if you wanted. The bottom line was your best combined score. Is that true for GREs? Unfortunately I don’t know the specifics of what I need for grad school, cause I haven’t picked schools to apply for yet. Or an actual program. Or completely narrowed down a field of study. But I know I want to go! I think. Probably, anyway. But most importantly, I want to know, will a lesser score stand out on an application, even if I follow it up with a better one later? So, should I go ahead and take it, and get a decent but not great score (I know I’ll do decently, I’ve done the practice tests enough to determine that), or skip it and wait a whole extra year till I get back and take time to seriously prepare? ---
**Author:** ![friggae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@friggae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friggae)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/2 "2002-05-23T08:20:01Z")
Since it’s too late to even get a partial refund, I say you should just go ahead and take it. Have you done practice GRE’s on the actual computer or just pencil and paper? If the latter, I think it would be helpful to go through the real thing so you know what kind of things you need to work on. Oh, and all the grad programs I’ve seen just ask for your highest scores. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/3 "2002-05-23T09:13:53Z")
I took them in March having given myself 10 days to prepare - and I was on a business trip part of that time. I did better than I expected to. Take them. With just being out of school, you’ll have a better memory of the subjects than I did. Plus (I assume it’s the computer based test), you’ll get your scores right away. If you do well enough, that albatross won’t be hanging over your head. If you don’t do as well as you want, you’ll have time to review the areas that you struggled with. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/4 "2002-05-23T13:22:24Z")
OH just take’em!! I did almost the same exact thing you are doing…but let me tell you about the series of events that happened after… Graduated class of 94’ partied moved home took GRE did quite well-\>cause I was primed…so are you… went to Yurp for the summer ended up staying in Amsterdam WAAAAAAY too long missed first semester of grad school at ASU deferred till following fall lived worked in London for the year partied a lot more ended up wanting to come home summer 95’ coasted into grad school in Arizona Now live and work with two masters, a lovely wife…etc…etc… so take’em…partie a little…enjoy China…avoid eating anything you can’t identify…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/5 "2002-05-23T20:33:08Z")
Take them! I didn’t study at all…didn’t even know what was on the test until I glanced at the website the night before, and I did plenty well. Very well, I might even say. And the same goes for my roommate who took them at the same time, so I’m not just an anomaly. It’s really not that hard of a test. Just like an SAT. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/6 "2002-05-23T21:12:24Z")
I’d do a last minute study on the analytical section to familiarize yourself with the format, especially practicing completing an entire section within the time required. The math and verbal sections are just like other standardized tests, and don’t need extensive study, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/7 "2002-05-24T00:48:58Z")
Take 'em!!! I took the GRE with only three days to prepare. I borrowed a friend’s computer practice version, went over that a few times, and did fine!!! It’s not a hard test. Just guess C for any you don’t know 😉 Good luck!! ---
**Author:** ![Diletante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Diletante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diletante)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-skip-my-gres-since-i-havent-had-time-to-study/110452/8 "2002-05-24T19:30:15Z")
720, 720, 700! Glad I took it.