GRE Psychology

[Alissa]

I studied for nine weeks nonstop for this one. I sat this exam Oct 18, 2008. I ended up passing with a 720, 87th percentile, worth the full 30 credits from Excelsior. I recommended getting all the preparatory books out there, plus a good text on clinical psychology and experimental design. Here's the books I used, and additionally some I wish I had:http://www.amazon.com/Books-nbsp-to-...res_rpli_alt_1

And I talk more about books here, and there is info for other GRE exams at this link, too:http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-subject-tests/

[japhy4529]

Alissa,

Thanks for the book list. Would you mind re-posting the resources you originally provided on the (now locked) InstaCert exam feedback section? I still have a membership to InstaCert (until the end of the month), however, I do not think it is appropriate to copy/paste someone else's work on another forum. With that said, you, as the author, have every right to do this.

Thanks!
Tom

[Alissa]

I agree, I wouldn't think it ethical to copy someone's old posts. Thank you for asking. Here's some of my old posts about the GRE Psych:

Originally posted by me 9/20/08

It is hard to find specific info about this exam. This forum yields no results when you do a search for "GRE" because the term is "too short, too common, etc." which makes it difficult to narrow down. I find more results when I search for "Psychology major". In general, it is also easier to find results on other websites when you search "GRE Psychology Test" rather than "exam" as I suppose it is more properly a test rather than exam. Plus, the "E" in "GRE" already stands for exam? Anyway, those are just things I've noticed.

I am planning to take this test in Oct., and I've considered posting a thread in the exam specific portion of this forum, I started working on an outline, but I decided to wait until I passed to see if the info I intended to post was even relevant. I didn't want to put it all up and then end up sharing info that wouldn't help anyone even pass. But since you're asking, here's what I have done so far:

Cracking the GRE Psychology by Princeton Review is the best book by reviews, so it's the one I started with. I do think it's good, but I don't think the sparse section on research methods and statistics will do it for me. I have started reviewing the IC flashcards for this and got Statistics for Dummies from the library. I pretty much transcribed this entire book into my notes by hand.(the Princeton one, not statistics)

Kaplan GRE Psychology is the next book I would recommend, I think it's "easier" than the Princeton one, and I kinda wish I had started with this one, to ease my way into all this.

REA GRE Psychology is most like IC, it's 6 full length exams with explanatory answers, no study material. I still think it's worth buying to gauge the progress of your other studying.

ARCO Psychology is just OK. Buy it for reinforcement of your learning, save your money if you have none to spare for it.

And finally, Barron's Psychology. I hate this book. I think the version I have is too old or something though and whoever owned it before me marked it up so bad that it's distracting. I actually think a lot of material in here is harder than the real exam. Only 39 pages of review material, ridiculously long (380 questions!) diagnostic test

There is one more Gre Psychology specific book that is no longer in print that used to be put out by ETS, but I didn't bother buying it because it is too expensive since everyone jacks the price up on books no longer in publication.

Other than statistics, the portion I am struggling with is sensation and perception. I did a web images search (I prefer ask.com, but google images will work) and printed off diagrams of the eye, ear, brain, and neurons. I redrew all these diagrams into my notes and then posted them all up on my kitchen cabinets so I read them all the time when I'm standing in there waiting on the coffeepot or whatever. It has really helped a lot.

So far, my strategy has been to study for one week and then take a practice exam to gauge my progress and I am finding it effective. I recommend spending more time studying than just taking practice test after practice test. I have studied for 5 weeks so far and my scores have been like, 109, 84, 87, 129, 154. Those 2 really low raw scores? Those were when I followed the advice of the books and didn't guess. I have discovered, for me, that the benefit of guessing far outweighs the risk of the guessing penalty, and I think you should try some exams with and some without guessing to see how it really affects your score.

You aren't going to find a lot of really relevant videos at the library for this. although they did have videos on autism, ADHD, Ahlzeimer's, Anorexia, etc., these are all usually documentaries and I didn't find them helpful. I do, however, find the youtube lectures from UC Berkely helpful. The course is General Psychology and there are, i think 24 lectures total. The professor is a little dry, but there is loads of good stuff in these. oyc.yale.edu has an intro psych course taught by prof. bloom, i think, that is much more entertaining and engaging, but not as much fact listing. I really like it because it focuses most on modern psychology and most of my books don't have much that has happened in psych during the last 20 years.

I also have checked out nearly every book my library has on psychology, and I was fortunate enough to find a 6 volume psych encyclopedia. I have taken tons of notes. I have made almost 500 flashcards also, mostly names on one side and theories or experiments they performed on the other. Some of these cards though, are terms that I kept confusing, such as afferent vs. efferent neurons, reticular formation vs. reaction formation, somatoform disorders vs the somatosensory system, fundamental attribution error vs. actor/observer effect etc. I am under the impression the GRE test likes to include similar sounding and similar meaning answers to suss out whether or not you know EXACTLY the right term.

Well. anyway, that's what I have so far, and I think I will improve my raw score to the 180-190 range by the time I take the test. Good luck to you!

Originally posted by me 9/23/08

here's a few websites that may be helpful for anyone studying for the GRE Psychology Test. I unfortunately cannot find many GRE specific sites. Some of these are just interesting, The "Try It Yourself" one is good for Gestalt theory visuals and visual perception illusions.

PhobiaGuide.com - List of Phobias
Top 10 Bizarre Mental Disorders - The List Universe
Psychological ("personality") Types
5 Psychological Experiments Expose Our Dark Side
Freedomain Radio - Introduction to Psychology
Color Psychology
PsyBlog: 10 Weird Psychology Studies: Vote Now For Your Favourite!
Which Way is She turning? - [IQTest] — ReadnRock.com
Try It Yourself
ETS: Educational Testing Service – Home
Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Body - Senses Challenge
Love Styles - Truth About Deception
Ben Franklin Effect
Biological basis for creativity linked to mental illness
Psychology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sigmund Freud Archives
Person: Ainsworth, Mary D. Salter
JOHN BOWLBY: ATTACHMENT THEORY ACROSS GENERATIONS
Maslow, The qualities of the superior true human being
Lucid Dreaming -- Dream Views
http://www.pateo.com/images/maslowmaster4ts.gif

[Alissa]

originally posted by me 9/23/08

Here are some more psychology websites from my growing collection. Also, does anyone have any more feedback on this test?

MIT OpenCourseWare | Brain and Cognitive Sciences | 9.00 Introduction to Psychology, Fall 2004 | Home
MIT audio lectures. The slides are annoyingly edited for copyright reasons
The Milgram Experiment: A Lesson in Depravity
An interesting take on the Milgram experiment.
Face Research » Psychology experiments about preferences for faces and voices
Just interesting.
Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Intro to psychoanalysis, which is a kinda complicated therapy, really.
Introduction to Psychology — Open Yale Courses
I referenced this in an earlier post. Good video lectures, but also annoyingly edited for copyright reasons.
YouTube - Psych 1 - General Psychology - Lecture 1
General psychology course I referenced in an earlier post. Good info here.

Originally posted by alissaroot on October 3, 2008:

Quote:
I don't know if anyone else is curious about which exams are duplicated, or not, by the GRE Psychology, but I asked Excelsior about a few of them:

I asked, "I am interested specifically in Organizational Behavior, Substance Abuse, and Management Information Systems DSSTs? I would assume these are business and health courses, but I am interested in taking them though they are indirectly related to psychology."

Jodi Bernstein-Liberal Arts Adviser-

The DSST exams Organizational Behavior, Drug & Alcohol Abuse, and Management Information Systems would not duplicate the GRE in Psychology. Org Behavior would apply as 3.00 lower level credits in the arts & sciences, while the other two exams would apply as 6.00 upper level credits under applied professional. Exams the would duplicate are CLEP's Educational Psychology and Human Growth & Development. And if you earn at least 3.00 GRE credits, you would lose the General Psychology course already on your record. Other things that may duplicate, particularly at the upper level, will really depend on your score, so I encourage you to hold off on any on any psychology type courses/exams until that time.

She is referring to the fact that my Intro Psychology course from 10 years ago is a four credit course, if I bomb the GRE and get only three credits, it will still replace and I will actually lose a credit. So, evidently, the tests duplicated are the very obvious ones, thank goodness, I can now include these 3 in my testing plan.

(update 12/29/08) This woman was incorrect about my intro psych class from back then. Also, I have no idea why I asked about MIS, but I think I had it confused with HTYH for some reason. Whatever, I'm silly like that. But this is how it looks on my transcript:

Franklin College
Psychology, Introductory:.....4CR.......B

GRE Subject Exams
(720)Psychology...........8LL..........Pass
(720)Psychology.........18UL..........Pass

originally posted by me 10/15/08

I gave in and ordered the older ets book. I noticed the price had dropped considerably when I saw it on amazon. It isn't worth spending money on, in my opinion. It has 100 diagnostic questions, a 220 question test from 1993, and 4-5 pages of general information (nothing new). I got 92/100 on the diagnostic questions and a 177 on the practice test. This is way too good to be true. The 1993 version of the test is a lot easier than the 2000 version they send you when you register. I feel that the REA book is giving me the most realistic scores, ranging between 130-150. That is where I expect to score on the real test.

I stupidly took the 2000 version first, almost nine weeks ago, and got a 109 on it after one week of study. This scared me to death at the time. I practically hyperventilated. I now think that's not so bad for one week. I retook it the day before yesterday and got a 173, but I don't think it counts if you already went through once! I plan to spend these last three days going over the 2000 version and looking up all the answers more thoroughly on line, and going through the last bit of the ARCO and REA book I haven't used yet. And of course, going through the IC flashcards, most especially for Statistics and Research Methods.

Also, I have found mnemonic devices to be enormously helpful in remembering so much information. Here's on older thread on this forum that talks about the Psych GRE and has a good mnemonic for remembering Flourens:

http://www.degreeforum.net/general-e...ory-funny.html

And here's a good website for remembering parts of the brain, I found it very helpful. It also has a peg word method mnemonic for remembering Erikson's stages of development, but peg words don't work for me. I can remember "One-Bun, Two-Shoe" and forget the rest! http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2008/09...-of-the-brain/

[Alissa]

Originally posted by me 10/18/08

Whew! It's finally over, thank goodness. I live more than 2 hours from my closest GRE testing location, because I basically live in the middle of a giant cornfield, so that's how my day began. I'm glad I set out early, because finding the building and testing room was my first challenge. I've seen other posts that have mentioned that, so it bears repeating. On a big campus like Indiana University, give yourself extra time to find everything. I wandered around the building for almost 25 minutes before I found someone to ask for directions that early in the morning. And that was after I had to stop at Village Pantry to ask directions to the building at which I was supposed to be.

There were about fifty of us there. No one chatted or anything. All I said the whole time was, "Bless you" to a girl who sneezed. And I whispered. Most everyone was looking over textbooks, their GRE sample booklet, or like me, flashcards. There were about 5 people there for the Math exam, 4 for the English Lit, 3 for Chemistry, 7 for Biochem, 10 for Comp. Sci, 5 for Biology, 6 for Physics, and the rest for Psychology. We all had to raise our hands to get the right test booklet is the only reason I know this.

We were all assigned seats ahead of time, the seating was noted on a list of all test takers. The proctor must of told us 20 times we couldn't have mechanical pencils. We had to leave all our stuff at the front of the room. No one was allowed to have anything at their desk except their ID, admission ticket, and #2 pencils.Because there were so many of us, it took over an hour to get us all checked in, even though they started rounding us up at 8:00.

Anyway, the test finally began a little after 9am, and I answered every single question. I had about 40 minutes left at the end, so I looked over my answers and changed two of them. Then I got mad on the way home because I realized the correct answers to 3 of the questions that I know I answered wrong. Oh well. What's done is done. I feel like I probably got about 130-135 raw score, based on my experience taking practice tests, which is about what I expected. Even if it turns out I totally bombed, I'll still come back here and update my scores so you guys will have a baseline comparison against my scores, prior level of knowledge, and study preparation. Then you can gauge how well you think you will do. I say, go for it. For the price and time, it's worth a roll of the dice. You can always just take individual exams if you fall a little short. In fact, I think I will go register for the Literature In English GRE in April as soon as I am done with this post, because I really am just crazy like that. Why not? It's worth a shot!

As for the content of the test, I'm scared to say. They practically make you sign an oath in blood not to reveal anything to anyone about the content. And if my scores got canceled, no matter how terrible they are, I would be furious! But...here's some updated study advice. Buy at least one of the prep books. Princeton Review, Kaplan, and Arco are all about the same, so get at least one of those. I'd say that will cover about 60% of the exam. Make sure you know it by heart. And I really like the REA book as an accurate gauge of progress, even though there are more " (D) All of the above (E) None of the above" type questions in there than what I encountered on the exam. If I had it to do over again, I would spend more time on Research Methods and Design rather than Statistics, even though that is supposedly a small part of the test, there's a lot about analyzing an experiment. "What wrong with this experiment?"' "What type of experiment is this?", "What could be done to improve this experiment?" , "How would a researcher analyze the results of this experiment?", "What do these results mean according to this graph?" There seemed to quite a lot of those type questions. And a lot of analyzing a scenario. "If Bob has this symptom and this one and that one, what would his diagnosis be? Which Axis of the DSM-IV would that be? What treatment should Bob have? What is the most likely cause of Bob's illness? If Bob did such-and-such, what is that symptom called?" Those are some examples of what you will encounter. Gah!

I'm glad I found that Psychology Encyclopedia at the library, because it was really recent, and the GRE prep books don't cover anything recent. You definitely should drop some money on the most recent General Psychology textbook you can afford. And pick one up on Experimental Design and Applied Psychology while you are at it. Sorry I can't be more specific! But I really think it can be done, and if I had more time I'd go buy a new Psych textbook right now and give it another try with some more recent knowledge in the field under my belt.

Also, thank you to everyone who sent me messages and emails wishing me good luck yesterday, that really meant a lot to me. Well, it was up on the chalkboard that it could be up to six weeks before we get our scores, but I'll make sure and let you guys know how I did! I feel pretty good about it. I did the best I could do, anyway. At least I tried!

originally posted by me 12/18/08

Well, shoot I guess I should update this thread too, for future test takers. I scored a 720 scaled score, 87th percentile. I got 163 questions correct, and 41 incorrect, for a raw score of 153. My Experimental Psychology subscore was a 70--81st percentile, and my Social Psychology subscore was a 75--95th percentile. So I was obviously very strong on the Social Psych, weakest on analyzing those darn experiments. Almost none of my raw scores for practice exams were that high. Mine usually hovered around the 130 mark. So that's an idea of what kind of raw scores to shoot for anyway.

Good luck to all future GRE Psych test takers!

And there are lots of other posts by me about this exam, since I was obsessed with it for nine weeks and I couldn't shut up about it. Doing a quick search for my name over there will likely turn up a lot of discussion about this exam. Good luck!

[gooddebt.com]

Congratulations. 720 is an awesome score. Mine was not nearly as high.

I did get the 30 hours credit though and about 27 on the sociology GRE too. They don't offer the Education GRE anymore but it was the easiest. I hit the 92nd percentile on that one. I took three GRE's in 1994 when I earned a degree from Regents College (USNY) now know as Excelsior. I thought the Psych GRE was the hardest of the three I took. Also took 17 assorted CLEP and DANTES tests.

Excelsior is the way to go if you are in a hurry. I earned 122 hours and picked up my degree in July '94, 11 months later. It was way quicker than my conventional MBA in 2007

[japhy4529]

Originally Posted by Alissa

Originally posted by me 10/18/08



originally posted by me 12/18/08




And there are lots of other posts by me about this exam, since I was obsessed with it for nine weeks and I couldn't shut up about it. Doing a quick search for my name over there will likely turn up a lot of discussion about this exam. Good luck!

Alissa,

Thank you for this excellent, detailed thread.

You rock!

[luckyd1976]

Originally Posted by Alissa

GRE Subject Exams
(720)Psychology...........8LL..........Pass
(720)Psychology.........18UL..........Pass

Alissa,

I was under the impression that Excelsior would give 30, (not 26) Im confused. Would 18UL be enough to major in Psyche?

[Alissa]

They do, you are correct. The reason I only received 8 lower level credits is because I already had an introductory psychology course on my record from Franklin College I completed about ten years ago. Rather than removing that class from my status report, they just deducted the duplicate credits from my lower level GRE credits.

To use the GRE Psychology for a major at Excelsior, and for every major there except Mathematics, you have to have a research and writing in the major course. So, if you passed the GRE above the 80th percentile in any of those currently offered, all you need is this one-credit research and writing in the major class. I think it is an eight week course, and Excelsior currently charges $300 for it. Check out the publications page on Excelsior's site. It does include a document outlining the requirements for every major. You may have to sign up for a free MyEC account in order to view all the publications.

You need fifteen upper level credits for a major in psychology at EC. The GRE actually skews the distribution a bit, since it gives 12 lower level, then 18 upper level. This is acceptable, don't let this bother you. The minimum credit distribution is 30 in the major, with 15 at upper level. You can do more at upper level and less at lower, although most people would not. This is good news, since you can pass the GRE at 75th percentile and still receive enough upper level credits for the major. You would then only need the Research and Writing course already discussed, and two lower level psychology credits. Consult an adviser to see what would suit.

Here's my best guess at the credit distribution. Keep in mind that this is just a guess, and that your results may vary:

Raw score--Scaled Score--Percentile--Credits at Excelsior

100-102 530 36% 3LL
103-106 540 39% 3LL
107-110 550 43% 6LL
111-113 560 47% 9LL
114-117 570 50% 12LL
118-120 580 54% 12LL
121-124 590 58% 12LL+3UL
125-127 600 62% 12LL+6UL
128-131 610 65% 12LL+9UL
132-135 620 68% 12LL+9UL
136-138 630 72% 12LL+12UL
139-142 640 75% 12LL+15UL
143-145 650 78% 12LL+15UL
146-149 660 81% 12LL+18UL

Hope this helps!

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by Alissa

To use the GRE Psychology for a major at Excelsior, and for every major there except Mathematics, you have to have a research and writing in the major course.

Just to clarify this, a more generalized major in Liberal Studies at Excelsior also does NOT require this Research and writing requirement. I encourage anyone seeking a more specific major to check out the major requirements on Excelsior's publications page and to consult with an adviser for planning out how to meet the specific major's requirements.

Good luck!

[luckyd1976]

Alissa, thanks for the thorough Pysche info!

[dooba]

Originally Posted by Alissa

So, if you passed the GRE above the 80th percentile in any of those currently offered, all you need is this one-credit research and writing in the major class. I think it is an eight week course, and Excelsior currently charges $300 for it.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the post, Alissa.

So if I passed GRE in psychology above 80th percentile and complete the research course, I'll qualify for a BA in psychology at Excelsior?

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by dooba

Thank you for the post, Alissa.

So if I passed GRE in psychology above 80th percentile and complete the research course, I'll qualify for a BA in psychology at Excelsior?

Well, yes, but don't forget the other 90 credits for your degree. My adviser was a bit vague and cryptic when I asked her about changing my major. You may or may not need the one-credit course. Be sure to get it from your adviser in writing, maybe someone who has done this recently will reply with a more definitive answer than I can give. I was content with a BS in Liberal Studies, so I went with that. But yes, as far as I can tell, you can complete all the requirements for a psychology major with the one GRE exam, scoring above the 80th percentile, and (possibly) the one-credit course.

You may want to plan for a few extra credits because so many things will duplicate the GRE. On my final status report from Excelsior, they deducted another three lower level credits from my GRE credits, but I am not sure what duplicated. DSST Organizational Behavior? DSST General Anthropology? Fortunately I had some extra credits anyway so it wasn't a problem and I will still graduate within my time frame.

Good luck, and if you tackle the GRE, be sure to let us know how you do!

[dooba]

Originally Posted by Alissa

Well, yes, but don't forget the other 90 credits for your degree.

But yes, as far as I can tell, you can complete all the requirements for a psychology major with the one GRE exam, scoring above the 80th percentile, and (possibly) the one-credit course.

I don't understand. If can I meet all the requirements with the GRE subject in Psychology and one credit course, which other 90 credits are you talking about?

Thanks.

[Ted Heiks]

Originally Posted by dooba

I don't understand. If can I meet all the requirements with the GRE subject in Psychology and one credit course, which other 90 credits are you talking about?

Thanks.

In other words, the GRE in Psychology qualifies you for your 30 credits for the psych major, but you still have the issue of 60 hours of lower-division claases for the general education requirements (formerly known as the "freshman requirements," but they take up 2 years nowadays) and 30 hours of free electives for your 120 hour total. In other words, have you accumulated enough CLEP, DANTES, etc. or do you have enough course credits from other degree attempts to cover those other 90 hours?

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by dooba

I don't understand. If can I meet all the requirements with the GRE subject in Psychology and one credit course, which other 90 credits are you talking about?

Thanks.

A BA in Psychology will require 120 credits, total. The GRE will cover 30 of those, as well as the requirements for a major in psychology. You will still need to meet all your general education requirements.

Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know, but the way your question was phrased made me think you were under the impression that you could get your whole degree done with just one test and one class, but that is not the case. You will still need 90 more credits even if you pass a GRE exam above the 80th percentile.

[dooba]

Thanks. Now I understand you completely.

[Mechanix26]

I just wanted to chime in here. I took the Psychology GRE today. My course of study and preparation is not one I would recommend to anyone. My study materials consisted of 2 versions of the Princeton Cracking the GRE Psychology Subject Test (for the 2 different practice exams), REA Psychology problem solvers, the McGraw Hill 5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, the internet, and 2 versions of the ETS GRE practice exam. The REA book looked to be a wealth of information, but I only read about 60 pages of it, due to poor time management and only having around one month to study. I found the McGraw Hill book to be quite excellent. It had a lot of information, and was not so long as to be intimidating to read. The last practice exam I took (ETS) gave me a score at the 72nd percentile, so we'll see how well that correlates to my actual exam score. I found the practice exams to be a pretty close match to the types of questions asked on the GRE. The GRE did contain a few questions I never came across during my limited studies. For the record, I had ZERO past experience in Psychology. I'll make an effort to update here once I get my score back! One last thing, I created to quick Excel spread sheet to use to take the GRE practice exams. Change the file extension from "doc" to "xls". It scores everything for you. Just enter all the test answers in column "A", then populate column "B" with the answers from the answer key, then finally sum column "C" (Excel does this for you). There may be an occasion or two where you want to deliberately score a question as zero. To do this, leave column "A" blank, and enter any answer in column "B". Remember, blank means blank. Do not accidentally use a space, or it will score wrong. I personally went through the entire test before entering the answer key answers. Good luck to anyone else who takes this in the future!

[excel]

I took the exam today, and I am happy. It was about what I expected. I'm pretty sure I will get an excellent score, and can live with an almost excellent score.

I started studying 5 weeks ago, and only had a little basic background (mostly long ago). I studied in spurts and did far from a perfect job, but I am very satisfied with how much effort I put in and how much I learned. (I believe I'll retain most of the info. There is also a lot I don't/didn't remember, especially names, but at least I had exposure. I never concentrated on the rote memorization part, even though the test does still ask questions of that sort.) I'm really unsure how many hours per week I ended up working on psychology, maybe 16 hrs on average of real learning/practice time.

My main problem was the time constraints. Silly mistake on my part though - I should have realized / not done it in the first place. I guess they want the test to be challenging in that way. I am more accustomed to feeling like a test gave me give plenty of time.

I plan to take the Biology or Biochemistry GRE next year (unless I decide on other studying that is more important) and I wonder if I will need more study time for Bio, less, or about the same (in order to get similar results). I feel like having studied for one subject GRE, I am a little more prepped for the next (and for CLEP/etc).

Alissa, thanks again for the exam recommendations!

Mechanix - Thanks for the spreadsheet. (To others: you have to rename it to .xls to get it to open.)

[Mechanix26]

You're welcome! Now to decide if I want to pay $12 to find out my score on the 9th!

[Mechanix26]

I don't know what to think. I called for my score, and I was told the scaled score was 670, which was pretty much my goal. Then the automated system said it was only the 70th percentle! This despite multiple sources stating that score should have been over the 80th percentile. An error perhaps? I hope so! I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[gooddebt.com]

If I recall I got near the minimum on the psych GRE I don't remember the percentile. On the Education GRE I was in the 92nd percentile. It seemed like a very simple test. In 1994 (at Regents College NKA Excelsior) you received about 30 hours credit for so long as you exceeded the minimum. I think they have changed that. 670 sounds pretty good to me. The percentile would change based on the number of people taking the test. Maybe the day I did the Ed GRE few people nationwide took it. I sat for the test at Northwestern University and the room only had 40 or 50 folks.

Jon

[gicidecir]

I accept with information: Cracking the GRE Psychology by Princeton Review is the best book by reviews. it's good and the sparse section on research methods and statistics will do it .
_____________________
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[Kaz]

Originally Posted by Mechanix26

I don't know what to think. I called for my score, and I was told the scaled score was 670, which was pretty much my goal. Then the automated system said it was only the 70th percentle! This despite multiple sources stating that score should have been over the 80th percentile. An error perhaps? I hope so! I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Nope, you are probably in the 70th percentile. A 670 used to be 84th%, now it's 70th. Everyone seems to be using the old scoring table, the one for practice exam GR9981 in the previous practice booklet. That info is 10 years old and totally misleading now. The current practice exam is GR0781 and the scoring table from that booklet just went into effect this year. So if you don't have brand spankin' new prep books from Princeton Review or Kaplan, for example, you can't use their score tables in those books either as they are too old.

[Kaz]

Originally Posted by gooddebt.com

If I recall I got near the minimum on the psych GRE I don't remember the percentile. On the Education GRE I was in the 92nd percentile. It seemed like a very simple test. In 1994 (at Regents College NKA Excelsior) you received about 30 hours credit for so long as you exceeded the minimum. I think they have changed that. 670 sounds pretty good to me. The percentile would change based on the number of people taking the test. Maybe the day I did the Ed GRE few people nationwide took it. I sat for the test at Northwestern University and the room only had 40 or 50 folks.

Jon

That's awesome that you got so much done with the GREs! But 15 year old test scores don't translate into anything intelligible now. It is simply too long a period of time for it to be relevant with regards to deducing where one might stand. Excelsior requires an 80th percentile score for 30 credits. Mechanix26's 670 is worth 24 credits, barring credit duplication.

[Mechanix26]

Well, 24 credits isn't that bad, I guess. I'll just have to take 2 extra tests to make up for it.

[gooddebt.com]

Originally Posted by Mechanix26

Well, 24 credits isn't that bad, I guess. I'll just have to take 2 extra tests to make up for it.

I feel like the old guy telling everyone they should have bought real estate in the 1970's. I got lucky; the GRE tests helped me complete a degree starting with 12 credits in 11 months. Though I did study 4 to 5 hours a day. If I recall I looked at ACE credit for life learning (writing a lengthy portfolio) and decided it would be easier to just take tests for credit (and cheaper). I ended with a hodge podge of DANTES, CLEP and GRE in 1994 for 122 credits I had to take Speech Comm at a Local College.

Take as many tests as you can. I sat at Ohio State one Friday and took all the Dantes Tests they had in the cabinet. Six weeks later about 18 hours of credits showed up. I think they were only $10 or $20 each back then. We had to schedule the CLEPs so they were a little slower but I took 8 or 10 of them too, one I missed by one point.

I went to a regular residential MBA program later, but if I recall my undergrad including airfare to Chicago to take the last test I needed was about $1,500. The MBA was more than 12 times that.

The lesson: "Don't wait! Graduate!" Jon Hanson

[joelietz]

Hi,

Not only should you practice as much as you can but you should check out all of the resources available to you. A friend of mine told me about a gre practice test site where you can take GRE tests and really hone your skills. Apparently, that was a great help to him. He's also going into clinical psychology and had really good results when he wrote his official test. There's very good gre practice test here. Good luck to everyone!

Originally Posted by Alissa

I studied for nine weeks nonstop for this one. I sat this exam Oct 18, 2008. I ended up passing with a 720, 87th percentile, worth the full 30 credits from Excelsior. I recommended getting all the preparatory books out there, plus a good text on clinical psychology and experimental design. Here's the books I used, and additionally some I wish I had:http://www.amazon.com/Books-nbsp-to-...res_rpli_alt_1

And I talk more about books here, and there is info for other GRE exams at this link, too:http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-subject-tests/