Comparing Your Score to Strangers Online Is a WASTE
It's 11:40 at night. You just finished a practice test. You got a 156 on Quant, and instead of going to bed you open a GRE forum. The first post you see says: "Just got a 169 Q, so happy!!" Your stomach drops. Twenty minutes later you've read four more posts just like it, and your 156 now feels like a failing grade.
Close the tab. That stranger's 169 tells you NOTHING about your path. Not about where you are, not about where you need to be, and not about how to get there. Comparing your score to strangers online is a waste of your time and your energy, and you don't have a lot of either to spare.
Here's the good news. There ARE two numbers worth comparing your score to. Just two. We'll get to them. First, let's take that forum post apart.
What do you actually know about that 169?
Stop reading for a second and answer this honestly. Besides the number, what do you know about the person who posted it?
I'll bet the list is SHORT. You don't know if it was an official score or a practice test. You don't know which practice test, or if they took it with a timer, or if they skipped the essays. You don't know if they studied for two weeks or two years. You don't know if they were a math major. You don't know what program they're applying to, or if that program even cares about a 169. You don't even know if the post is true.
That's a number with no label on it. As a future grad student, you're going to spend years judging whether evidence actually supports a claim. Judge this one. It supports nothing.
And here's the kicker. The GRE has a feature called ScoreSelect, which lets you choose which of your test scores get sent to schools. So your score has exactly two audiences: the programs you pick, and you. Strangers on a forum are not on that list. They will never see your score, and their score will never be read next to yours.
The only two numbers worth comparing to
Quick refresher on the scale first. On the GRE General Test, Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning are each scored from 130 to 170. Analytical Writing, the two essays, is scored from 0 to 6. You can read the full breakdown on ETS's scores page.
Number 1: Your own last score
The first number is YOUR most recent score from a full, timed practice test taken under real conditions. That's your starting line. If you got a 156 Quant three weeks ago and a 158 today under the same conditions, that comparison actually means something, because you know everything about both tests. Same person, same kind of test, same rules.
If you don't have a real starting number yet, get one. ETS offers free POWERPREP practice tests built by the people who write the GRE. Take one the way you'll take the real thing.
Number 2: The scores your programs report
The second number comes from the programs you actually want. Many programs publish score information about the students they admit. Go find it on each program's own site. THAT is your target, and it's the only target that has anything to do with your future.
But read those numbers like a strategist, not like a nervous applicant. A lot of programs report an AVERAGE. And an average is not a cutoff. Try this one before you go on.
Now apply that to your program. If a program reports an average and the admitted students didn't ALL score exactly that number, then somebody scored below it. That's not an opinion. That's math. A higher score is better than a lower one, sure, and your whole application still has to be strong. But a published average is a target to aim at, not a wall that keeps you out.
The comparison mistakes I see every week
Comparing your practice score to someone's "real" score. A practice test and an official test are different events. So are two different companies' practice tests.
INSTEAD: Compare like with like. Your full practice test against your last full practice test of the same kind.
Calling half a test a "score." Doing one Quant section on your lunch break and getting a number is not a test result. The real GRE is about 3 hours 45 minutes: two essays at 30 minutes each, two Verbal sections (20 questions in 30 minutes each), two Quant sections (20 questions in 35 minutes each), and one unscored section that looks just like the others. You won't know which one it is. Your stamina is part of your score.
INSTEAD: Take your practice tests in FULL, essays included, timed, with only the 10-minute break after the third section. Otherwise the number lies to you.
Treating a one-point wiggle as a verdict. A 157 then a 156 is not a collapse. A 156 then a 157 is not a breakthrough. It's you performing at about the same level twice.
INSTEAD: Look for a pattern across several tests. Then look at WHY. Pull out every question you got wrong and sort them: didn't know the rule, made a silly mistake, ran out of time. I'll bet the silly mistakes pile is BIGGER than you think.
Borrowing a stranger's goal. Someone posts a 169 and suddenly 169 is your "goal." Says who? Not your programs.
INSTEAD: Set your goal, section by section, from what your target programs actually publish.
Borrowing a stranger's plan. "I did 3,000 questions in a month!" Great. Did they redo the ones they missed? Did they take notes? Did they learn faster ways to solve, or just more questions? You don't know, and quantity is not training.
INSTEAD: Train. Redo questions until you can solve them the efficient way, every time, with notes on paper. If you're deciding how to structure that training, here's how to find the best online prep course for the GRE, and the benefits of an online course vs. an in-person course.
Feel better tonight, or get in next fall?
You have to decide what you want MORE: to feel good about beating a stranger's number tonight, or to earn the score your program wants. Those are not the same goal. The first one is about your ego. The second one is about your future.
A marathon runner doesn't check another runner's time from a different race on a different course and decide they're slow. They check their own last split, and they check the qualifying time for the race they want. Two numbers. That's it.
The GRE is a standardized, predictable test. That means the gap between your number and your target is something you can measure and something you can close. The test will give you the score you EARN, not the score a stranger earned. And when you get close, plan out what to do the week leading up to your GRE so you show up ready.
Here's your challenge for today. Grab a sheet of paper. Write your most recent full practice scores for Verbal and Quant. Next to them, write the scores your top program publishes. Subtract. Those two gaps are your whole job. Then log out of the forum, and go redo three questions you got wrong last week until you can solve them the fast way.
