Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Im an engineering student (physics second major) interested in physics for graduate school. I was planning on a lot of self study all the way up to the November pgre test. But I have been advised to take it in April for practice and a reality check. I will be happy to get +50% on April because I simply have not worked through enough physics and hope to improve that big time over the summer.

So, money aside, should i take the April test? How does the scoring work out if you take it twice? Could I hide my first score? Could they still see how many times I have taken it? How bad does it look to grad schools to hide a score?

by the way, the forums here are great. very motivational

You can't hide any score. For that reason, I think you should never take the PGRE with the intention to take it again. But, if it does not go well in april, then you can take it again in november. (it's better to take it twice and have a good score than to only take it once and have a bad score)

If you know for sure you won't do well in April, I would advise against taking the test then. You can get a reality check by taking one of the old practice exams under simulated test conditions. If you take it in April and do poorly and then take it in November and do well, the April score won't hold you back. However, if you do poorly in both April and November, you'll be taking the test a third time after spending another year studying and doing research, and I think three attempts is starting to look a bit desperate.

Don't forget that you can always cancel your scores at the end of test day with no record of it showing up on future score reports. You just have to fill in a little bubble, and I think you can even call up later and cancel. So you could try your best to prepare by April and see what happens. If the test is a disaster, or you know you'd do much better with more preparation, just cancel the scores and retake it in November. I've heard of students taking and canceling tests for the sole purpose of practicing problems and getting test-day experience.

thanks for the replies. yeah, i dont really care if i cant see my score this time around, i just want april for the practice.

so just to confirm, if i fill in this little bubble, which will be (beyond all doubt) at the end of the test and easily recognizable, then neither my scores nor the fact that I even took the test that day will ever show up again? will my score profile show that i have taken it twice?

No one will know that you did the test twice... but keep in mind that if you choose to do that you are essentially paying about 200 $ just to practice the exam.

And considering not even you would know how you did, it's not even as helpful as taking a practice exam on your own.

Under the circumstances I would recommend not taking the April test, assuming you can still get a portion of the fee you paid back. It will essentially be a $200 practice exam for which you will receive no quantitative feed back. You won't know what you did poorly on and therefore it won't help you figure out what you need to study.

soooooooo, i ended up taking the exam for practice yesterday. And even though i have no idea what i made, and never will, it was motivational. There is something about being in the test room and not knowing how to solve the problems that makes me want to just go home and study. You cant quite get that with practice exams; it just isnt the same. BUT, was it worth the 160$ or whatever i paid and spending my saturday morning taking a test....probably not.