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How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 6:18 pm
by axiomofchoice
Say, in a hypothetical situation, that I took the PGRE this year and got a good score, but I decided not to apply to grad school immediately (maybe go to work for a few years :roll: ). Would my PGRE score still count a few years from now, or do I need to retake the PGRE?

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 10:04 pm
by matonski
5 years

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 1:18 am
by axiomofchoice
Is that an official date then? Where can I find out more about it?

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 3:01 am
by quizivex
axiomofchoice wrote:Is that an official date then? Where can I find out more about it?
Hahahhahahahahhahahahha... anyone see the irony here?

A guy comes on the internet to ask where he can find information :idea:.

Maybe ETS has a website?

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 7:30 pm
by axiomofchoice
quizivex wrote:
axiomofchoice wrote:Is that an official date then? Where can I find out more about it?
Hahahhahahahahhahahahha... anyone see the irony here?

A guy comes on the internet to ask where he can find information :idea:.

Maybe ETS has a website?
My google search turns up little useful (in fact this particular thread turns up 2nd in one search); ETS website's search function is completely useless. It's precisely because I can't find a official answer (on ETS's website) that I asked. It's not unreasonable to ask where the source is if someone quotes a number. I don't see the irony here - be respectful sometimes.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 7:36 pm
by quizivex
The 5-year policy is mentioned here.
Other policies and info about GRE tests are explained in the other tabs on this page.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 1:02 am
by dlenmn
axiomofchoice wrote:My google search turns up little useful (in fact this particular thread turns up 2nd in one search); ETS website's search function is completely useless...
Your google-fu is weak. You know the information is on ets's site somewhere, so add "site:ets.org" to your google search (without quotes). Or just click the "More results from WHATEVER ยป" link in a normal search (here WHATEVER is ets.org). The first page on my first query has what you are looking for.

"Current GRE Board policy states that scores are reportable for five years."

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:08 am
by pqortic
do you think admission committees are either agree with ETS for 5 years validity?

consider a person who took the test 5 years ago and want to start the PhD. even if he was in contact with physics he would not stand on the similar physics knowledge as that time. ETS maintains scores for 5 years but people don't remember physics after 2 years or so.

I wonder if anybody here has the experience of sending old scores to schools.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:23 am
by matonski
I don't know. I took the test in November of 2004 (got a 750) and again this April (got an 890). I'm planning on applying for fall 2010. I'm wondering whether it would be better to wait till after November to send my scores to the schools so they will only see the later one.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:30 pm
by acmilan
matonski wrote:I don't know. I took the test in November of 2004 (got a 750) and again this April (got an 890). I'm planning on applying for fall 2010. I'm wondering whether it would be better to wait till after November to send my scores to the schools so they will only see the later one.
it's an option. I think it takes just several days to a week for ets to send a score report to an institution after you order one on-line. For my Gen GRE, the schools reported on their website to have received the official scores merely 10 days after I took the test.

Your first score would most likely go off your ets record in the beginning of December ... for all of November it should still be there, I think, no matter what day of November you took that test - you can check that with ETS - website or phone - what tests are on your account.
So, you should be perfectly fine of meeting the earliest deadlines of Dec 15th, which I think are mostly for the application, while suppl. materials like official scores could arrive a bit later and it would still be fine.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 3:20 pm
by zxcv
I can't see how any sensible admissions committee would care about your scores from almost 5 years ago over your more recent result. (It's not as if you did embarrassingly bad five years ago either.) I really don't think it would make a difference.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:42 pm
by acmilan
zxcv wrote:I can't see how any sensible admissions committee would care about your scores from almost 5 years ago over your more recent result. (It's not as if you did embarrassingly bad five years ago either.) I really don't think it would make a difference.
I completely agree with you but are all of them as sensible as we'd like them to be?
true, 750 is a very respectable score but if matonski is shooting at the top 10, and if he is going for theory, it would be better if he didn't have it on his record ... depending on how competitive 2010 is, that 750 could end up being costly for him and we don't know how the rest of his app would measure up - resreach/publications, gpa, gre gen, references, etc.

plus, at least according to one of the people who wrote on my behalf, being out of school for more than 1-2 yrs between undergrad and grad school is often seen as a negative (don't know to what extent though).
judging by that 2004 test, matonski may well fall into that category, so it would be best for him to get rid of as many negatives (i.e. less positive) on his application as possible.

just my 5 c

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 9:59 pm
by stardust
@acmilan
Why is being out of school 1-2 years considered a negative? Don't
they need to know what a person has been doing in that time frame
before they make judgements like that? What is the big deal with 1-2 years? It's not like your brain is going to dry up.

Re: How long is the validity of the PGRE?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 1:22 am
by acmilan
stardust wrote:@acmilan
Why is being out of school 1-2 years considered a negative? Don't
they need to know what a person has been doing in that time frame
before they make judgements like that? What is the big deal with 1-2 years? It's not like your brain is going to dry up.
I don't know for sure, stardust, he didn't elaborate and I never asked ... my guess is they are worried about forgetting your physics, maybe even question the student's commitment to a career in physics, not sure ... but again, that was for cases where you are out of school for more than 1-2 yrs i.e. at least 3-4 years and more.

I mentioned this because matonski may well be in this category assuming he took that 2004 test in his junior/senior year ... so, it's something to keep in mind.

The professor who told me this is on the admissions committee at the school in question but that doesn't mean that all schools take a note on this and treat it as a negative ... he did sound pretty serious about it though. Also mentioned that the committee would wonder why the applicant took such a long break and what he/she has been doing - submitting a resume should be a must in such cases, even for programs that do not ask for one.

Personally, I'd expect it to be somewhat of a negative for those going for competitive areas of physics in top 10-15 or so programs unless we are talking a very, very strong app. that is more than just competitive with the rest and even better - you've worked something physics-related while being out of school.