Physics GRE Discussion Forums

I noticed people in the profiles have taken the pgre multiple times. Is it expected
that the schools will only look at the highest score? Would a school be dumb enough
to average the scores? But will they frown upon having to take it more than once?
I was wondering what people thought and when its beneficial to repeat a test. If it
ends up as averaging, and the scores are close together, then it may not be worth it.

I do not how they would treat multiple attempts at PGRE. But averaging is such a dumb concept.

Say someone gets 500 without preparation. And then works his ass off to get a 990. Then taking an average is criminal from his perspective.

I agree, but sometimes I wonder if the office workers have a little too much power
in this process and they come up with something stupid. I'm even concerned they
get to decide which batch of folders to bring in to the committee. Or its
possible the committee wants to penalize a person for having to take it twice.

Many universities state that they only look at the latest one. If you had a good score the first time and a bad one the second, they will definitely take the second, bad score into account. If you get a bad score first and then a good score, well it shows that you ultimately learned your physics and might even show that you're a hard worker who can buckle down and do the work when needed.

I am actually trying to directly contact some professors in admission committee and tell them my scores and background...

But that may not be much helpful for large schools and those in IVY league...

But since I am applying to small schools and most are ranked 30 or above....so I have had a bit of luck in my query and suck mails...

I've heard that most universities either average the scores or take the latest one. I don't know which ones do which though.