Does the GRE correlate to the SAT?

[dave134]

When I took the SAT over 7 years ago, I did not study at all the first time and did very well. I did take it a 2nd time and studied a lot of verbal for that and bumped my verbal score up 40 points, but my math did go down 10 points. So I basically gained very little from studying. I am just wondering if the GRE is similar in format and difficulty, is it just a bit more difficult?

[thecubhaters]

i've read that compared to the SAT, the GRE verbal is more difficult and the GRE math is easier. This was reflected in my score.

I wouldn't say I really studied, but I did buy a book with a CD to take practice tests. It was helpful for me to get a feel for the test. If you haven't heard, it is an "adaptive" exam, or whatever they call it. The difficulty of the questions that you get depends on how you do on previous questions, and you need to get the harder questions correct to get a higher score. So, it's very important to get the initial questions correct.

[capella]

I think the GRE is a harder test overall. Most people do better on the math, but I guess I just suck at math. The verbal is definitely harder.

I also did not study at all for the SAT. I took it November of my senior year (barely in time to apply for college) and I only took it once. On the SAT I had a 700 on the verbal (meaning I only had 10 questions wrong.. not too shabby). But on the GRE I only scored 600 (still not terrible, but I was surprised).

The writing was easy (but then again my degree was based in writing so...). I got a 5/6 on the writing part.

I only got a 460 on the GRE math. That's just terrible. I don't know what happened. I guess I'm not a math person. If I could do it again, I would study and take more practice tests.

But I think it also depends on your purpose for taking the GRE. I only needed an 880 to get in to the program I'm completing now. I had a score of 1060, which was way over what I needed. It's only important to score well if you need to have a high score for your program. I was surprised at my score and I thought I should have done better, but it was enough to get me in..... so, eh? Who cares, right?

[EmberMae]

The essential difference between the SAT and the GRE is the GRE is a computer adaptive test (you can't skip questions and go back to them, and your next question is more difficult if you answered the previous correctly, or less difficult if you answered the previous wrong), and of course you take it on the computer, rather than having a booklet. That took some getting used to for me as I like to tackle the questions I know first & skip harder ones, and I like to write on my test booklet and cross out answers I know are wrong.

I think it's really difficult to study for the GRE Verbal, as it's mostly vocabulary; the SAT does not have as much vocabulary now. You could spend hundreds of hours memorizing thousands of words and none of those words could appear on the test or only a few. The words are definately more obscure than anything I can remember from the SAT.

Math may be worth studying for depending on your math background. Personally I hadn't taken math since high school so I found it worthwhile to do a review book of Algebra and Geometry. I think the way the math portion of the test is structured, it doesn't seem as straightforward as the SAT, especially the questions where you had to assess if the quantity in column a or b was bigger. Or maybe I just wasn't used to doing math.

[sondra_finchley]

For me studying for both tests showed up with huge point gains- over 100 pts on both the SAT and the GRE. I hate these types of tests anyway, but learning the tricks and practicing just taking the test helped immensely. My last GRE score set that I posted was a 650 verbal and a 600 math, with 4/5 writing. I put in maybe a half hour to an hour a night for two weeks. Learning the math tricks definitely helped a lot. What I found odd is that I scored far better on my ACT than the SAT- a 29 compared to an 1180- and I didnt study for it at all ( I think the science section played to my strengths). Unfortunately I think Ill have to study a bit more for the GRE to get into the program Ive had my eye on for a while.

I would put the time into learning time management tricks, practicing how the test works, and shoring up your weak areas.