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How soon can I get Nov 4 test results

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:15 pm
by felixphysicist
thank you for the replies

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:26 pm
by l3amm
The ETS website says Dec. 6th by phone, if I remember correctly.

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:29 pm
by Daharoni
you can get them now

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:23 pm
by jall
Is that a free service?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:02 pm
by somebody
"ETS" and "free" don't commute. so no.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:34 pm
by jall
I phoned ETS to know my score, I give them my credit card number, etc etc. This was 2 days ago, and they did not take the money from my account. Is this normal? What if I gave a wrong number by accident? Don't they check the credit card number before telling the scores? I'm afraid that if there is any problem with the payment, ETS will not send my scores to universities.

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:14 am
by Singularity
Hi,
I wanted to know the raw score above which 990 is awarded for the Subject test held on November 4. I have a raw score of 87/100.
Also, does the admission committee actually look into your raw score and (possibly) differentiate candidates who have the same scaled score of 990.

And in answer to jall's question, yes, they do check the credit card number. The first time I called up I was blocked from trying becuase I had entered the wrong number twice. I am sure you will be billed in a short time.

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:31 pm
by schmit.paul
For every person on this forum demonstrating concern for his/her 990, there are two reasons for such a seemingly unwarranted fit of paranoia. Either the person is genuinely concerned, and thus lacks the common sense and intuition that I would assume any talented physics major should have, or the person is trying to find some shameless way to showboat around.

Either way, 99th percentile means exactly what it sounds like, as in you are in the top 1% for a standardized physics test. For the purposes of the Physics GRE, the "talent resolution" is certainly not below the single percentage range, so of course admissions committees won't be able to discriminate between 990s--you have to realize they're going to look at your score, see that it's above some threshold (so they don't have to throw your application out), see that its a *generally* high score (and possibly bump you to the top of the stack of applications into which they'll delve to look at everything else, like letters of rec, statement of purpose, GPA and curriculum, etc), and then never consider your grade again. The GRE is just a rough filter, nothing more. This concern for fine details would be much better directed toward things like your statement of purpose, not to mention the quickly approaching deadlines for submission.

Singularity, perhaps you weren't trying to showboat, and I apologize for the rant, but there have been many other instances of other individuals trying to find some (in their mind) subtle way to illuminate their top score by feigning concern for it, where as common sense should dictate that they should be the LEAST concerned out of the entire 100% of the test-taker pool, and more concerned about other aspects of their applications. I'm not bitter, I did very well too, but I do believe modesty is a virtue, and I know that parading around the 990 with some extraordinarily unjustified concern is just going to make those who didn't score as high as you (the other 99%) even more worried, perhaps MUCH more worried than they genuinely should be. So even if this wasn't your intention, I know there are a few others just itching to let everyone else know how well they did, and if that happens to be the case, do the honorable thing and just post on the grad school topic where everyone's listing their stats and grad programs.

And congrats, btw, best of luck in the admissions process.

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:15 am
by Singularity
It may be my misjudgement but I didnt think I needed to give full details of my profile to justify my anxiety over my chances of admission. Anyway,
a) a small correction: 990 on my test corresponds to 97% and not 99%
b) I am an int'l student and I know SEVERAL instances where candidates with subject test scores greater than 950 have been rejected from univs ranked below 20.
c) my overall GPA is 3.07 and my Physics GPA is about 3.4 .
d) I dont have a single recommendation letter from a proff with whom I have done a project.
e) I am already sure I wouldnt be accepted anywhere in top 10 and so the highest place on my list is UTexas Austin.
f) I am applying in High Energy Theory
I hope that should clarify the situation.
Thanks

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 6:00 am
by aquarius
Hi Singularity
I'm a french student with 990 as well, and with a GPA of 2.65 (on the american scale, but we don't use GPA's here). In my university, grades are very low which is a policy of the university. If I was in the admission comitee, I wouldn't look too much on grades because it depends on the institution where you were student. In France, for exemple, everybody knew that it was easier to go to stanford from a lousy school (there are no official ranking here) in which you are first, than from ecole polytechnique with a mid rank (ecole polytechnique is in the top 2).
My only way to prove that I am in the top 2 school was to get a high score at the GRE. Getting a perfect 990 is not easy, and it can never be just "by luck" given the difficulty of the task. I hope that the admission comitte is aware of this.
I think letters of rec. are very important. Why cannot your professors write you letters of rec ?
Anyway, the most important in my sense is the connections you can have with the university you apply to. I applied to 4 universities of roughly same level, and I have strong connections in one, mild connections in another one and no connection at all in the two other. I will see during the results in april the importance of connections.
Btw, where do you come from, and how many candidates were rejected with scores higher than 950 ?

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:24 am
by Singularity
Hi acquaris
I am not sure what you mean when you say you that your university dosen't use GPA but if you are referring to the fact that raw marks are directly entered into your grade sheet, then I am sure the US universities wouldn't do a naiive conversion of those scores to grades. Besides, I am sure they would be aware of the standard of ecole polytechnique and evaluate your application accordingly.
In my case though, we are awarded grades almost identical to the American system and there are a few students whose GPA goes beyond 3.9 etc. However , I do believe that my college is generally more competitive than most American universities and/or cutoffs for the grades is generally much higher. For instance, in many of the courses the student who is in average gets a C (2/4.0) wheres US univs tend to be B centric.
And no, I dont have contacts in any universities. The only advantage I could possibly have over other applicants is the fact that I have done quite a few advanced courses including QFT, Particle Physics, Cosmology etc.
As far as Subject Test is concerned, I dont think it reflects much on any aspect of the candidate. I mean, the questions are based on whatever you learn in your first year and none of them are genuinely difficult to be testing any real capacity to solve problems. It is more a question of speed and some bit of analytical thinking which can developed with sufficient practice especially given the fact that the questions asked in various years are not all that different. Also, I dont think it is fair to judge applicants based on a single exam. What if it happens to be your bad day and you screw it up. Your grade sheet on the other hand describes your performance in last 4/5 years and ofcourse the topics covered during that duration is far, far more than what is tested in the Subject Test.
I am from India
Edit: Maybe I wasn't quite accurate about many people getting rejects from Top 20 but yes, I do know of atleast 4 cases where high GRE scores dosent translate to admissions in the Top 10-20 univs. Ofcourse, their grades weren't all that stellar.
I did get recommendation letters but none from faculty with whom I have done some project/research experience.

Re: How soon can I get Nov 4 test results

Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:42 am
by smriti
hi singularity..
where did you study in india?
i am doing my masters in physics at the moment and would want to apply for a ph.d in th US. what is the best way of going about this process?when should it be done? is it better to go through the channels of various institutions like Jamboree etc or can i do it all by myself.
thanks