Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

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99percent
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Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sat Nov 08, 2008 4:14 am

Yes, i can say this... I have just now come from the test center... and believe me guys, this test was really easy... Most of the questions were recognizable as they were very much similar to the ones in the released GRE exams... I attempted 85 questions of which around 7-10 were (smart) guesses..!!

Midway in the test, I even laughed at the test questions when I saw an exact question from the 0177 exam..!! Question # 78 about the muon decay... This time they had asked the decay equation for muon... :lol:

What do you all guys think about the test?

And all the best for the guys in the west..!! It must still be a lot of time for the start of exam...

tonyhongxp
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by tonyhongxp » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:28 am

yes, extremely easy for most of them, plus some never-heard questions...
will the exams be different for the two hemispheres?

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xudis149
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by xudis149 » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:32 am

99percent.. I too found the exam easy. Very much like 0177..

Initial 10-20 questions went like blitzkrieg... but then later it was harder..

i attempted 90 questions and around 6-7 where reluctant guesses....

hoping to cross the 80 percentile barrier....

aditi405
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by aditi405 » Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:33 am

this test didn't go too well, considering how easy it was. wish i had just 3 more days to revise some stuff, but whats done is done. maybe next year. I'm pretty sure to get a 990 on this test, even an 80/ 100 wont be enough. It'll go up to 90. prolly one of the easiest exams. yeah, but don ask me why it didn't go well for me. a year wasted!

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coreycwgriffin
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by coreycwgriffin » Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:26 am

I've got two hours before the exam. I hope the test here in the US is easy as well...

99percent
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:50 am

sidharthsp: i think you will be easily able to get 990 in this test with that performance... I was going through the scoring guides of the previous GRE physics exams... I saw one thing... if you get more than 84-85 as raw score in any of the forms, then you will get 990 scaled scored...

coreycwgriffin: I think the test will be almost the same in the US as well, they will just reorder the questions... I am saying this, because you can see the released GRE tests have just the year mentioned and the code 77 - which is the code for physics... I think they have the same paper everywhere, its just the questions are either reordered or are marginally different...
Even the copyright logos in the test booklets for different years are of the same year
cheers to GRE for giving an easy test..!! :lol:

99percent
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:54 am

Quoting this statement from the Official GRE physics Test booklet:
Although you might increase your scores to some extent through preparation a few weeks or months before you take the test, last minute cramming is unlikely to help
This statement is false... You can significantly increase your scores by a few weeks of preparation and last minute cramming can help you a lot... I can say this, because I crammed up some stuff this morning (special relativity and Doppler effect formulas) and it helped me a lot... I think there were around 5-6 questions on these topics and getting 5-6 questions correct means increasing your score by about 50 points... :D

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xudis149
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by xudis149 » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:22 am

@99percent

you are absolutely right. This exam is all about cramming and simple application of formula's... And about 990, hey I generally make lot of careless mistakes. So if I get in 800's I am happy. All the best for the results to everyone...


this one month wait is too much....but i have general test anyway in few weeks that will keep the results out of my mind...

rohit
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by rohit » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:47 am

Well, i thought the first 15 questions or so were ridiculously easy, so i slacked off on my speed somehow (weird huh? one would think it should've been the opposite !) so i couldnt attempt around 10 calculation involving questions( mostly emf and relativity) that i could've finished if i got another 10 mins. I didnt even count my attempts . I think it was 75-80 (7-8) partial guesses. I guess i'll be glad with a 800. It shouldnt go below 700, i think. It was easy probably but i wasnt well prepared with a-c circuits and lost marks there. I think the tests should be 80 questions in 150 mins. Many questions involve the same trick with different elementary formulas - calculate.calculate.calculate :x
btw 99%, where was ur centre ? not St Michaels Delhi by any chance ?

rohit
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by rohit » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:59 am

hey i'm seein a lotof Indian names here , so i'll pop u all a question - assuming my PGRE isnt spectacular enuff for say top 20 places; my General GRE is quite decent
verbal - 750
quant - 760 (bit low :oops: )
total - 1510
analytical - awaited

do u know of any good places where i might get in based on this general GRE score (as an international applicant)

also, is the stipend enough to cover all your living costs ?

99percent
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sat Nov 08, 2008 9:56 am

Yes Rohit... My center was St. Micheals, Pusa Road, New Delhi... I was the guy in red stripped shirt... I was in room 5... and you..??

Also, Rohit your GRE General scores are awesome... I would murder anyone for that kind of general GRE score...
My General GRE scores are:
Verbal - 340 (xtremely low... :oops: :cry: )
Quant - 790 (had to get this... :lol:)
Analytical - 4.0
Total - 1130

I think General GRE scores doesn't matter much when it comes to Physics Graduate admission.
Physics GRE matters a lot - A high score will not guarantee you admission, but a low score will definitely harm your chances...

There are other things that matter more than score - like academic records, recommendations, SOP, research experience.

I don't have much of either good recommendations or much research experience.... :( :cry:

pqortic
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by pqortic » Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:28 am

I dunno why they prepared such an easy test. I think if you want more than 900 you should hit more than 80 corrects.
99percent wrote: I was going through the scoring guides of the previous GRE physics exams... I saw one thing... if you get more than 84-85 as raw score in any of the forms, then you will get 990 scaled scored...
are you absolutely sure that this will work in this easy test too. :!:

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coreycwgriffin
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by coreycwgriffin » Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:50 pm

Literally just left the test 5 minutes ago (testing center was at my university -- just walked back up to the physics department). I will admit that it was an easier exam than the released practice tests, but I still probably did poorly in comparison to you guys. Hopefully low-mid 700's, but that's a stretch.

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metric
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by metric » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:21 pm

Wow, in Argentina the test was easy too! I did 96/100 doing smart guesses for 10 of them (probably.) I hope to get over the 800, although I would settle with 700-something. From all the comments, I think that this test will probably have 15% of the population with 990. We'll see...

99percent
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:33 pm

emperial wrote:I dunno why they prepared such an easy test. I think if you want more than 900 you should hit more than 80 corrects.
99percent wrote: I was going through the scoring guides of the previous GRE physics exams... I saw one thing... if you get more than 84-85 as raw score in any of the forms, then you will get 990 scaled scored...
are you absolutely sure that this will work in this easy test too. :!:
I think it should be like this only... I think today's exam was very much similar to the 2001 released exam... Maybe a bit easier... or may be it feels easier to us cos we had all gone through the 2001 test before appearing for today's test...

We can only predict..!! Now, its a long wait for the results... the next 6 weeks are going to be tougher than the few days before the exam... :(

selmanjones
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by selmanjones » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:48 pm

Considering it was my first PGRE "real" experience I was terrified and think fear got the best of me... Hoping that next time I will be able to do much better

scallions
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by scallions » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:48 pm

I thought it was reasonable, but I still only answered ~60 questions before time was called. I didn't answer anything unless I could knock out 3 of the choices (or 2 if I could intuition something "looking right") and there were still ~40 I felt fairly confident about. 600-town here I come!

Here's hoping we all did well!

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Ren
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by Ren » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:57 pm

it really was easy :( that's why i feel horrible that i only answered about 60 q.
my pacing was way off. I should have don't much better.

what do you guys think the scaling will be like? would you get around 700 if you have~ 50 raw score?

PoincareSection
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by PoincareSection » Sat Nov 08, 2008 3:17 pm

I didn't think it was THAT easy... I thought the difficulty level was around the 9277. I answered 51 questions, so I'm hoping for at least a 650, and I'd be ecstatic with a 700 . I was positive for about 35 - 40 questions and took educated guesses on the rest. I hope being an american female and having awesome research experience makes up for a crappy score.

This will be the longest six weeks ever....

Good luck to everyone!!! :D

duck85
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by duck85 » Sat Nov 08, 2008 3:19 pm

hey all, down here in Peru the test was pretty easy as well. But as i don't think i prepared well enough, i don't know how i might do. I answered a little under 60 questions but only guessed on like 3 or 4, and only if i could rule out 3 of the choices, i might have played it too safe, cause i even left unanswered a few q's in which i was between 2 choices, that might have been stupid on my part. I expect to get around 600-700. Although with all these comments and the easiness of the test, the curve might screw me over. Luckily I am applying to geophysics and planetary science deps, and most of them don't actually require the test, although a bunch of them recommend you take it. Does anyone know if this "recommendation" is code for "if you don't take it and do well, you won't get in"? best of luck to everyone.
p.s. what was up with that hubble constant question eh? not that is was hard but i found it a little weird. cheers

Terran Lance
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by Terran Lance » Sat Nov 08, 2008 3:46 pm

I would have to agree! I just got done taking it a few hours ago and thought that it was a lot easier that the four practice exams.

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quizivex
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by quizivex » Sat Nov 08, 2008 4:00 pm

99percent wrote: I think the test will be almost the same in the US as well, they will just reorder the questions... I am saying this, because you can see the released GRE tests have just the year mentioned and the code 77 - which is the code for physics... I think they have the same paper everywhere, its just the questions are either reordered or are marginally different...
This is certainly not the case. If all tests labeled "9277" (or this year "0877") were the same test, then the April, October and November tests would all be the same in a given year (and hence people could quickly figure out how to get perfect scores). We confirmed last year that there are several different versions of the test (with distinct questions) on any given test day. There are other number/letter codes on the booklets that probably represent these individual forms.
duck85 wrote:Does anyone know if this "recommendation" is code for "if you don't take it and do well, you won't get in"?
Yes this is true (vacuously). If you manage to do well in a test you didn't take, any consequence and its negation follows. haha this is why Obama should introduce parenthesis into the English language...
"If you don't (take it and do well)..." :D

Nice work guys getting through this test. The scores are usually available by phone in exactly 4 weeks.

cato88
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by cato88 » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:12 pm

I dont know what form you guys took but my test version was a bit harder than the October test version. What is it it with logic gates? I didnt realize I was supposed to have learned about logic gates in my physics courses. There were also more questions that were based on historical facts than principles you could derive with undergrad classes because as far as I know you cant derive CP violation in weak interactions using lagrangians.

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coreycwgriffin
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by coreycwgriffin » Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:15 pm

scallions wrote:I thought it was reasonable, but I still only answered ~60 questions before time was called. I didn't answer anything unless I could knock out 3 of the choices (or 2 if I could intuition something "looking right") and there were still ~40 I felt fairly confident about. 600-town here I come!

Here's hoping we all did well!
PoincareSection wrote:I didn't think it was THAT easy... I thought the difficulty level was around the 9277. I answered 51 questions, so I'm hoping for at least a 650, and I'd be ecstatic with a 700 . I was positive for about 35 - 40 questions and took educated guesses on the rest. I hope being an american female and having awesome research experience makes up for a crappy score.

This will be the longest six weeks ever....

Good luck to everyone!!! :D
Ren wrote:it really was easy :( that's why i feel horrible that i only answered about 60 q.
my pacing was way off. I should have don't much better.

what do you guys think the scaling will be like? would you get around 700 if you have~ 50 raw score?
Looks like I'm right in league with you guys. Answered about 60, all of which I either knew were correct or eliminated two/three choices.
cato88 wrote:I dont know what form you guys took but my test version was a bit harder than the October test version. What is it it with logic gates? I didnt realize I was supposed to have learned about logic gates in my physics courses. There were also more questions that were based on historical facts than principles you could derive with undergrad classes because as far as I know you cant derive CP violation in weak interactions using lagrangians.
Yeah, I saw a logic gate question that I skipped, and then one about Cooper pairs and stuff...random facts that if you didn't know you were screwed on.

taylormade
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by taylormade » Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:29 pm

was pretty much as expected, but 5 days of studying did not help (long long story). plus, as the guys here are suggesting should have taken one or two sample test under timed condition. Timing completely threw me off. Answered about 50-60 questions pretty correctly i think. Fingers crossed.

Slim Shady
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by Slim Shady » Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:50 pm

I'm hoping there are different versions out there because I definitely didn't think the test was easy. As was mentioned above, there were cooper pairs, logic gates, and J particles on mine. Did you guys with the "easy" test have those things? if so, I may be screwed, because I would compare the test more to the difficulty of 1992, and not nearly as easy as 2001 (despite the fact that I agree that most of the first 10 to 15 were ridiculously easy). I was hoping to get in high 800s to low 900s and now am not so confident. I answered about 90. In hindsight, I know of at least 12-15 dumb mistakes and had no idea on 8-10 (the ones I didn't answer), not to mention I'm sure that I must have goofed up many of the ones I thought I got right. Anyone else think the test compared more to 1992 in overall difficulty?

selmanjones
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by selmanjones » Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:50 pm

Anyone take the GRE's at Rhode Island College?

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WontonBurritoMeals
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by WontonBurritoMeals » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:11 pm

I'm suprised that people are complaining about Logic Gates, Parity, and Cooper Pairs... At my completely unknown state school, we've covered each of those in at least 3 places.

Logic Gates: Proofs class, discrete mathematics, electronics, logic class.

Parity: In Quantum Mechanics, we learned to use the Parity Operator to solve problems by knowing its commutator (or anticommutator) with other operators. And everyone knows the story about Landau and his shoe...

May the wind be always at your back,
-Wonton Burrito Meals

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twistor
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by twistor » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:32 pm

At my school we don't know what the *** you're talking about...

PoincareSection
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by PoincareSection » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:34 pm

Slim Shady wrote:I'm hoping there are different versions out there because I definitely didn't think the test was easy. As was mentioned above, there were cooper pairs, logic gates, and J particles on mine. Did you guys with the "easy" test have those things? if so, I may be screwed, because I would compare the test more to the difficulty of 1992, and not nearly as easy as 2001 (despite the fact that I agree that most of the first 10 to 15 were ridiculously easy). I was hoping to get in high 800s to low 900s and now am not so confident. I answered about 90. In hindsight, I know of at least 12-15 dumb mistakes and had no idea on 8-10 (the ones I didn't answer), not to mention I'm sure that I must have goofed up many of the ones I thought I got right. Anyone else think the test compared more to 1992 in overall difficulty?
Hey,

We had the same test (and, I believe, the test that everyone else had too). If you knew that a Cooper pair was a pair of electrons you could use process of elimination to figure out the answer with just that bit of information. I skipped the logic gate one though because I always screw those up. I totally agree with you that it was the same level as the '92 test. I only answered 51 questions on mine because I hesitated to guess, which might be a mistake.

What did you guys get for the hollow wire one? I spent waaayyyy too much time on that one stupid question.

PoincareSection
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by PoincareSection » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:41 pm

WontonBurritoMeals wrote:I'm suprised that people are complaining about Logic Gates, Parity, and Cooper Pairs... At my completely unknown state school, we've covered each of those in at least 3 places.

Logic Gates: Proofs class, discrete mathematics, electronics, logic class.

Parity: In Quantum Mechanics, we learned to use the Parity Operator to solve problems by knowing its commutator (or anticommutator) with other operators. And everyone knows the story about Landau and his shoe...

May the wind be always at your back,
-Wonton Burrito Meals

We briefly covered those in mine, but not enough to instantly recall enough information to solve the problems.

Hypernova
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by Hypernova » Sat Nov 08, 2008 9:12 pm

I do think that it was easier that the other ones I've tried, but not that "very" easy. Now that was a bad news for me...

blueeverest
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by blueeverest » Sat Nov 08, 2008 9:15 pm

I took it at RIC. How did you do?

tau1777
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by tau1777 » Sat Nov 08, 2008 9:37 pm

well i was a little scared to see, so many people saying it was easy, but now I'm a little relieved to see that i was wasn't the only one to answer 60 questions. i can't really explain it, it was an easy test but at the same time it got weird/hard fast. like the other comments the first 25-30 questions were probably "easy". but after that i found myself skipping questions, a lot.the only way to describe it, is that after question 50, i felt like i was trying to run a race through some molasses.

i had done poorly on the practice exams b/c of wild guessing, and i was determined not to do that here. so i went through the whole thing in 2 - 2.5 hrs. if i had done 65 questions, i would have just checked my work, or tried 5 more. however i only had 50. hopefully, since i felt comfortable with these, i got most of them right. then i went back, and checked my work for some of them. actually helped for one question, for sure. and i tried to get to 65 questions, but when time was called i was only able to do 60. i guess, its not to much of a surprise this is what i could usually answer in the practice exams. however some of these (the last 10) were like "logical" (my logic at least) guesses. so they might hurt me more than, just stopping at 50. hope not.

also i don't think you need like a raw score of 90-95 to get a 990, i mean even with its easiness it felt like the 0177 test. and for that one 85 was 990. as for me, a couple of us were talking about it outside and through some personal thoughts i've realized i got 5 wrong already. however if it stays at this i can hope for a 750. which i would be really happy with since the highest i scored on a practice was 640. but i guess i can get a lot more wrong, hopefully not, and hopefully the lowest it will go is 700.

scallions
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by scallions » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:11 pm

I just flat out skipped some of the stuff that was oddball Jeopardy! trivia stuff that I never saw before.

I hear you all on the pacing issues... whoever was in charge of timing at my test spot had a very weird idea on spacing the "time remaining" warnings on the board: 1hr 50min, 1hr 20min, and 20min. That's right, no 10 or 5 minute warnings. I was absolutely shocked when testing ended so abruptly :(

All in all, I felt the test was "easy" in the sense I didn't finish early because I just didn't know enough material covered which is what I was very afraid would happen (and if I did have another half hour, could have gone over some of the stuff I skipped after elimination 1-2 choices as I left a huge chunk of 7 questions in a row blank "to go back to") not that it was EASY-easy.

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coreycwgriffin
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by coreycwgriffin » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:23 pm

Somewhere around question 80 I had a non-answer streak about 10 problems long. Quantum and thermo I've never studied.

scallions
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by scallions » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:31 pm

Yeah thermo I had with an absolutely horrid professor 2 years ago... needless to say, didn't remember ANY of it. Oh well!

I think I left like 6 of the last 10 blank as well. Ahaha, good to know I'm not the only person playing it safe and swiss-cheesing the exam.

TrueBLUE
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by TrueBLUE » Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:50 pm

Yup... I guess it was an easy one much like the practce test booklet. I attempted 95/100 with 7-8 (smart??) guesses, of which atleast two I am convinced are wrong. :( anyone has any idea what culd be the 90 percentile cutoff??

I saw some questions of the test being discussed here. What abt the declaration we printed and signed :P :P :wink: :wink:

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xudis149
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by xudis149 » Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:15 am

In hindsight I think it was not the easiest of exams. The initial 10-20 were really easy.. but later on many questions were little tricky and some of them I had no clues....

now it is just the long wait... :?

cato88
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by cato88 » Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:24 am

TrueBLUE wrote: I saw some questions of the test being discussed here. What abt the declaration we printed and signed :P :P :wink: :wink:
Other than the J/Psi comment the rest way too general to violate nda. About as useful as saying Lagrangians will be in test.

jack6
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by jack6 » Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:32 am

IM SO F***ING PISSEDDDD!!!!!!!!

ok so i take the test and it was totally easy!!!! But thats not the part i am pissed about...the clock in front of the room that was recording time stopped working about half way into the test!!!!!!!

The clock just stopped so i thought i has wayyyy more time than i actually did; EVERYONE DID. When the lady administrator told us we only have twenty minutes left, everyone was like "WTF!", cus the clock on the wall said we had an hour left. This totally f***ed me up!!!! I think i could have killed the f***ing test if it werent for this f***ing set back. BAH!

When time was called there were two-three questions i KNEW exacty how to do but just not enough time...im so f***ing pissed

naroays
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by naroays » Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:12 am

I thought that the test was pretty much the same as the practice booklet, if not a bit easier. I was able to attempt 93 questions, out of which i guessed 4-5 (and of which I found 2 are wrong for sure and another correct). I was able to work out most of the answers, and match them exactly with one of the given options.

My test center was pretty good (Bangalore, India). There was a big clock in front to pace oneself, and the desks, air ventilation, etc were fine, and the invigilators were friendly and helpful.

The first 30 questions or so didn't take a lot of time, and I was able to finish it in around 45 mins. I did lose a bit of time in the middle section, though. The best advice I can give is not to get bogged down in a question for 4+ minutes, it's not worth the time as you will miss easier questions later. Also, you can always come back and finish the longer questions later.

I have no idea what the cut-offs will be like, but I'll be happy with 850+. Thank goodness i finished the PGRE. In my opinion, it doesn't test your knowledge of physics as much as it tests how long you've spent preparing and working on your problem solving skills. I think the majority of questions were based on stuff done upto my second year. Best of luck to everyone else!

tiyusufaly
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Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by tiyusufaly » Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:57 am

IM SO F***ING PISSEDDDD!!!!!!!!

ok so i take the test and it was totally easy!!!! But thats not the part i am pissed about...the clock in front of the room that was recording time stopped working about half way into the test!!!!!!!

The clock just stopped so i thought i has wayyyy more time than i actually did; EVERYONE DID. When the lady administrator told us we only have twenty minutes left, everyone was like "WTF!", cus the clock on the wall said we had an hour left. This totally f***ed me up!!!! I think i could have killed the f***ing test if it werent for this f***ing set back. BAH!

When time was called there were two-three questions i KNEW exacty how to do but just not enough time...im so f***ing pissed
Wow you guys got screwed. I suggest you report this to ETS. I think there is a procedure for getting this done.

mike164
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:45 pm

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by mike164 » Sun Nov 09, 2008 2:56 am

Slim Shady wrote:I'm hoping there are different versions out there because I definitely didn't think the test was easy. As was mentioned above, there were cooper pairs, logic gates, and J particles on mine. Did you guys with the "easy" test have those things? if so, I may be screwed, because I would compare the test more to the difficulty of 1992, and not nearly as easy as 2001 (despite the fact that I agree that most of the first 10 to 15 were ridiculously easy). I was hoping to get in high 800s to low 900s and now am not so confident. I answered about 90. In hindsight, I know of at least 12-15 dumb mistakes and had no idea on 8-10 (the ones I didn't answer), not to mention I'm sure that I must have goofed up many of the ones I thought I got right. Anyone else think the test compared more to 1992 in overall difficulty?
You are absolutely right. One thing is absolutely clear. The people who took in India and other parts of the world have got a completely different version than what we got. I took it in Boston and I had all the questions that you mentioned. I also took the October test and found this test four times harder than the October test. If the Oct test was at the level of 0177, I would call this at the level of 9277.I managed to answer 85. I believe that a 75 in this test should definitely count towards 990. Unfortunately, I cannot state specific examples to substantiate my point.

naroays
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:57 am

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by naroays » Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:06 am

mike164 wrote: You are absolutely right. One thing is absolutely clear. The people who took in India and other parts of the world have got a completely different version than what we got. I took it in Boston and I had all the questions that you mentioned. I also took the October test and found this test four times harder than the October test. If the Oct test was at the level of 0177, I would call this at the level of 9277.I managed to answer 85. I believe that a 75 in this test should definitely count towards 990. Unfortunately, I cannot state specific examples to substantiate my point.
I think that's very likely. The test I got was no where close to being as difficult as the 9277. Anyway, it's done now, no use worrying. I hope you do well, best of luck!

99percent
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:11 am

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:30 am

Well, I still think that the tests were pretty similar at all parts, as the test that i took also had the same trend... the first 10-15 questions were damn easy... i was over them in about first 15-20 minutes... and the last 10-15 questions were tricky and i skipped most of them.. they were all mostly quantum or thermodynamics...

The test I took also had the logic gate problem, which I think was very easy... It just required the knowledge of AND, NOT and OR gates... :)

I would still say that the questions were similar and the test was easy... of the level of 0177... I was again going though the 01 test, and i saw that most of the questions of that test were in yesterday's test... like the question on commutator of total angular momenta's... and about the pauli spin matrices...

I could even identify many of the classical mechanics problems in the 01 test with the yesterday's test... like the two blocks pushed on a horizontal plane problem...

and yes going by the trend of GRE scoring, i dont think that the scaled score of 990 will be more than 85 raw score...

99percent
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:11 am

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by 99percent » Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:47 am

Now for some insight... I work for "The Princeton review" and I know how the test items for these standardized tests are made... I have been in the industry of test item development for about 3 years now... We have had many projects... some of them are from ETS themselves... We are given the past tests and we are required to churn out similar tests... I work at TPR's offshore development center in India... many of the publishing companies (read Mcgraw, Riverside, Pearson) are in the business of test development and they all have offshore development centers in countries like India, Pakistan, China, Philippines, etc... And the development of these test items are done at these centers... ETS pays hefty amounts to get these tests developed...

But now for the shocker... I have developed test items for the GMAT... and what we were given are some of the previous GMAT tests questions and we were asked to make exactly similar questions, i.e., just change the values, change the variables, ask the questions other way around, if the question gives a and asks for b, then you give b and ask for a... and for each question the GMAC was paying us about $100..!!

I was not involved in the creation of GRE items though... but I guess, its the similar scene there also...

I am primarily involved in the preparation of your FCAT's, STAR, SAT, ACT, etc... as I work in the K12 education department of TPR...

I hope this explains to you guys how these standardized exams are prepared... And yes ETS is not duping you guys by stating that the tests are developed by a committee of subject matter specialists... yes they are... and i held the position of a subject matter expert, when i joined this industry...

temujin_cosmobug
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:10 pm

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by temujin_cosmobug » Sun Nov 09, 2008 2:23 pm

Hello everyone, I wish good luck to everyone who took the PGRE on Nov 8. The test was not too bad, but I was kinda screwed up because i could only get about 4 1/2 hours of sleep (and we all know we need fresh brains on the PGRE :D ); but anyways my test didnt go as bad as thought it would (owing to the lack of sleep) .

My test was around 8:30 AM, but i had to drive an hour to reach the test center, so I had to wake up at 7 and get something to eat. I did try sleeping around 11 PM, so that I would aleast get 7 hours of sleep (I normally have trouble falling sleep immediately, so i was hoping i would fall asleep by 12), but unfortunately I couldnt fall asleep till atleast 2 AM (I remember looking at the and swearing "oh !@#$ its 2 :twisted: ; so much for good luck,eh :lol: )

In the test however I found one mean mean question, a Delta-wye transformation, I have taken a lot of electronics classes but, i couldnt remember the formula (it was easy considering all the resistors were the same value, but mean because that was completely unexpected, and more relating to electrical engineering than physics ). I know not every one has the same question set, did anyone else also get a question relating to a delta- wye transformation?

Peace...
temujin

blinblue
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:29 pm

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by blinblue » Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:36 pm

I thought it was pretty easy too. I had been stressing out quite a bit due to poor results on practice tests (I haven't taken quantum or stat thermo, and not nearly enough of modern). I was able to answer 72, of which I felt pretty confident about 60. So in reality, after careless mistakes and what not, I probably got score of 50 or so. Hopefully that will be enough to get over into the 700s.

In regards to the logic gate question. Simple deduction is all that is needed to figure it out. Assuming you know that one of the symbols means AND and the other means OR, then you can use the possible answer choices as hints (like it wouldn't take too long to figure out that the little circle probably means NOT). I personally couldn't remember off the top of my head which diagram meant what, but I was able to figure out the answer using deduction. In fact, 3-4 of the problems on the test (if I remember correctly) I answered solely on deduction and not of any real knowledge of the material.

Now begins the 6 week waiting... Its annoying not knowing what my score is when I'm applying. Because I feel like I should at least mention in my application somewhere that I haven't taken a quantum course yet (that's next semester), and because of that, 15% of the test goes out the window. But if my score is already decent (if I got really lucky with my guessing and what not) it probably isn't worth mentioning....

Thankfully everyone I have talked to said that the physics GRE score really isn't all that important. Letters of recommendation, research experience, and undergrad GPA play a bigger part.

Good luck to everyone!


(btw, is it bad that during the test I was devising ways in which you could cheat? Not like I ever would, but if I were that type of person, it wouldn't have been too hard to do some cheating)

cato88
Posts: 420
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:46 am

Re: Nov 8, 2008 was an easy test..!!

Post by cato88 » Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:34 pm

temujin_cosmobug wrote: In the test however I found one mean mean question, a Delta-wye transformation, I have taken a lot of electronics classes but, i couldnt remember the formula (it was easy considering all the resistors were the same value, but mean because that was completely unexpected, and more relating to electrical engineering than physics ). I know not every one has the same question set, did anyone else also get a question relating to a delta- wye transformation?
I felt as if an electrical engineering background would be more useful than a physics background. If there were more quantum questions I would change my mind. Ann EE student would have taken classical mech and E&M.



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