JUst started studying for the GRE today... I must say alot of pointless and irrelevant material covered on this exam.. I could see if the exam was testing nursing knowledge like physiology, pharm or biochem for crna school, but it doesn't.. I'm sorry, but how does geometry, algebra and verbal correlate with anesthesia school?? Reminds me of the MCAT days.. another pointless and irrelevant standardized exam. Anyone have anything to add?
Specializes in ER/ICU, CCRN, SRNA (class of 2010).
We should consider ourselves lucky that they do not make us take a subject as well as the general GRE. I agree with previous posters as far as it is a way to seperate applicants. Think of how many applicants come through with GRE scores between 950 and 1100, if you can score over 1150 you will seperate yourself from the pack. My suggestion to anyone applying is take a review course and give it the attention it deserves.
Most of those "pointless exams" you refer to are given for a purpose other than to test your familiarity with specific subjects. They are designed to test the way you think ... how your mind works to solve problems and/or discern answers. A good school is looking for the best thinkers, NOT for the people who have memorized specific content.
If the school wanted to know, "Who knows the most about physiology?" they would give a physiology test. But that's not what they want to know. For the school's purpose, a physiology test would be useless.
I disagree. No standardize test look at the way you think. They are multiple choice, and they do not see any way that you arrived at the answer. Standardized tests are given to compare all applicants using a level playing field. The admissions personnel can look at the score of the applicants to see how they did in comparison to all the other applicants. Because many people have different backgrounds and have different levels of education, these standardize tests can help admissions people weed out people. You see, when a school has so many applications to look at, they can set a "cut-off" number for a standardized test, and quickly throw out many applications.
These standardize tests are a double-edge sword. They are used by committees to help determine who gets accepted and who doesn't get accepted. However, oftentimes, the test does not give an accurate depiction of the probablity of success at that school. There are many, many intelligent people that do extremely well in school, but they do not perform very well on standardized tests. This is a fact, and unfortunately, many good students are denied admissions to schools because of a single test score. I find this unfair, but I'm not in charge, so I can't change the admissions policies.
Much more advanced study material. The SAT is high school level, ACT I think is college entrance? GRE is something I'm struggling with, but I'm encouraged by all the advice here. Any advice for those who don't test well?
The GRE is similar to the SAT and ACT as it is based on verbal and math skills, as well as a writing portion. Hopefully, I'll study more this time around :)
I disagree. No standardize test look at the way you think. They are multiple choice, and they do not see any way that you arrived at the answer. Standardized tests are given to compare all applicants using a level playing field. The admissions personnel can look at the score of the applicants to see how they did in comparison to all the other applicants. Because many people have different backgrounds and have different levels of education, these standardize tests can help admissions people weed out people. You see, when a school has so many applications to look at, they can set a "cut-off" number for a standardized test, and quickly throw out many applications.
These standardize tests are a double-edge sword. They are used by committees to help determine who gets accepted and who doesn't get accepted. However, oftentimes, the test does not give an accurate depiction of the probablity of success at that school. There are many, many intelligent people that do extremely well in school, but they do not perform very well on standardized tests. This is a fact, and unfortunately, many good students are denied admissions to schools because of a single test score. I find this unfair, but I'm not in charge, so I can't change the admissions policies.
Much more advanced study material. The SAT is high school level, ACT I think is college entrance? GRE is something I'm struggling with, but I'm encouraged by all the advice here. Any advice for those who don't test well?
The GRE is NOT "more advanced study material". It is 10th and 11th grade math!!! Thats it! It also tests your reading/vocabulary at the college and graduate level just to make sure you are the appropriate reading level. Nothing more, nothing less. And the test is very irrelevant. Just like the ACT hasn't shown a success rate of high school students in college; neither has the GRE been able to predict the success rates of graduate students. The GRE is passable with a good grade if you study for it. The way they score the test is tricky so make sure you always get the first 3 questions right on every new section. They have never officially released how they score the GRE, but staticians have figured it out and its based on a point system from 1 to 5 points per question. You want a "5 point" question because its worth 5 x's the 1 point queston. And the GRE always starts you out on a 1 point question and works you up based on your ability to answer them correctly. So get the 1 - 3 pointers right, then you are in the 4 and 5 pointer questions which count the most.
Schools live or die by their board exam pass rates, which is yet another standardized, computerized exam. With that in mind my program director says the GRE gives them an indication of how well the student will do taking that type of exam.
schools live or die by their board exam pass rates, which is yet another standardized, computerized exam. with that in mind my program director says the gre gives them an indication of how well the student will do taking that type of exam.
however the gre is not a test that is tailored to the knowledge that they are teaching in crna schools. it is a general knowledge exam. being bad at geometry and therefore getting a lower score on the gre doesn't mean (imo) that you won't be able to pass the cetification exam. if there is a paper out there that discusses gre scores to pass rate on the crna exam i'd like to see it.
it seems like if what the program director told you were true then the admission committees would be very intrested in how applicants did on the nclex. specifically, how many times did the person have to take it to pass it? my wife passed the nclex in one try, after 80 questions, and she is notoriously bad at standardized, and computer adaptive tests. gut feel is that nclex results is a better indicator as to how well a student has learned the specific nursing material assigned to them and their ability to interpret that material and apply it back to another situation. i am not sure that the nclex is set up to report that. additionally ccrn and scores on that test, i would think have more to do with crna success than a high gre score.
there are papers regarding grad school success, but this is across all majors and disciplines.
from wikipedia (and the research paper i link to): "an analysis of the gre's validity in predicting graduate school success found a correlation of .30 to .45 between the gre and both first year and overall graduate gpa."
according to the paper there is some correlation, but it is not a direct 1:1 correlation. it leaves a lot of room for error when looking at gre as a predictor for crna school success.
as someone else pointed out schools set a minimum that they will accept. some set 900 as the min, some 1100. as long as you are above the minimum then don't worry about it. it is what it is, right or wrong, it is one part that admissions comittees use to determine who they let in. the best you can do is make your package as strong as it possibly can be.
shandsburnRN-CRNA
188 Posts
Well said!!