In applying for grad school, I have the option of taking the MAT or the GRE. Any suggestions on which entrance exam I should take? Also, I've taken a few MAT practice tests, but I can't find any info anywhere on whether or not it's a "good" score.
What is MAT? I've never heard of it (and I sat on admission committees for grad programs not too long ago)!
Miller Analogies Test I read somewhere that it's fallen out of favor at a lot of schools, but that a lot of schools still use it. That could be the reason why you haven't heard of it. It uses analogies to test general knowledge in math, science, literature, music, geography, etc.
i took the GRE, it was hard as snot... i felt like college had failed me when i got out of it... i haven't heard of the MAT, either....
I have heard of both, but I think GRE is little more widely accepted and respected. I too am pursuing a Master's Degree.
Hmmmm, I think I may have worded my original post not as succinctly as I should have. Let me try again: I'm applying to one graduate school program at only one university. They allow the option of taking the GRE or the MAT. To anyone that's taken both or has knowledge of both, is one much easier than the other? I've looked over some MAT materials and it doesn't seem too bad. Is the GRE just a complete biyatch to take?
I'm glad you asked this question because 1 school accepts both GRE and MAT and the other accepts GRE only!
I looked into the MAT (including taking a practice test) but ultimately took the GRE. I'm not sure I'd use the term "easier" for either , but I think I know what you're getting at. For the MAT, the test is shorter (1 hour) but I felt like the variance on difficulty in questions was smaller. That is, most of the questions are tough and the test is designed to make it hard throughout. The GRE is much longer (paper takes about 4 hours), but it is set up with increasing levels of difficulty. The first question about 93% of all test-takers get right but by the last question in each subsection (about 13 or 14 questions) only 7% of the takers will get it right. So in that case, you can make the argument that you can "game" the GRE slightly more easily. That is, if you concentrate all of your time on the questions you should get right, increasing the number of questions you get right (as opposed to trying to get every question done/correct), your score should be higher. For example, unless you're in the 96th percentile in verbal, just guess on the last two questions and go over your other answers to make sure you didn't make a simple mistake. Unless you're above the 96th percentile, you're very unlikely to get those last two questions right anyway. I learned that little trick by taking a GRE prep course. Either way, both tests are considered as reliable measures of your academic preparation for graduate school within the field of testing and measurement. (That's not to say anything about cultural biases, test-taking anxiety, etc.) Bottom line: If I were you, I'd buy a used GRE test book (easy to find at your local used bookstore) and have someone actually time you taking a GRE and then score it for real. (That's opposed to what many people do--checking the answers as they go, by section, taking only one section etc. Oops, I just gave away another test-prep tip. It's definitely different sitting down for four hours on a test than doing a section, checking your answers, figuring out what you did wrong, etc.) Anyway, hope that helps. BTW, my comments about GRE regard the paper version, which went out of style for a while but is coming back because of cheating. The computer GRE is set up to adjust based on the questions you get right. So as you get more questions right, the questions get harder. Once you get one wrong, the computer "decides" where you are on the scale and the questions settle at roughly that level.
the GRE really isn't that difficult. It was nothing heavy in terms of the math, and if you have a solid grasp of the English language, you'll be fine.
It's effectively just a slightly harder version of the SAT. In fact, it IS just a slightly harder version of the SAT.
I never took the SAT. I'm old enough (at almost 30) where the ACT was still widely accepted. It was cheaper to take, so I took it instead.
I dunno...I've taken practice GREs and the math in them was easier than SAT math by a wide margin. Maybe it's just my personal inabilities with math that lead to it. The math was easier and the english was harder.
I just took the GRE today and I am trying to interpret my score's percentile rank. I have found 3 sources with a translation table, and they all give me conflicting pct ranks. Furthermore, the GRE website doesn't seem to have a table. They do have a research section that include a table for test takers between 2001-04, but I couldn't find any tables interpreting results from 05-06. The reason I don't want to use the 01-04 table is because I think they recently switched the GRE to a system where the more difficult questions are calibrated differently so I would think that would change the meaning of the scores a little bit, that, and they make my score look less flattering. I don't know Do one of you profs (or other academicians) on BigSoccer know where to find the correct table?
As far as I know, you won't find the current table. On all the GRE prep tests and scoring, they use questions that have been "retired" and the scores you get are compared to the cohort that took the test. My experience was that my test scores for the pretests (score and percentile) were slightly higher than when I actually took the test, but certainly within the range of my actual score. So the available numbers should be pretty close to what you actually score. Also, they used to allow you to call within a week (?) and pay extra to get your actual score. Anyway, I thought when you took the test by computer you automatically got your score. So they give you the score and not the percentile? Anyway, unless you're applying to a testing and measurements graduate program, the people who make the admissions decisions aren't likely to be familiar with any subtle adjustments to the GRE scoring. They're going to have a rough minimum score that you'll need to get in and only the highest scores tend to help you stand out.
Correct. Thanks for the reply. I guess I'll have to wait for the official transcript to come in the mail then.
Well, I ended up taking the MAT. Got my scores back yesterday: 93rd percentile overall 92nd percentile for my proposed major
thanks for posting your results with the mat test! i too will be taking it shortly however i am quite mortified. your score is unreal !! i was wondering if you used any study materials or just relied on your education or just have a high IQ in general? the practice tests i have been taking before any study are resulting in a raw score of around 40 which is low in my opinion. perhaps the practice tests are harder than the actual test as some have mentioned. thanks for any advice you may have! nick.
I did, I used this book: The book mentions that you can't really study too much content-wise for this test because it is a survey of general knowledge. The book serves to give you test taking strategies. It tells you how the test is set up and what the types of analogies you'll see as well as the various constructions of the problems you'll be asked to solve. I'm really glad I looked at that stuff or I would've been totally lost. Have you picked up the MAT Candidate book yet? I didn't even know it existed until after I took the test. I was leaving the testing center and saw a stack of them sitting on the table and asked if I could have one. Wherever you're taking the test should be able to give you one. It's got some helpful stuff in it. It's scored in a very peculiar manner if you ask me. It's hard to know how they arrived at the "scaled score" number. That score will be a three digit score with a max of 600. Then they give your percentile based on that three digit score. The book I listed above had 100 question tests that are to be completed in 50 minutes and was taken with pencil. There are some online ones out there for free that I didn't know about in advance. The actual test I took was on computer, was 120 questions and had to be completed in an hour. The first time I took a 100 question practice test, I got 71/100. Not to cause you anxiety, but I found the computer test a little more difficult, perhaps because I hadn't practiced taking it in that format....so practice the online version to familiarize yourself with it if you're taking it on computer. You can request to take a pencil & paper version if you're more comfortable with that. Also, the computer version has a countdown clock on the screen (you can hide it if that type of thing makes you nervous.) Good luck to you. Let me know if you have any other questions. What school(s) are you applying to? What do you plan to study?
Thanks alot for your tips. You can imagine the dilemma I am in considering I am a business major without what is considered a "well balanced education". I hope to go to teachers college. It is all of the "trivia" that is snagging me, ie: verdi - 6th symphony. Honestly who knows that stuff other than data from star trek? (haha)--Well I guess you do! Lucky You! I will be doing the pencil based version. I picked up a couple of guides including REA's "best test prep" which goes into the subjects a little deeper. It is especially challenging for me because I am a canadian and many questions reflect an american education obtained over several years. I am reading up on american history for the first time. Do you know who the liberal counterpart of the conservative prime minister in canada was in 1878? Now you can get an idea of how I feel! Oh by the way you mention: "The book mentions that you can't really study too much content-wise for this test because it is a survey of general knowledge." Just to be clear, do you mean to say that it is wise to study as much content before the test or that it is hopeless because there is so much to know so don't even bother"?
They aren't saying "don't" bother, but they're saying it's hard to know what'll be on there. For example, I had a question come up on mine having to with philosophy. I'd heard of one of the philosophers and both of the schools of thought, but for the multiple choice part, I was clueless because I hadn't heard of any of the other people. You can know 75% of the analogy and get screwed like that. In the back of the guides, they do give key figures in musical, philosophical, artistic movements, etc. There's also things like key inventors, scientists and a guide with prefixes/suffixes and what they mean. Stuff like that. It's definately worth looking at.