Unless you have to, don't go down this road of no return (GRE meltdown)

My experience tells me: unless you have exceptional willpower, I don't recommend taking the GRE.

For students outside business:

1. The GRE tests logical reasoning, unlike IELTS and similar tests, where more practice is enough to improve. If you can't follow the listening, you can listen more; if you can't get the reading questions, you can analyze them with ordinary logic. The GRE, though, has a huge variety of questions, and you need to know all the question types and how to solve each one, or it's hard to get them right.

2. Proxy test-taking has made the competition extremely fierce. Before proxy test-takers showed up, 320 was already a high score, but now it doesn't seem worth much, because without a 325 you may not have an edge in your applications. Before deciding whether to pour lots of time and energy into the GRE, you can first assess whether you can reach the 325 level.

3. The GRE may not do much to strengthen your profile. Many study-abroad agencies advise applicants to take the GRE, claiming it can make up for not coming from a top school (that's exactly how I was talked into it). But from what I've read, nothing clearly says how much the GRE helps an application; it's just widely believed that a strong GRE score may improve your chances of earning extra points.

4. If your GPA isn't great but your GRE score is very high, you may be suspected of cheating. If your background isn't strong and you choose to take the test online, there's a good chance you'll be suspected of cheating. If you earned your score through your own hard studying, all I can say is QQ.

To sum up, my advice is:

• Unless you have to, don't take the GRE.

• If you don't have enough self-discipline, don't take it either.

• The time and money you'd put in could be better spent, for example on landing one more internship, or on paying a great native-speaker tutor to help you write an excellent application essay.