The GRE General Test is a graduate-level admissions exam used by many graduate school and business school programs. The GRE provides grad and b-schools with one common criterion that can be used to compare all applicants, who come from all over the world and will certainly have an enormous range in academic and professional experience.

Your GRE score is a significant part of your graduate school application, but it certainly isn’t the only part. Admissions officers consider many other factors, including your undergraduate GPA, work and research experience, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and interviews. Some grad programs also require or consider GRE Subject Test scores.

It’s possible your GRE score could come in handy if you are interested in law school, as some schools are accepting (or are considering accepting) GRE scores in lieu of LSAT scores.

The GRE General Test features question types that closely reflect the kind of thinking you’ll do in graduate or business school.

  • Verbal Reasoning — Measures your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, analyze relationships among component parts of sentences and recognize relationships among words and concepts.
  • Quantitative Reasoning — Measures problem-solving ability using basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis.
  • Analytical Writing — Measures critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically your ability to articulate and support complex ideas clearly and effectively.

Test Format

Computer-delivered GRE® General Test Content and Structure

The overall testing time for the computer-delivered GRE® General Test is about three hours and 45 minutes. There are six sections with a 10-minute break following the third section.

 

Structure of the Computer-delivered Test

Measure Number of Questions Allotted Time
Analytical Writing
(One section with two separately timed tasks)		 One “Analyze an Issue” task and one “Analyze an Argument” task 30 minutes per task
Verbal Reasoning
(Two sections)		 20 questions per section 30 minutes per section
Quantitative Reasoning
(Two sections)		 20 questions per section 35 minutes per section
Unscored¹ Varies Varies
Research² Varies Varies
  1. An unidentified unscored section that does not count toward your score may be included and may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section. Questions in the unscored section are being tried out either for possible use in future tests or to ensure that scores on new editions of the test are comparable to scores from earlier editions.
  2. An identified research section that does not count toward your score may be included in place of the unscored section. The research section will always appear at the end of the test. Questions in this section are included for ETS research purposes.
  3. The Analytical Writing section will always be first. The Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and unidentified/unscored sections may appear in any order; therefore, you should treat each section as if it counts toward your score.

Paper-delivered GRE® General Test Content and Structure

The overall testing time for the paper-delivered GRE® General Test is about three hours and 30 minutes. There are six sections with a 10-minute break following the second section.

Structure of the Paper-delivered Test

Measure Number of Questions Allotted Time
Analytical Writing
(Two sections)		 Section 1: “Analyze an Issue” task
Section 2: “Analyze an Argument” task		 30 minutes per section
Verbal Reasoning
(Two sections)		 25 questions per section 35 minutes per section
Quantitative Reasoning
(Two sections)		 25 questions per section 40 minutes per section

The Analytical Writing sections will always be first, while the other four sections may apper

Other Information

Exam Fee Test Validity Full Marks Minimum Requirement
US $ 205 5 Years 340                300

Fee Structure & Duration

Admission & Placement Test Rs 1000
Course Fee Rs 12,500
Duration 2 hours per day
Note:    This course fee includes study materials and 4 mock tests.

FAQs

Does the GRE General Test measure knowledge in any specific disciplines?

The GRE General Test measures a student’s verbal and quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills – disciplines that are relevant to every field of study and important in graduate or business schools.

How is the GRE scored?

The first sections of the Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning parts range from the levels of ‘Easy’ to ‘Difficult’. Each subsequent section is administered based on the student’s overall performance in the preceding Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning section. A score of 130 – 170 is generated for the Verbal and Quantitative sections. Both scores are then added to give a total score on the scale of 260 – 340.

What kind of writing software does the AWA section employ?

Students will use a basic word processor developed by ETS. The basic word processor contains a number of functionalities: insert text, delete text, cut-and-paste and undo the previous action. Other tools such as a grammar checker or a spell checker and are not available in the ETS software. This makes essay writing fair in relation to handwritten essays of the students in the paper-based tests.

Is it advisable to re-take the GRE if the score received in the first attempt is low?

Students must make a concerted effort to prepare for the GRE the second time and retake the exam, if they feel that their GRE test scores do not reflect their actual capabilities.

For what duration is a GRE score valid?

A GRE score is valid for five years. While a student can retake the exam to improve upon scores, Institutions will have access to all your scores registered in the last five years. Hence, candidates are advised to prepare thoroughly before appearing for the exam.

Useful Links

www.ets.org