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Career Guru experts will work with you to ace the GRE. We have worked with thousands of students who have taken the exam and reached world’s ivy league institutions. Lets understand the test.
GRE is a standardized, computerised or pen and paper test, most widely taken (more than 1000 centres across 160+ countries) and required test for graduate admission in STEM field. GRE scores are admissible for a range of programs including Law, Business Studies, Specialized master’s in Business, MBA, J.D. degree, or doctoral degrees. Applicants vary significantly across geographies, educational background, marking pattern, and cultural dimensions. In this context, GRE provides admission, and scholarship committees with a common measure for comparing candidates in addition to your Undergraduate Scores, Letters of Recommendation and Statement of Purpose, which are all critical inputs for admission decision.
GRE is designed to broadly assess your critical thinking, analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning skills. There is a fair amount of Math tested, though a lower level than SAT and ACT, you may find it trickier and needs a better command of vocabulary and reading passages. You can write the GRE General Test once every three weeks – 21 days, up to a maximum of five times, within a year. GRE test can be taken anytime around the year but you must register for your choice of date and venue as soon as possible as slots can become full really quickly, like most other tests. See updated list of Test Centers and Dates.
GRE General Test is the most widely accepted test for admission at graduate schools. Find updated list of: institutions and fellowship sponsors approved to receive GRE scores. If you are taking GRE instead of GMAT for admission to a Business School of MBA program, make sure that the schools that you are interested in accept GRE scores as a substitute of GMAT. This is especially important for MBA programs. Career Guru can help you choose and decide which test to write, when and then prepare for it. Find an updated list of MBA Programs that Accept GRE® Scores.
GRE General Test is the most widely accepted test for admission at graduate schools. Find updated list of: institutions and fellowship sponsors approved to receive GRE scores. If you are taking GRE instead of GMAT for admission to a Business School of MBA program, make sure that the schools that you are interested in accept GRE scores as a substitute of GMAT. This is especially important for MBA programs. Career Guru can help you choose and decide which test to write, when and then prepare for it. Find an updated list of MBA Programs that Accept GRE® Scores.
Verbal and Quantitative area is scored between 130–170, average being around 150-152. Analytical Writing score ranges between 0 to 6 and is scored in half-point increments, average being 3.5.
See updated: 2019–20 GRE® Information Bulletin (PDF)
Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development highlights positive returns and externalities for education in terms of lifelong earnings and employment potential.
GRE General Test follows an advanced adaptive design and has a few unique features when compared to other tests like GMAT, SAT or ACT. It allows you to freely move forward and backward throughout an entire section, skip questions, mark, review, revisit, change answers, choose your order of sections (Analytical Writing is always the first section), take the test and report scores to your choice of universities if and only when you are satisfied that this was your best performance – ScoreSelect. It tests you on:
There are six sections with a 10-minute break following the third section, to be completed in three hours and forty-five minutes.
| Measure | Number of Questions | Allotted Time |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical Writing (1 section with two separately timed tasks). Always the first section. |
1. Analyze an Issue task 2. Analyze an Argument task |
30 minutes for each task |
| Verbal Reasoning (2 sections) |
20 questions per section | 30 minutes per section |
| Quantitative Reasoning (2 sections) |
20 questions per section | 35 minutes per section |
| Unscored & Research | Does not count towards score | Varies |
| To understand test design and access a free computer-delivered test click here. |
There are six sections with a 10-minute break following the second section, to be completed in three hours and thirty minutes.
| Measure | Number of Questions | Allotted Time |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical Writing (2 sections). Always the first section. |
1. Analyze an Issue 2. Analyze an Argument |
30 minutes per section |
| Verbal Reasoning (2 sections) |
25 questions per section | 35 minutes per section |
| Quantitative Reasoning (2 sections) |
25 questions per section | 40 minutes per section |
| Answers are directly reported in the test booklet and no separate answer sheet is provided. Calculator is provided by the test center. To understand test design and access a free paper-delivered test click here. | ||
ScoreSelect allows you be the best you can be and to Send Only Your Best Scores!
GRE allows you to take the test upto 5 times in a year, each at an interval of 21 days, to ensure you score your best ever. Scores are valid for 5 years. Score sheet does not report how many times you have taken the test. However, it is important to remember that some schools that you are applying to may specifically ask you to report all test scores that you have taken or to report how many times you have taken the test. So, check with the school and Career Guru will guide you further on this. Try some free tests here.
Many Business & Law schools accept GRE scores for MBA and other business programs & JD Law programs at graduate level. An advantage is that GRE gives you more options if you are unsure about what you want to do. See complete list of business schools that accept GRE scores for MBA program. Few prominent Law schools that accept GRE are:
Your official GRE score report, apart from your personal details, reports the test scores with associated percentile ranks and is sent to institutions that you have clearly identified. Scores up to 5 years old, can be reported. The report does not mention your other scores (unless instructed) and also does not report to the institution various other places where you have chosen to send your scores. It will take about 1 week to send GRE scores, so do plan accordingly. To see a sample GRE Score Report, click here
| Section | Score Scale |
|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | 130–170, in 1 point increments |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 130–170, in 1 point increments |
| Analytical Writing | 0–6, in half point increments |
| No Score means you have not attempted any question in a section. | |
Verbal Reasoning & Quantitative Reasoning are section-level adaptive implying that the computer will select the second section based on performance in the first section. All questions carry equal marks within a section and a raw score is reported basis number of correct responses, which is then converted to a scaled score through a process called equating to ensure comparable assessment.
For Analytical Writing, each essay is scored by one trained rater on a six-point holistic scale and then by e-rater, a computerized program to assess critical thinking and analytical writing proficiency resulting in a single reported score.
For Verbal Reasoning & Quantitative Reasoning a raw score is computed basis the number of correct answers, which is then converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating.
For Analytical Writing section, each essay is scored by two raters on a six-point holistic scale. A single final score is reported, which is the average of the two essays rounded to the nearest half-point interval on a 0–6 score scale. For more details on interpreting scores click here.
You can choose to take GRE Subject Tests to show proficiency in a subject you have studied at an undergraduate level, as a major, or if you have extensive background in a subject. Subject Tests are achievement tests that assess your expertise and knowledge in a specific field of study. They help you gain competitive advantage during admission process and emphasise your in-depth knowledge about a specific subject and your capability to develop next-order skills within that area. They are taken at paper-delivered test centers in September, October and April. Subject Tests can be taken in the following disciplines:
GRE Subject Test scores range between 200 to 990, in 10-point increments, but varies for different subjects, with subscores ranging from 20 to 99, in one-point increments.