About the GRE

The GRE, or Graduate Record Examination, is a standardized test used by many graduate, business, and law schools around the world as part of their admissions process for master's, MBA, JD, and PhD programs. Administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) organization, the GRE measures key skills that are necessary for success in graduate study.

The GRE test assesses analytical writing, quantitative reasoning, and verbal reasoning. Although it covers a wide range of skills and knowledge, the test does not focus on any specific area of study, but rather aims to measure a candidate's general reasoning and analytical ability.

Duration: 1 hour and 58 minutes.
Location: The GRE can be taken at one of many test centers in 160 countries around the world. Alternatively, it can also be taken from home, at any time convenient for the participant. The GRE at home is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Results: Immediately after completing the GRE, you will receive your unofficial scores for the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections. Official scores, including your Analytical Writing section score, will be available in your ETS GRE account 8-10 days after your test date.

The GRE is made up of the following sections:

This section consists of 1 essay, with an allotted time of 30 minutes. It is designed to assess a student's ability to think critically and analytically and to communicate ideas through writing. Students must complete a writing assignment, which involves analyzing a problem. This requires students to examine a problem and a possible solution, evaluate the logic of the argument, and express their analysis in clear and coherent writing.

Verbal Reasoning assesses the student's ability to understand, interpret, and analyze written content, and to recognize relationships between words and concepts. It consists of two sections, with a total of 27 questions. The questions in this section may ask students to read a passage and answer questions about it, complete the sentences with words that make sense of the context, or identify relationships between words.

Verbal Reasoning (two sections):

• Section 1: 12 questions in 18 minutes
• Section 2: 15 questions in 23 minutes

This section consists of 27 questions, with an allotted time of 41 minutes, and focuses on basic mathematical skills and quantitative reasoning ability. Like Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning also consists of two sections, with a total of 27 questions. Questions may involve solving mathematical problems, interpreting graphical data, or comparing mathematical quantities. The mathematical concepts used in this section are at a high school level, and the use of an on-screen calculator is permitted.

Quantitative Reasoning (two sections)

• Section 1: 12 questions in 21 minutes
• Section 2: 15 questions in 26 minutes

In all of these sections, students can move back and forth within each section, bookmark questions to return to later, and change their answers, as time permits. This allows students to manage their time effectively and ensure that they have given the best possible answer to each question.

The scores that can be obtained on the GRE range from:

• 130 – 170 One point increase for Verbal Reasoning.
• 130 – 170 One point increase for Quantitative Reasoning.
• 0 – 6 Half-point increase for Analytical Writing.

The average exam grades are:

• Verbal Reasoning: 151.21 / 170 (SD ≈ 8.31).
• Quantitative Reasoning: 157.58 / 170 (SD ≈ 9.89).
• Analytical Writing: 3.44 / 6 (SD ≈ 0.87)