The Educational Testing Service conducts the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Many US colleges consider these tests as important parameters toward granting admission to students for their graduate program of study.
The GRE General Test consists of three sections:
- Verbal section
- Quantitative or Math section
- Analytical Writing section
| Section | Number of Questions | Time |
| Analytical Writing (1 section) |
2 separately timed writing tasks |
30 min. per task |
| Verbal Reasoning (2 section |
Approximately 20 questions per section |
35 min. per section |
| Quantitative Reasoning (2 section) |
Approximately 20 questions per section |
35 min. per section |
| Unscored* |
Approximately 20 questions |
30-35 min. per section |
| Research** |
Varies |
Varies |
*An unidentified unscored section that does not count toward a score may be included and may appear in any order.
** An unidentified research section that is not scored may be included, and it will always be at the end of the test
Verbal Reasoning:
Theres a greater focus on reading passages, both short and long. Two new question types, Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence, have been added to this section to test vocabulary in context, as well as strengthening/weakening questions. There are also new questions that require you to select multiple correct answers.
Quantitative Reasoning:
There are more data interpretation questions using graphs and tables. Numeric Entry questions dont have answer choices you need to supply the correct one. There are also questions where you need to select all of the correct answers.
MST (Multi Stage Test)
The revised GRE is an MST, or multi-stage test. You still take it on a computer, but it adapts to your performance only after you have answered a section of Quantitative or Verbal questions. Answer the majority of questions in a section correctly, and the next section will be harder but your score band will probably be higher. Get most of the questions wrong and you will move on to an easier section ... but you will have a harder time scoring as high.
Test Interface and Functionality
The new GRE allows you to skip around freely, to go back and change your answers, and to mark questions you want to come back to later. You will also be allowed to use an on-screen calculator.
The flexibility is a definitely positive imagine being able to go back in time and change your answer. But it can introduce new challenges: a lot more second-guessing, pacing issues, and a bigger risk of leaving questions unanswered, which is heavily penalized in the GRE.
Duration
It will take about 3.45 hours to complete.
Scoring scale and score availability.
The scoring scale is now from 130-170 in one-point increments
You cannot re-take the GRE as frequently.
With the Revised GRE, you can only test every 60 days.
