One Test. More Opportunities for Success.
Whether you’re planning to go to graduate, business or law school — or just exploring your options — you’re taking an important step toward your future. It’s a smart move to show schools your best. With the GRE General Test, you can!
Test Content
The GRE General Test closely reflects the kind of thinking you’ll do in today's demanding graduate school programs, including business and law. It measures your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills — skills that have been developed over a long period of time and aren’t related to a specific field of study but are important for all.
Verbal Reasoning
The Verbal Reasoning section measures your ability to:
- analyze and draw conclusions from discourse; reason from incomplete data; identify author's assumptions and/or perspective; understand multiple levels of meaning, such as literal, figurative and author's intent
- select important points; distinguish major from minor or irrelevant points; summarize text; understand the structure of a text
- understand the meaning of individual words, sentences and entire texts; understand relationships among words and among concepts
Quantitative Reasoning
The Quantitative Reasoning section measures your ability to:
- understand, interpret and analyze quantitative information
- solve problems using mathematical models
- apply basic skills and elementary concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis
Analytical Writing
The Analytical Writing section measures your ability to:
- articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively
- support ideas with relevant reasons and examples
- sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion
- control the elements of standard written English
It requires you to provide focused responses based on the tasks presented, so you can accurately demonstrate your skill in directly responding to a task.
GRE General Test Structure
The GRE General Test is a computer-delivered test. Its test-taker friendly design lets you skip questions within a section, go back and change answers and have the flexibility to choose which questions within a section you want to answer first.
Test sections and timing (beginning September 22, 2023)
The overall test time is about 1 hour and 58 minutes. There are five sections.
| Measure | Number of Questions | Allotted Time |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical Writing (One section) | One "Analyze an Issue" task | 30 minutes |
| Verbal Reasoning (Two sections) | Section 1: 12 questions Section 2: 15 questions | Section 1: 18 minutes Section 2: 23 minutes |
| Quantitative Reasoning (Two sections) | Section 1: 12 questions Section 2: 15 questions | Section 1: 21 minutes Section 2: 26 minutes |
The Analytical Writing section will always be first. The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section.
Section-level adaptation
The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections are section-level adaptive. The first section of each measure (i.e., Verbal and Quantitative) is of average difficulty. The difficulty level of the second section of each of the measures depends on your overall performance on the first section.
For example, if you do very well on the first Quantitative Reasoning section, the second section of Quantitative Reasoning will be at a higher level of difficulty. The scoring for the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures takes into consideration the total number of questions answered correctly across the two sections, as well as the difficulty level of the sections.
What is an Ideal GRE Score?
Given the wide range of program requirements, it is difficult to define a "good" GRE score in absolute terms (more on that in the next section). However, you can consult the official GRE score percentiles to see how a given result compares to all other test-takers. A percentile ranking reveals what proportion of test-takers you outperformed. For instance, if I scored in the 25th percentile, I outperformed only 25% of the students.
The 50th percentile for the GRE is a verbal score of 150 and a quantitative score of 152.6. (152 is a 47th percentile score, and 153 is a 51st percentile score). The typical mark for analytical writing is 3.5.
The definition of a good GRE score is highly subjective and determines the schools to which you will apply. Before deciding what a good GRE score is for you, it recommends checking the average GRE scores for top Graduate School Programs to determine the range of points you will need to score in each test section (verbal, quantitative, and writing). It will allow you to better estimate what a good GRE score is for you.
However, before we go any further, here is all you need to know about your GRE score. The verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE get scored on a scale ranging from 130 to 170. The assessment of the writing section is on a scale ranging from 0 to 6, with increments of half a point each. However, you will not just receive scores; you will also be given a percentile rank. This rank compares your performance to that of a broad population sample of others who took the GRE. Because there are only 41 possible scores you can earn on the GRE, answering just one extra question correctly could be enough to change an average score into a superb one.
GRE Score Range
The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning portions of the GRE each have a possible score ranging from 130 to 170 points. The range of possible points for the Analytical Writing Assessment is from one to six. As a result, the required minimum score on the GRE analytical writing section is somewhere in the range of 1-6. Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning scores increase by one point with each new section. However, the Analytical Writing score only improves by half a point with each new section.
The highest score on the Analytical Writing section is a 6, while the possible score range goes from 0 to 6. You must be familiar with the composite scores to determine the highest possible GRE score. The highest possible composite score on the GRE is 340, while the lowest possible score on the GRE is 260. The Verbal and Quantitative subtests are combined to provide the composite score, while the Analytical Writing Assessment score is reported independently. However, the minimum score required to pass the GRE varies from university to university; as a result, you need to confirm this information before submitting applications to your chosen schools.
The score range for the individual GRE subject examinations is from 200 to 900, and each subsequent increase is by 10 points.
Percentile Rank
In addition, the GRE results are calculated by converting them into percentile values. Your position inside the percentile ranking indicates where you stand with the other applicants. If you scored 170 on both the verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE, your overall score would be equivalent to a 99th percentile rank. It means that you have performed better on the test than 99 others who took it. Similarly, if you received a score of 165 on each subtest, your overall percentile rank would be 96.
Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning
Analytical Writing
As can be seen, a decent GRE score for the MS requires a score of at least 300 points on the test. The average score on the GRE would be somewhere in the range of 280 to 300. Because 260 is the minimum score required on the GRE, a lower than 260 does not ensure that you will be admitted to the university of your choice.
However, these GRE scores can differ from one university to the next. In addition, it varies according to the path you decide to take. Because of this, it is very important to note the GRE score requirements that the university has established for the program that you are interested in applying to. It will not only make the process of preparing easier for you, but it will also make it easier to set a clear goal score for yourself.