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About GRE Exam

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is an exam conducted globally by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world’s largest private non-profit organisation which conducts assessment tests world-wide for admissions into various institutes across the United States and some other English speaking countries like UK, Canada, Australia etc. The GRE score is a standard test score accepted by many universities for graduate level courses since 1949. The ETS conducts this exam of global importance in two different modes, one being a computer based online test and the other a paper based test. The GRE online test is conducted throughout the year. The paper based test is conducted in places where there is no scope to conduct an online test. This test is conducted three times a year in the months of October, November and February.

GRE - Good Gre Scores, Read GRE test experiences

The ETS states that each year, about 675,000 graduate school applicants from approximately 230 countries take the GRE General Test. Owing to the very fact that this exam has a wide scope in terms of test takers and of the organizers, one must be very much prepared to enter into this high competition zone. It purely depends upon the talent you exhibit that decides your success; because this test is unbiased. You may hail from any educational background but all that is put to test here is your general IQ, your high school basics, your outlook and your skills as a whole. You must, very firstly have a clear idea about the syllabus, about GRE exam pattern and the preparation modes.

Very recently the test administering methods have been changed which come into effect by August of this year. Analysing the yet to become an old GRE exam pattern and the revised pattern will give us a clear picture of how to plan well and prepare well. Want to know about GRE exam? Let us have a clear insight into the details to know all about the GRE exam.

From the information provided below, one can get answers to these queries:

Will just GRE be enough for me to study in an esteemed university?
What are the different sections I need to target to get good score in GRE?
What will be the syllabus overview?
How will the scoring be done?
What is ‘Revised GRE general test’?
How will it be different from the old pattern?
What new features can I expect in the revised GRE test pattern?
Where can I get more information about GRE exam regarding preparation, mock tests etc?

GRE general test score is sufficient enough for you to get into your dream university provided you have a satisfying track record before. But there is also another test called “GRE subject test”. It evaluates you only in a particular subject of your choice and helps you to show your talent which might surely catch the interest of graduate schools to your side. This test is conducted only in paper based mode. There are altogether 8 subjects in one of which you can prove your expertise. This test score can be a positive add-on to your profile but GRE general test would also do just fine. So, in this article, we discuss the details concerning exclusively about GRE exam.

GRE General Test and the Revised Test:

The GRE is being conducted under the name ‘GRE general test’. This has been addressed as ‘The GRE Revised general test’ which comes with more friendly features in view of the test taker. The test format consists of three main sections which include quantitative section, verbal ability section and analytical writing assessment. Each section will have its own importance. There will be an unscored and an unidentified research section which do not account to your total score achieved in the first three main sections. During the admission process, different colleges might use these scores differently depending upon their requirement. This might vary even upon the departments in those colleges. The sections are discussed individually and also with a comparison between the existing and the revised test pattern. Everything about GRE exam will remain the same like syllabus, preparation would remain the same except for some changes like the paper pattern, types of questions asked.

Quantitative Section:

The Quantitative section comprises of multiple choice questions covering quantitative comparison, problem solving questions with a focus on basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis. There will be exactly 28 questions for which you will be allocated 45 mins. The scores will be evaluated on a 200-800 scale with 10 point increments.

The approximate time you get to solve a question will be around one and a half minute.

The revised GRE also consists of multiple choice questions probably with both ‘select one choice’ and also ‘select one or more choices’ kind of questions. The paper is divided into two sections. There will appear a total approximate 40 questions in both the sections added together and the time allocated will be 70 mins. So here, each section with approximately 20 questions will be allocated 35 mins.

The approximate time you get to solve a question will be less than one and a half minute.

Hence, this calls for more attention, speed and accuracy. The scores here will be evaluated on a 130-170 scale with 1 point increments. The ETS has also mentioned that some changes pertaining to the test takers’ perspective have been made. The new revised test comes with a new preview and review capabilities. There will also be a new feature “Mark and Review” to tag questions so that you can skip them and return back to them. For this section especially, there will be an on-screen calculator provided to do basic calculating options which shows that there will be more stress on reasoning capability of the test taker rather than on cumbersome calculations.

Whatever may the exam pattern be, the syllabus will remain unchanged. All the basic fundamental mathematics until your high school, general reasoning ability must all be taken care of for you to confidently attempt this section with finesse.

Verbal Reasoning Section:

The verbal reasoning section in the GRE general test aims at measuring the reading skills, analogical reasoning skills, and also vocabulary proficiency in the English language of the test taker. In here, you will be asked questions in relation to analogies, sentence completion, reading comprehension and antonyms. There will be 30 questions to be attempted in 30 mins. The scores will be evaluated on 200-800 scale with 10 point increments.

The time you get for each question is exactly one minute.

The revised GRE verbal section has quite a few changes, both paper pattern wise and also syllabus wise. The analogies and antonyms are totally removed in the revised format. Text completion questions, sentence equivalence questions are to replace the analogies and antonyms. The verbal section has two sub sections carrying approximately 20 questions each and is totally allocated 60 mins for both the sub sections collectively. The scores here will be evaluated on 130-170 scale with 1 point increments.

The time you get here is one and a half minute for each question.

This must not be a sign of relief since you are snatched of comparatively easy questions such as analogies and antonyms. The questions which appear might be time consuming and misleading, so you must take utmost care while preparation and while taking the test. The new features you get here are highlighting a sentence on screen for emphasis during answering passage questions.

Analytical Writing Section:

This section targets the test taker’s ability to analyze, judge and evaluate any particular issue and present it in his own words thus also testing your writing skills. In this section there are two tasks to be answered. They are:

Analyze an Issue task.
Analyze an Argument task.

In the GRE general test, you will be given 45 mins to the former and 30mins to the latter respectively. But in the revised test format, both the tasks are given 30 mins. This clears that it requires you to be fast in analysing an issue and present it in the best convincing way. There has been another change in regards to this section. Earlier, there were two topics given in the ‘Analyze an Issue Task’. But in the revised pattern, there will be given no choice of that sort. The scoring is evaluated on 0-6 scale with 0.5 point increments.

PREPARATION AND SUCCESS:

You can get vast material over the internet or there are many institutes which provide coaching. The official GRE website provides you with genuine updates and information about GRE exam. The colleges which consider GRE score and any additional information you might need will also be provided. Knowing all about GRE exam must follow with a serious dedication on your part. All that you will ever want to know about the GRE exam is at your hands and the rest must lie within you. Hard work, commitment, and time management will get you to live your dream! Good luck!

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Good GRE Scores

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My New GRE Score

Verbal - 166
Quans - 170
Total - 336

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