A Deep Discussion About The GRE Exam Information

You might need to pass the GRE, depending on where you intend to enroll in graduate school. The GRE is accepted as a standard criterion by thousands of US colleges, as well as several universities in Canada and Australia, for admission to MBA and graduate programs. In extremely rare cases, applicants to Ph.D. programs in Europe must also take the GRE.

If you soon want to sit for the GRE exam and learn more about the exam format, curriculum, and scoring, read this blog post.

GRE: A Brief About the Exam

The Graduate Record Exam, commonly known as the GRE, is a multiple-choice, nationally normed test that is administered by the Educational Testing Service, or ETS. The test, which is a crucial step in the graduate admission process, evaluates your language, verbal reasoning, and time management abilities.

The GRE was created and is used to compare candidates’ credentials and degrees of readiness for graduate-level academia at business and graduate schools. In order to determine if you are prepared for the demands of graduate academic study, committees for business school admissions and graduate admissions consider your GRE score, academic result, and supporting papers.

Since the GRE is a comprehensive evaluation of a student’s ability, you should take it seriously, especially if you are starting. The test gauges a student’s capacity for problem-solving, analytical writing, critical thinking, and essay assessment. 

More importantly, the test evaluates your time management skills and ability to function under pressure. Since it accurately assesses a student’s aptitude and preparation for a graduate-level program, it is widely acknowledged as such.

How Long The GRE Would Take?

When the exam is administered, you may anticipate spending about 4 hours taking it. Perhaps, the following table might give you an overview of the total time –

The Patterns of the GRE Exam

There are three core portions of the GRE exam. Without further ado, let’s get to know each section closely. 

1. Verbal Reasoning

The GRE’s verbal section assesses your analytical skills along with your understanding of the links between sentences’ various concepts and terms. Several forms are used for verbal reasoning problems, such as –

• Text Completion
• Sentence Equivalence
• Reading Comprehension

2. Quantitative Reasoning

The GRE’s Quant portion evaluates your fundamental quantitative abilities and your capacity for deductive reasoning and quantitative problem-solving. Trigonometry, calculus, and other advanced math will not be studied, even though most of these concepts are generally covered in high school. 

There are several different forms of quantitative reasoning problems, like below –

• Quantitative Comparison
• Problem-Solving

3. Analytical Writing

The “essay” portion is sometimes referred to as the Analytical Writing Assessment. This component evaluates your ability to express your views and reactions to challenging concepts in a concise and logical manner.

You will have two jobs to do in this part, each with a time limit. These assignments include the following two tasks respectively –

• Analyze an Issue
• Analyze an Argument

In addition to these, there is one Unscored and Research segment that is excluded by ETS from the final GRE exam result.

Syllabus of the GRE Exam

In addition to your command of the college-level language, your fundamental math, algebra, geometry, and data analysis skills are all evaluated on the GRE. More significantly, it assesses your capacity for critical thought, problem-solving, and the analysis and evaluation of written information. 

Your capacity for thinking and problem-solving will be tested differently in each GRE section. Let’s examine each one in turn.

• Analytical Writing – In this part, there will be two assignments: “Analyze an Issue” and “Analyze an Argument.”
• Verbal Section – In this part, 6 text completion problems and 4 sentence comparable problems will be included. Your vocabulary and comprehension of sentence context are being tested by these questions.
• Quantitative Reasoning – You will come across 7 to 8 quantitative comparison tasks in this portion, which will gauge how quickly you can solve problems.

You can find out more about the GRE’s content in the following picture – 

(Source: kaptest.com)

The Registration Process for GRE

The GRE registration procedure is rather simple. Make an account on the ETS website first. Be aware that Prometric test facilities are where ETS administers the GRE.

Once you land on the homepage, sign in and go to from your dashboard –

My GRE Home >> Register >> Find Test Centers

Here, you will have to set the center where you will take the exam.  

After you pay the registration fee, ETS will send you an email confirmation with information about your exam day and time. In order to receive a partial refund, ETS requests that you postpone at least 4 days before the exam.

Gre Fees

Except for China, you must pay a fee of $205 to take the GRE exam, regardless of the test site. The cost covers submitting score reports to 4 graduate colleges of your choice.

Later, if you decide to switch testing sites, it can cost you an extra $50. For individuals who can demonstrate their financial distress, ETS provides waived costs.

When is GRE Conducted?

The GRE is delivered by ETS in two ways. Both the paper-delivered test and the computer-delivered test have a total testing length of 3 hours and 30 minutes. The paper-administered test occurs only three times a year, which makes it rare. On the other hand, you can sign up for the computer-based exams any time during the year.

It is strongly advised that you register for your desired GRE test date 10 to 15 days in advance. This will provide ETS ETS enough time to process your scores and submit them to your top choice universities.

Basically, the top scorers spend more than 100 hours preparing for the GRE. In comparison to that figure, you ought to budget for at least one to three months of preparation.

GRE Scoring and a Proper Score

You may determine which GRE scores will make you a strong applicant by looking up the mean or average GRE scores of approved applicants. Your GRE result will thus be based on 340 points and will be valid for 5 years.

Here is the score information at a glance –

• The score range for the Verbal and Quant sections: 130 – 170

• The score range for Analytical Writing assessments: 0 – 6
• Mean score for Verbal Reasoning: 151
• Mean score for Quantitative Reasoning: 153 
• Mean score for Analytical Writing – 4

Recommended Books and Guidelines for GRE

Now, let’s take a look at the books and guidelines that will help boost your overall preparation for the GRE exam.

Books –

• GRE Prep by Magoosh
• Manhattan Prep’s 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems, 3rd Edition
• Manhattan Prep’s GRE Strategy Guides
• Manhattan Prep’s 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems, 3rd Edition 
• Test Prep Books’ GRE Prep, 2021 and 2022 

Guidelines –

• Knowing the GRE exam curriculum and test structure is the first step to starting your GRE preparation.
• To gain a feel for the exam’s structure, consult the papers from prior years.
• Try to stick to a regular study routine. You may simplify your planning and increase your output by doing so.
• Take as many practice exams as you can, since they will aid in revealing your areas of weakness.
• Be confident and don’t be hesitant to take the GRE practice test.

Final Words

Taking the GRE is unquestionably a crucial step in your graduate education. The easiest approach to determining your GRE score is to take a mock GRE exam. This will help you identify the areas and question categories that require the most work. We really hope that this post has answered all of your questions regarding the GRE test.