What is the structure and format of the GRE?

The questions in a GRE test are supposed to test the thinking and the skills you would need to succeed in graduate school programs.  The GRE is widely accepted for graduate programs. The GRE general test tests the skills of an individual that have been developed over a period of time and not necessarily domain knowledge.  The GRE is a computer-based exam that is divided into three sections: Analytical Writing Ability, Verbal Ability and Quantitative Ability.

While the test always begins with the analytical writing tasks, verbal ability, quantitative ability, and un-scored sections can appear in any order.

The Analytical Writing section is for 1 hour, the verbal reasoning section has two sections, these sections typically are of 30 minutes and have 20 questions per section. The quantitative reasoning section also has two sections which have 20 questions to be answered in 35 minutes per section. There is also an un-scored section which can appear any time after the analytical writing section. This section could be Verbal Reasoning Section or Quantitative Reasoning Section based.

The analytical writing section is divided into two writing tasks: analyze the issue and analyze the argument. The student is presented with two topics to write an essay on, in the “issue task”, and is supposed to establish his/her own point of view on the topic with relevant reasoning and examples. For the second part, i.e. “Argument Task”, the candidate is presented with a statement or a position on a particular idea, the candidate is suppose to analyse the logic and suggest if the statement or logic is faulty or where it can improve.  The scoring of the analytical section is done on a scale of 0 – 6.

The verbal reasoning section contains questions that are of three types, these are, reading comprehension, sentence equivalence and text completion.

The quantitative reasoning section has two type of questions, these are comparison questions and problem-solving questions.

The test is sectional-adaptive. This means that the performance on the first quantitative section shall determine the level of questions in the second quantitative section. Students should know that the questions in each section are non-adaptive and they easily can scroll back and forth.

It is always advised that as a part of the test prep for GRE, students should always take practice tests to get familiar with the GRE format and the question types. This would help the student on the test day.

The total duration of the ETS (Educational Testing Service) Computer Based GRE is upto 3 hours and 45 minutes.

The first section of the GRE will assess your mathematical aptitude at a broad level. The second quantitative section will accurately determine your quantitative aptitude on a scale of 130 to 170. Below is a breakdown of the GRE test structure.

Is there an un-scored section in the GRE exam? How will I know?

Students should understand that one section of either the Math (Quantitative) or English section is not scored in the GRE exam. You will never really come to know which section is the ‘dummy’ section. It could be the first, or the last. Therefore, attempt all the questions to the best of your abilities without leaving a weak point.

Having an un-scored section does not make much of a difference for the test taker, except for the ability to answer more questions correctly and to improve your overall GRE score.

What are the components tested under the GRE?

Analytical Writing

The analytical writing section tests the ability of an individual to articulate and support complex ideas, it tests if the student has the ability to structure, sustain deliver a discussion. The idea is not to measure domain expertise or knowledge but rather to measure critical thinking and analytical writing skills.

Verbal Reasoning

The verbal reasoning section tests the ability of a student to read and analyse information (Words, phrases and concepts) and then be able to synthesize the same information.

Quantitative Reasoning

The quantitative reasoning section measures the ability of the student to reason quantitatively and the ability to solve problems using quantitative methods. This section also tests the understanding of basic arithmetic, algebra and other mathematical concepts.