What is the GRE?

Preparing to study abroad for your master’s degree and trying to find the right course or university is a time-consuming decision. Finding the course or university is just one part of the puzzle but identifying the eligibility criteria and then clearing the qualifying exams that universities ask for is another situation that must be tackled.

Depending on the university or program there could be one or more than one qualifying exam that students would need to take to get admission in a college of their choice. The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is one such exam.

The GRE is a standardized multiple-choice test conducted by the ETS (Educational Testing Services).

The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is a computer adaptive as well as a computer-based test that measures students on their analytical writing, verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and critical thinking skills. The GRE opens a world of opportunities for international students. GRE is a standardized test that is used to assess a prospective candidate’s abilities for graduate programmes like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) and management programmes at business schools or universities in the United States and around the world.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE), is widely used by students to not only get into graduate schools but GRE scores are also used by many graduate students for a merit-based fellowship for grad school. Whether it is business school, medical school or law school, a good GRE score is very useful when looking for merit-based funding to study in a Graduate Program.

A GRE test is a common graduate school admission requirement for both master’s program and Ph.D. programs in various streams such as Engineering as well as Humanities and Sciences.

In case a student has a low GPA or less work experience, a good GRE general test score would help them into some graduate programs. One may take the GRE up to five times year. A GRE test score is valid for five years.

When planning to take the GRE exam, it is a good idea to get familiar with the GRE exam by giving practice tests or test prep.  Computer-delivered GRE practice exams are also available for students to take.

There are two type of GRE tests, one is the GRE General Test and the other is the GRE Subject Test. The GRE General test has three question type: analytical writing, verbal reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning.

The analytical writing section measures analytical writing skills, it measures the ability to articulate complex ideas with reasons and examples along with critical thinking. The Verbal reasoning section, measures reasoning skills based on the ability to interpret words on sentences, in other words, reading comprehension. The quantitative section measures the ability to analyse and interpret quantitative data along with solving problems based on arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis.

The GRE subject tests are achievement tests that measure a student’s knowledge of a particular field of study. The disciplines or subjects for which a GRE subject test is given include Biology, Chemistry, Literature in English, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology.

The ETS (Educational Testing Services) offer GRE in both paper and computerized format, the ETS would ideally like more test takers to opt for the computer exam, paper-based exams are available at test centers where there are no computer testing facilities. The one major advantage of the computer-based exam is that the test taker will get the results one the same test date and at the test center itself. The paper-based exams do not give the option to the test taker to get the result on the same test day, rather it takes a few weeks.