For admission in the Graduate schools in the United States and other top universities worldwide, GRE test is conducted. The Graduate Record Examination is a standardized test, which is administered by Educational Testing Service (or ETS) since 1949. Through this exam the verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and critical thinking skills of a student is judged. The General Test of GRE is delivered as a computer adaptive exam, which is run by selected qualified testing centers. The paper-based exam of GRE is intended for countries, where the convenience of computer-based testing is not available. Although the level of emphasis is placed upon GRE scores, yet the scores widely vary between the colleges and the fields of study.

Normally, the cost of GRE ranges from US$160 and 210, depending on the country where the test is conducted. In many cases, students with economic hardships are awarded financial aid but that student has to be a brilliant student.

Structure of the GRE Test

GRE GRE test comprises of four sections- the first one is a writing section, and the other three are multiple-choice style questions. One of the multiple choice style questions will judge the verbal skills of the candidate, while the second is designed to test the quantitative skills and a third exam is an experimental section to judge the analytical skill of the student. The mark obtained in this paper is not included in the reported score. The examination timeline of GRE is 4 hours.

Verbal section

To judge the verbal ability, the question paper comprises of analogies, completions, and reading comprehension passages. The questions are generally, multiple-choice response sections, which are scored on a scale of 200-800. This test is to judge the proficiency of the students in vocabulary. In this paper, there are 30 questions, which should be completed by 30 minutes.

Quantitative section

The quantitative section comprises of multiple questions, which includes problem solving and quantitative comparison questions. It is the test to test the mathematical skills of the students 200-800, in 10-point increments. Typically, the paper consists of 28 questions, and the candidates have to complete it by 45 minutes. It includes14 quantitative comparison questions, 10 discrete quantitative questions and 4 data interpretation questions.

Analytical writing section

This part is designed to determine the analytical skill of the students. The section includes two different essays- an “issue task” and an “argument task”. The writing section is graded on a scale of 0-6, in half-point increments. The essays are given on a computer based word processer but without any advanced feature. You have to prove your skills there. The essays will be checked by three readers.

Experimental section

The experimental section can be a verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing task. Although its score is not count toward the candidate’s real score, yet it is considered, as an important part to qualify the GRE Test. Experimental section is not common to all GRE examinations. The score of this part is used only for research purpose.