questions that help show your readiness for graduate-level work.
The GRE® revised General Test measures the skills you'll need in graduate or business school: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing.
With the introduction of the GRE revised General Test on August 1st, 2011, there are many new types of questions that are more like the kind of thinking you'll do — and the skills you need to succeed — in today's demanding graduate and business school programs.
The Verbal Reasoning section:
The Verbal Reasoning section measures your ability to understand what you've read and how you apply your reasoning skills — with many new questions that focus on your ability to analyze and evaluate written material. Good news — antonyms and analogies are no longer part of the test. Vocabulary is still important, but it's used in the context of a reading passage. Here's what you should know:
- Text Completion Questions — These questions include a passage composed of one to five sentences with one to three blanks. There are three answer choices per blank, or five answer choices if there is a single blank.
- Reading Comprehension Questions —There are different types of Reading Comprehension questions including:
- Multiple-choice questions — Select One Answer Choice
These are traditional multiple-choice questions with five answer choices, of which you must select one. - Multiple-choice questions — Select One or More Answer Choices
These questions provide three answer choices and ask you to select all that are correct; one, two or all three of the answer choices may be correct. To gain credit for these questions, you must select all the correct answers, and only those; there is no credit for partially correct answers. - Select-in-Passage questions that ask you to click on the sentence in the passage that meets a certain description. To answer the question, you choose one of the sentences and click on it; clicking anywhere on a sentence will highlight it.
- Sentence Equivalence Questions — These questions consist of a single sentence, one blank, and six answer choices. These questions require you to select two of the answer choices. You receive no credit for partially correct answers.
Note: For more information about what’s in this section and to see sample questions, visit ets.org/gre.
The Quantitative Reasoning section:
The Quantitative Reasoning section measures how well you interpret and analyze quantitative information. You’ll need to have an understanding of basic math concepts (arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis). And there’s an increased emphasis on data interpretation and real-life scenarios. In this section, you may use the on-screen calculator.* Here’s what you should know:
- Multiple-choice Questions — Select One Answer
These questions are multiple-choice questions that ask you to select only one answer choice from a list of five choices. - Multiple-choice Questions — Select One or More Answer Choices
These questions are multiple-choice questions that ask you to select one or more answer choices from a list of choices. A question may or may not specify the number of choices to select. - Numeric Entry questions require you to enter your answer in a box instead of selecting an answer from a list.
- Quantitative Comparison questions ask you to compare two quantities and then choose the statement from a list that most accurately describes the comparison.
- An on-screen calculator is provided to reduce the emphasis on computation, putting more focus on your quantitative reasoning skills.*
Note: For more information about what's in this section and to see sample questions, visit ets.org/gre.
*For those taking the paper-based GRE revised General Test, calculators will be provided at the test center for use during the test.
The Analytical Writing section:
This section measures your critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively. You will be asked to provide focused responses to the tasks presented to effectively demonstrate your skill in directly responding to that task. Here's what you should know:
- You have 2 separately timed essays to write, one where you express your views on a critical issue and one where you evaluate a logical argument.
- For each essay task, you are given a topic and specific directions for responding to that topic.
- Your responses will be evaluated on whether you can integrate critical thinking and analytical writing by fully addressing the tasks you're presented.
Note: For more information about what's in this section and to see sample questions, visit ets.org/gre.
The Unscored sections:
An unidentified, unscored Verbal Reasoning or Quantitative Reasoning section may be included on the computer-based test. This section may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section and doesn’t count as part of your score.
Questions in the unscored section are being tried out either for possible use in future tests or to ensure that scores on new editions of the test are comparable to scores on earlier editions. The Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and unidentified/unscored sections may appear in any order; therefore, you should treat each section as if it counts toward your score.
An identified research section may be included in place of the unscored section. The questions for the research section are for ETS research purposes and don’t count as part of your score. This section will always appear at the end of the test.
