How does the GRE® General Test work?
It's time to size it up – all about GRE General Test scores.
The good news about the GRE® General Test: you don't pass or fail it like your usual college tests. Basically, you'll get a score for each section of the test.
- The three scores reported are:
- a Verbal Reasoning score reported on a 200-800 score scale, in
10-point increments - a Quantitative Reasoning score reported on a 200-800 score scale, in 10-point increments
- an Analytical Writing score reported on a 0-6 score scale, in half-point increments
Any section in which you answer no questions at all will be reported as a No Score (NS).
What you may not know about the GRE General Test.
Getting a high score on the GRE General Test gives you a better chance of getting into graduate or business school because it's one of many criteria schools use for admission. But all schools have different requirements — which means they use the GRE General Test in different ways. So if you're wondering what scores your schools are looking for, contact their admissions department and ask them directly.
How Scores are Determined
Computer-Based Test
- Verbal and Quantitative Sections:
- Your Verbal and Quantitative scores will depend on your performance on the questions given and on the number of questions answered in the time allotted.
- The computer selects questions based on your performance on preceding questions, the required variety of question types and appropriate coverage of content.
- Analytical Writing Section:
- The primary emphasis is on your critical thinking and analytical writing skills, rather than on grammar and mechanics.
- Your essay score usually is the average of scores from two trained readers, using a 6-point holistic scale reflecting the overall quality.
- If the two assigned scores differ by more than one point on the scale, the discrepancy is adjudicated by a third GRE Test reader. Otherwise, the scores from the two readings of an essay are averaged and rounded up to the nearest half-point increment (e.g., 3.0, 3.5).
Try some GRE General Test sample questions.
How does a GRE Subject Test work? If you're majoring in any of the Sciences, Math, Computers, Physics or English Lit,
find out now.