Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for most Graduate Schools in the United States. Created and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in 1949, the exam aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of learning and that are not entirely based on any specific field of study outside of the GRE itself. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based exam administered at Prometric testing centers.

The GRE was significantly overhauled in August 2011, resulting in an exam that is not adaptive on a question-by-question basis, but rather by section, so that the performance on the first verbal and math sections determine the difficulty of the second sections presented. Overall, the test retained the sections and many of the question types from its predecessor, but the scoring scale was changed to a 130 to 170 scale (from a 200 to 800 scale).

Computer-based test: Multiple times a year (depends on availability of the test center).

Paper-based test: Up to 3 times a year in October, November and February and are offered only in areas that computer-based testing is not available.

The GRE exam consists of three skills: Analytical writing, quantitative reasoning and verbal reasoning. You are given 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the test (includes 1-minute breaks after each section and a 10-minute break after third section).

Scoring: Analytical writing: 0.0 to 6.0 (in 0.5 point increments) Verbal reasoning: 130 to 170 (in 1 point increments) Quantitative reasoning: 130 to 170 (in 1 point increments).

Make sure you are prepared for your Graduate Record Exam (GRE). McRee Learning Center can help.