The GRE revised General Test gives you the Power of Confidence to help you do your best. With the GRE revised General Test, you decide which scores to send to schools. If you feel you didn't do your best on test day, that's okay. You can retake the test and then send only the scores you want schools to see. It's all part of the Score Select SM option, only available with GRE tests.
Test Content and Structure
The GRE revised General Test features question types that closely reflect the kind of thinking you’ll do — and the skills you need to succeed — in today's demanding graduate and business school programs.The exam is offered in both computer-based and paper-based format. The GRE revised General Test features question types that closely reflect the kind of thinking you'll do in graduate or business school.
Verbal Reasoning
It contains (2 sections each approximately 20 questions to be completed in 30 minutes).
It measures your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, analyze relationships among component parts of sentences and recognize relationships among words and concepts.
• Analyze and draw conclusions from discourse; reason from incomplete data; identify author's assumptions and/or perspective; understand multiple levels of meaning, such as literal, figurative and author's intent.
• Select important points; distinguish major from minor or relevant points; summarize text; understand the structure of a text.
• Understand the meanings of words, sentences and entire texts; understand relationships among words and among concepts.
Quantitative Reasoning
This component also contains (2 sections each with approximately 20 questions to be completed in 35 minutes).
It also measures problem-solving ability, focusing on basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry and data analysis.
• understand quantitative information
• interpret and analyze quantitative information
• solve problems using mathematical models
• apply basic mathematical skills and elementary mathematical concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data interpretation.
• includes real-life scenarios
The Quantitative Reasoning section includes an on-screen calculator. If you are taking the paper-based test, a calculator will be provided at the test center.
Analytical Writing
Session of 1 hour that starts on a computer based test. It measures critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically your ability to articulate and support complex ideas clearly and effectively. It also
• support ideas with relevant reasons and examples
• examine claims and accompanying evidence
• sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion
• control the elements of standard written English
The Analytical Writing section requires you to provide focused responses based on the tasks presented, so you can accurately demonstrate your skill in directly responding to a task.
The analytical writing section has two essay writing tasks: the Issue and the Argument. The Issue task presents two topics of which the candidate must select one on which to write an essay presenting the writer ½s position on the topic. The candidate is required to support his or her point of view with examples and reasoning. The time allotted for this task is 30 minutes.
The Argument task presents a statement of a position. The candidate is required to analyze the logic of the given position and suggest how and where the reasoning may be faulty or require improvement. The student is given 30 minutes for this essay.
The scoring for the Analytical Writing section is on a scale of 0-6. Each essay is scored by a human reader and then by a computer program called the e-rater. If the human and e-rater scores differ, the score is sent to a second reader. The final score is the average of the two human scores (to the nearest half mark). If the there is no disparity between the first human score and that of the e-rater, that score is taken.
When and Where Do People Take It?
The GRE revised General Test is available at about 700 test centers in more than 160 countries. In most regions of the world, the computer-based test is available on a continuous basis throughout the year. In Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, the computer-based test is available one to three times per month. In areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available, the test is administered in a paper-based format up to three times a year in October, November and February.