Learning About the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
Jan 25 '06 (Updated Aug 06 '06)
The Bottom Line The GRE is a moderately difficult test that is necessary for many graduate programs. A high score is possible with the right preparation.
The time leading up to graduate school is a time that requires making decisions. A prospective student has to know what field of study is best for his/her academic goals and interests. The student must decide where to study and must find the college that provides the best overall “fit” for one’s unique needs. It must also be a school where acceptance is feasible given one’s grade point average and other considerations.
The other important component for gaining acceptance to one’s graduate- level school of choice is the student’s results on official entrance exams. If the student is aiming toward acceptance in the arts and sciences fields, then the test that will likely be needed is the Graduate Record Examination, also known by its acronym, GRE.
What is the GRE?:
The GRE is a standardized test that is administered in testing centers around the USA. It is a computer- based test, which means the only paper a student will be writing on will be scrap paper. The test is necessary for admission to many different academic programs, like those in the arts, sciences, engineering, and others.
What Does the GRE Test?:
There are three sections of the GRE test. They are:
Analytical Writing- This is the first part of the test and it consists of two parts: An Issue writing assessment and an Argument writing assessment. The issue writing assessment requires the student to choose between two different topics and then compose a response. The argument essay doesn’t offer any choice. The student must write a response to the one topic given and argue for or against a position.
The Issue writing assessment is allotted 45 total minutes of time and is generally more involved than the Argument assessment. With the Argument task, the test taker is given 30 minutes of time to complete the response.
Verbal Reasoning- This part of the test consists of 38 questions that test a student’s ability to analyze written material and answer questions about it. A total of 30 minutes are allotted to complete this part of the test.
Quantitative Reasoning- In this part of the test, a student’s mathematics skills will be assessed, with problems and comparisons between pieces of data. To succeed on this part of the test, a student is expected to know algebra, geometry, and basic math skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square roots, exponents, etc. There is no need to know complex math, like calculus, probabilities, etc. There are a total of 28 questions on this part of the test and 45 minutes to complete them.
How is the GRE Scored?:
There are three individual scores that a student will receive when taking the GRE: The written score, the quantitative score, and the verbal score. The written score is a combined average score from the Argument essay and the Issue essay and it is graded from 1.0 to 6.0, in increments of one half point.
The quantitative and verbal sections of the GRE are graded from 200 to 800, in increments of 10 points. Each section is graded and scored separately. In addition, there is also a single, overall score that uses the same 200 to 800 range. Thus, a test taker can expect to get a total of four scores upon successful completion of the test: One overall written score from 1.0 to 6.0 points; a Verbal score ranging from 200 to 800 points; a Quantitative score ranging from 200 to 800 points; and an overall score (verbal and quantitative combined) ranging from 200 to 800 points.
Final Thoughts:
The Graduate Record Examination is a required test for entering many graduate programs and it’s a test that many students dread and postpone until the last minute. I have been teaching preparation courses for the GRE (and other college exams) for about two years and I have had to deal with many students who were very nervous about taking the GRE. Their fears are legitimate, at least to an extent. It is true that the score a student gets on the GRE can play a major part in determining whether or not he/she is accepted to the graduate school of their dreams. But it is also true that the GRE is a test that can be managed and tackled with efficiency with the proper preparation and study.
Starting out the GRE involves writing the two essays and this is considered by most students to be the easiest part of the test. A good essay is one that is clearly stated and logically sound with precise spelling and proper grammar throughout. There is no rule when it comes to the length of the essays and length doesn’t factor into the scoring. The general guideline is to write about four or five paragraphs, with the first paragraph used for an opener and the final paragraph for a closing statement, to tie everything together with a conclusion. The paragraphs in- between should take the issue or argument apart, take a position, and show the reasons why the writer chose to take a particular stand. A couple of sentences that state a counter argument with a rebuttal are also a good idea. As long as these rules are followed and the essays make sense, there should be no problem achieving a high score in this section.
Often, I have heard students make the argument that the written part of the test isn’t as important and can be skipped. I strongly recommend against doing this for several reasons. First of all, the written part of the test is generally the easiest and some students have even said that it helped get them in a relaxed mood for the remainder of the test. Secondly, and most important of all, skipping this section is going to send a negative signal to the different universities a student applies. It shows that a student is either incapable of writing a simple essay, was too lazy to attempt it, or both. While is true that the overall score is the most important in determining graduate school acceptance, the written score should not be taken lightly. It is still important to do you best on all parts of the test.
With the verbal part of the test, a student can expect to see questions divided into four sections: Sentence completion, Analogies, Antonyms, and Reading Comprehension. The sentence completion section is probably the easiest of the three. The test presents a sentence or set of sentences with a word or two missing. The answer choices will contain words to fill in the blanks. This part of the GRE measures more than simply a student’s knowledge of grammar. It also measures a student’s ability to decipher the author’s intent and find the set of words that best fits this intent.
The analogue questions are a little different. Here, the test shows a pair of words and the student must determine the relationship between the two words and then choose the pair of words in the answer choices that has the same relationship. These types of questions are generally easy, but they can get more and more difficult as the test progresses, particularly if one’s vocabulary skills are not up to par. However, even if a student doesn’t know the precise meaning of certain words, there is still a chance to get an answer correct by thinking about the words and predicting what they mean, based on the answer choices given. Certain patterns show up over and over again.
Next are the antonym questions. This section of the test involves finding a word among the answer choices that is the opposite of the word stated. Again, possessing a strong vocabulary is very helpful but like with the analogue section, there are certain patterns that pop up consistently and once you spot these patterns, you can improve your chances of getting an answer correct. The Reading Comprehension section is the most self- explanatory: a reading passage is presented along with two or three questions. There are usually two of these passages and accompanying questions on each GRE test.
The quantitative section of the test is the part where the majority of GRE students experience their greatest frustration. This part of the test consists of two types of questions: Quantitative comparisons and Problem solving. In the comparison questions, two columns are presented, one labeled “A” and one labeled “B”. Underneath each, there is a number, mathematical formula, or combination of numbers and variables. To answer these questions, one has to determine which of the two columns is largest. In some cases, the two will be equal and in other cases, there will be no way to determine an answer from the information presented. There are appropriate answer choices for each of these scenarios. The key to answering these questions correctly is to realize that, in most instances, you do not need to make a computation to figure out which column is larger. For example, say that column “A” shows the square root of 98, plus 5 and column “B” shows the number 15. Which one is larger? The answer is column “B” and I know this without doing any computation at all. The trick is to realize that 98 is a little less than 100 and everyone knows (or should know by this point in their college career) that the square root of 100 is exactly 10. Thus, the square root of 98 is slightly less than 10 and with 5 added to it, it will be slightly less than 15, making “B” the larger column. See how that works? There is no need to try to compute the square root of 98. It isn’t important. What matters is figuring out which column is larger and doing so as quickly as possible.
Problem solving questions make up the rest of the quantitative section and they are usually word problems. They can test many different things, like percentages, geometry, fractions, integers, number theory, and more. With these problems, you may or may not know how to structure the appropriate algebraic formula. If you do, it will likely save you some time help get you through the section more quickly. If you don’t know how to setup the formulas, don’t worry. In many cases, the answer choices are stated in such a way that a student can use trial and error or back solve (plug each answer choice into the problem until the correct answer is found) and still get the right answer.
There is one other important thing to know about the GRE test. Because it is taken on a computer, it is structured as a Computer Adaptive Test, or CAT. What this means is that, with each incorrect or correct answer, the computer will respond with an easier or more difficult question. If you get an answer correct, a more difficult problem will display. If you are incorrect, an easier question will display on the screen. In this way, the CAT system determines a student’s test score by gradually moving up and down in level of difficulty until an overall score is “zeroed in” on. Because of this system, a score isn’t a function of the number of answers right vs. the number of questions answered wrong. It is a complex formula that weighs each right or wrong answer and continuously adjusts itself higher or lower. Therefore, one student could get only 20 out of 28 questions correct on the quantitative section, for example, and get a higher score than someone else who had 22 correct answers, based on the difficulty level of each question answered correctly. If you don’t like the way the CAT system works, I’m afraid you are probably out of luck. Unless you live in a foreign country (many of them still administer paper versions of this test) or have a disability that prevents you from taking the computerized version, you will have no choice. You will have to take the CAT version whether you like it or not. One nice thing to keep in mind about the CAT version is that you will know your base scores (verbal, quantitative, and overall, but not the written score) right away. You will get a report at the test center as soon as you finish.
One other important fact about the GRE is that a student can expect to see a “Prestest” section included within the actual test. This consists of a second verbal or quantitative section and it is identical to the other verbal or quantitative section in every way. This pretest section doesn’t factor into a student’s score. But the problem is, a student doesn’t know if the section he/she is taking is a pretest section! Personally, I don’t know why the test makers choose to torture students in this manner. The GMAT test (for graduate business school) doesn’t have any “Pretest” section and neither do the other standardized tests. This is a real bummer, because it is a section that must be completed yet will not account for any part of the final score. And since there is no way to know whether or not you are in the midst of a “Pretest”, your only choice is to answer all the questions to the best of your ability. You can’t take a chance because you don’t know if the section you are taking is a Pretest that won’t count in the computation of your final score or not. The safest thing to do is to attack all sections completely and to the best of your ability.
The GRE test is administered by ETS (Educational Testing Service) and it costs about $120 to take. Students who wish to inquire into taking this test can consult the web page, gre.org, or can call 800-GRE-CALL. The web site for ETS (ets.org) has some practice questions and answers for GRE students and there are even some full- length tests that can be downloaded on your PC for a small fee. There are many other places on- line that also have practice tests and questions; some free and some that carry a small charge.
Taking the GRE test is a necessity for those who wish to further their education in the arts, sciences, and other fields at the graduate level. The test is somewhat rigorous and a student can expect to spend a total of 3.5 hours in the testing center. It is a moderately difficult test and some of the questions can present challenges. But it is also a test that can easily be tackled with the right preparation and the right attitude. Taking on- line practice tests; enrolling in a test prep course like those offered by Kaplan, Princeton Review, and others; and/or purchasing a practice test booklet or testing software are among the many ways that a student can maximize his/her grade on test day and gain admission to their graduate school of choice.
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