Structure of The Graduate Record Examination

The GRE is an acronym of Graduate Record Examination. Whether you are planning to go to graduate school or business school or just exploring your options you are taking an important step toward your future, you only need to take the one test accepted by thousands of graduate and business schools worldwide.

GRE is a computer-adaptive test. This is how it works: instead of having a pre-determined mixture of easy, medium, and hard questions, the computer will select questions for you based on how well you are doing. The first question will be of medium difficulty; if you get it right, the second question will be selected from a large group of questions that are a little harder; if you get the first question wrong, the second will be a little easier. The result is that the test automatically adjusts to your skill level. The Tough questions have more credit than easier ones.

You can still earn a very high score even if you answer several questions incorrectly. Correct answers to harder questions leads to large score as compared to easier questions. This means to get large score more difficult questions has to be answered.

Structure of Test

The GRE General Test measures your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills.

The Verbal Reasoning section measures your ability to:

1. 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.
2. Select important points; distinguish major from minor or relevant points; summarize text; understand the structure of a text.
3. Understand the meanings of words, sentences and entire texts; understand relationships among words and among concepts.

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning section measures your ability to:

1. Understand, interpret and analyze quantitative information.
2. Solve problems using mathematical models.
3. Apply basic skills and elementary concepts of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry and data analysis.
4. The Quantitative Reasoning section includes an on-screen calculator. If you are taking the paper-delivered test, a calculator will be provided at the test center.

Analytical Writing

The Analytical Writing section measures your ability to:

1. Articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively.
2. Support ideas with relevant reasons and examples.
3. Examine claims and accompanying evidence.
4. Sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion.
5. 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.