GRE Test Pattern

The overall testing time for the Computer based GRE Revised General Test is about three hours and 45 minutes. There are six sections with a 10 minute break following the third section. 

 

There are two separately timed Analytical Writing Tasks. “Analyze an Issue” and “Analyze an Argument” are the two writing tasks which are allotted a time of 30 minutes each. There are two separate Verbal Reasoning sections with each section consisting of approximately 20 questions and allotted 30 minutes each.  There are two separate Quantitative Reasoning sections with each section consisting approximately of 20 questions and time allotted for each section is 35 minutes. There are chances that an unidentified unscored section may be included and may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section. It is not counted as part of your GRE Test score. The unscored section can be either Verbal reasoning or Quantitative. The test taker cannot know which the unscored section is. There can also be a chance for an identified research section and if this is part of the GRE test, that would come as the last section of the test.

The Analytical writing section appears first and all the other sections can appear in any order.

Let us discuss in more details about each sections of the GRE Test:

Analytical Writing:

The Analytical writing section of GRE Test has two essay writing tasks: ‘the Issue’ and ‘the Argument’.

There will be no choice for the Issue topic and the candidate has to write an essay presenting his/her 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 to 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.

Verbal Reasoning:

The Verbal reasoning section of GRE contains three types of question:

1. Sentence equivalence,
2. Text completion and
3. Reading comprehension.
   

The Verbal reasoning section of the GRE is often said to be a test of vocabulary. However, the comprehension questions require good reading and reasoning skills.

i. Sentence equivalence:

Sentence Equivalence questions require you to complete a sentence by choosing TWO words for a single blank. The two words must both produce a sentence with the SAME overall meaning. Both choices must be correct; there is no credit given for getting one of the choices correct.

Sample Question:

The forests are gone, brushed aside by a world rushing into _________, and now the trees exist only in our memories.

A.Pollution  B.Greenery  C.Modernism  D.Innovation  E. Levitation

Right Answers: C and D

ii. Text completion:

Text completion questions account for about one quarter of the marks for the verbal section of GRE. Each question contains one, two or three blanks, and you have to find the best answers to make the text make complete sense. There is no credit for getting one of the choices correct in case of multiple blanks question. 

Sample Question:

Q. The perspective of going on vacation while getting an office bonus would not only make us (1) _________, but also make us plan and imagine the holiday. In fact, we would feel the (2)
_____________ without actually being on the vacation itself. However,
when being on the actual vacation, the excitement tends to settle down
as one begins to feel (3) ___________.

Blank 1 - overwhelmed, excited, overjoyed

Blank 2 - bliss, relaxation, fun

Blank 3 - contented, peace, normal

Right Answer: excited, bliss, contented

 

iii. Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension questions test your ability to understand a passage and answer questions on the basis of what is stated and implied in the passage. You need to read the passage first so that you can identify the main idea of the passage and also identify features such as the author's tone and attitude as well as the organization of the passage.

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative reasoning section of GRE has two types of multiple choice questions: Quantitative comparisons and Problem solving. The test also contains Numeric Entry questions where students have to provide their own answers. 

 

The level of math knowledge should be within the grasp of a 10^th Grade student. Some of the questions involve data interpretation. An onscreen calculator is provided to students taking the computer based test. Students taking the paper based test are provided with a calculator at the test center.

Quantitative comparison

Sample Question:

4 < x < 8 , and 3 < y < 7

Quantity A: x – y
Quantity B: 5

(A) Quantity A is greater.
(B) Quantity B is greater.
(C) The two quantities are equal.
(D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Right Answer : B

Problem solving

This section comprises of questions from subjects like Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry and Modern Mathematics (Sets, Sequences, Permutations and Combinations, Probability etc). And as mentioned above the math knowledge should be well within the grasp of a 10^th grader. 

Sample Question:

Q. If a train travels at 10 feet per second, how many feet does it travel in one hour?

A. 60

B. 600

C. 720

D. 3600

E. 36000

Right Answer : E . 36000

Numeric entry

This section consists of questions where the GRE test taker is asked to solve the math question and manually key in the answer.

Sample Question:

3. If X is the sum of 1,2,3,4 and y, what must be the value of y for y to equal 1/2 X?

Answer: y=10. (Added Info X equals 20 in the above case).