Chapter 1
Overview of the GRE General Test
The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test is required for admission to most graduate programs. The most competitive programs tend to require comparatively higher scores. This book is designed to prepare students for the GRE General Test. The GRE revised General Test was renamed in 2016 and is now known as the GRE General Test, but the content and scoring of the test remain the same. Note that some graduate programs require applicants to take specialized GRE Subject Tests which will not be covered in this book. Before preparing to take the GRE, please review the admissions criteria for the programs you are interested in applying to so that you know whether you need to take subject tests in addition to the GRE General Test. To learn more about subject tests, visit the Subject Tests section at ets.org.
The GRE General Test is not designed to measure your knowledge of specific fields. It does not measure your ability to be successful in your career or even in school. It does, however, give a reasonably accurate indication of your capabilities in certain key areas for graduate level work, such as your ability to understand complex written material, your understanding of basic mathematics, your ability to interpret data, and your capacity for reasoning and critical thinking. By using this book to prepare for the GRE General Test, you will not only improve your chances of scoring well on the test, but you will also help to prepare yourself for graduate level study.
Format of the GRE General Test
The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-delivered test throughout the year. Post Covid, ETS provides test-takers with the option to take the test from home.
Whether you are taking the GRE General Test at the testing centre or at home, the format of the test will essentially be the same. The GRE General Test At Home follows the same format as the computer-delivered version of the GRE General Test. The test consists of three main components: Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning. The total time for the test will be about 3 hours 45 minutes.
The first section of the test is always the Analytical Writing component which is broken down into two sections. In the first section, you will be asked to write an argumentative essay that takes a position on an issue of general interest. In the second section, you will be asked to analyze an argument for logical validity and soundness. You will be given 30 minutes for each section.
The remainder of the test will be split between sections devoted to Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning. There will be two sections devoted to Verbal Reasoning and another two devoted to Quantitative Reasoning. You will be given 30 minutes to complete each section of Verbal Reasoning and 35 minutes to complete each section of Quantitative Reasoning. Each section will contain 20 questions. At any point during the test, you may be given an unscored section on either Verbal or Quantitative Reasoning; since this section will not be identified, it is important that you try your best at all times. Also, it is possible you will be asked to complete a research section that will allow ETS to test the efficacy of new questions. If you are given a research section, it will appear at the end of your General Test. Unscored and research sections may vary in number of questions and time allotted.
Outline of the GRE General Test
The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections of the GRE General Test are section-level adaptive. This means that the computer will adapt the test to your performance. Since there are two sections each of Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning, the difficulty of the second section will depend upon how well you did on the first section. The overall format of the GRE General Test will be as follows:
| Component | Number of Questions | Time Allowed |
| Analytical Writing (2 sections) | 1 Analyze an Issue 1 Analyze an Argument | 30 minutes 30 minutes |
| Verbal Reasoning (2 sections) | 20 questions per section | 30 minutes per section |
| Quantitative Reasoning (2 sections) | 20 questions per section | 5 minutes per section |
| Unscored Section | Variable | Variable |
| Research Section | Variable | Variable |
| | | Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes |
Note that the GRE General Test At Home follows the same format as the computer-delivered version of the GRE General Test.
While taking the GRE General Test, here are some things to remember:
- You can review and preview questions within a section, allowing you to budget your time to deal with the questions you find most difficult.
- You will be able to mark questions within a section and return to them later. This means that if you find a question especially difficult, you will be able to move on to other questions and return to the one you had trouble with, provided you stay within the time limit for the section.
- You will be able to change or edit your answers within a section. This means that if you realize you made a mistake, you can go back and correct yourself provided you stay within the time limit for the section.
- You will have an onscreen calculator during the Quantitative Reasoning portions of the test, allowing you to quickly complete any necessary computations.
The following will briefly introduce the three main components of the GRE General Test.
Analytical Writing Assessment
The first section of the GRE General Test is the Analytical Writing assessment. This component of the GRE is designed to test your ability to use basic logic and critical reasoning to make and assess arguments. The Analytical Writing assessment is broken into two assignments, each of which must be completed within 30 minutes. In the first assignment, you will be asked to develop a position on an issue of general interest. You will be given an issue and a prompt with some specific instructions on how to approach the assigned issue. You will be expected to take a position on the issue and then write a clear, persuasive and logically sound essay defending your position in correct English. You will be assessed based on your ability to effectively defend your position with supporting evidence and valid reasoning, your skill in organizing your thoughts, and your command of English. In the second assignment, you will be presented with a passage in which the author sketches an argument for their position on an issue. Here, you will be expected to write an essay that critically evaluates their argument in terms of the evidence used and the logical validity of their reasoning. You will be assessed based on your ability to parse the author’s argument and effectively point out the strengths and weaknesses of their reasoning, using good organization and correct English.
| Task | Time Allowed | Answer Format |
| Analyze an Issue | 30 minutes | Short essay on an issue of general interest that clearly and carefully addresses the prompt |
| Analyze an Argument | 30 minutes | Short essay that analyzes another person’s argument for validity, soundness and supporting evidence |
The Analytical Writing assessment tests your ability to:
- coherently develop complex ideas
- write in a focused, organized manner
- identify relevant evidence and use it to support your claims
- critically evaluate another person’s argument for clarity and effectiveness
- command the elements of standard written English
Verbal Reasoning
The Verbal Reasoning portion of the GRE assesses your reading comprehension, your ability to draw inferences to fill in missing information, and your vocabulary. You will be given two sections on Verbal Reasoning, each consisting of 20 questions and lasting 30 minutes. Verbal Reasoning questions on the GRE General Test are mostly multiple-choice and will be drawn from the following three types: Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, and Sentence Equivalence. Reading Comprehension questions will ask you to read a short passage several paragraphs long and then answer questions about the passage. Text Completion questions will have a short passage with 1-3 blanks which you will need to fill in by choosing the best of several multiple-choice options. The Sentence Equivalence section will ask you to fill in the blank in a passage, using the two words that will complete the sentence in such a way that the meaning will be as similar as possible.
| Time | Question Type | Answer Format |
| You will have 30 minutes to complete the entire section, which will include a mixture of different question types | Reading Comprehension | Multiple choice: select one answer choice
Multiple choice: select one or more answer choices
Highlight a section of text |
| Text Completion | Multiple choice: fill in one or more blanks to complete the text |
| Sentence Equivalence | Multiple choice: select the two options that produce two sentences with the most similar meanings |
The Verbal Reasoning section measures your ability to:
- comprehend, interpret and analyze complex passages in standard written English
- apply sophisticated vocabulary in context
- draw inferences about meaning and authorial intent based on written material
Quantitative Reasoning
The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE evaluates your ability to use basic mathematics, read and i...
