All You Need To Know About The GRE Structure

Are you planning on studying abroad? If yes, then you consider taking GRE. The Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, is a standardised test that is used by several graduate schools and universities in USA and Canada for admissions. This test was created over 70 years ago to test a graduate’s abilities during admission. GRE has test centers in over 160 countries, and according to the official website, the exam can be taken once every 21 days, upto five times a year. Want to know what exactly GRE is? How can you benefit from taking this exam? Read this article and find out.

Who accepts GRE scores? How long is it valid for?

GRE scores are accepted by thousands of graduate schools, as well as business and law schools in the USA. For Europe however, your undergraduate scores matter more. Even in Asia, Australia, and Canada, GRE isn’t a requirement in most universities/colleges. However, top b-schools and universities might accept GRE scores.

Please note that your GRE score is valid only for 5 years. This is because your score from before 5 years won’t be accurately representative of your skills and achievements.

Sections:

GRE aims at evaluating an applicant on three distinct skills.

Quantitative Analysis: This section aims at evaluating your ability to understand, analyse and interpret quantitative information, use mathematics to solve problems and use basic concepts of arithmetics, algebra, geometry to analyse data.

Verbal Reasoning: This section is considered quite difficult as it tests your ability to understand discourse, analyse and evaluate the author’s perspective and argument, and test your overall verbal reasoning skills on multiple levels. Because of the complexity of the discourse, you will be required to read between the lines, identify missing data and incorrect assumptions, have a strong vocabulary and understand the overall structure of the text.
Analytical Writing: This section tests your written communication skills, i.e. your ability to express your ideas in a structured format using standard English, using good vocabulary, and providing relevant examples.

Structure:

The GRE exam can be taken as a Computer-Delivered Test, or a Paper-delivered Test. For both test delivery methods, each section is divided into two sub-sections, but the number of questions and time allotted per section varies. The exam is structured as follows:

Computer-Delivered Test:

Section	No. of sub-sections	No. of Questions	Time (in minutes)
Analytical Writing	2	Analyse an Issue	30 minutes
Analytical Writing	2	Analyse an Argument	30 minutes
Verbal Reasoning	2	20 Questions per sub-section	30 minutes per sub-section
Quantitative Reasoning	2	20 Questions per sub-section	35 minutes per sub-section

Apart from the 3 sections, an unidentified, unscored–meaning this is not counted as part of your GRE score–section may be included after the Analytical Writing section. Also, an unscored identified research section might appear instead of the unidentified section at the end of the test. These extra sections are included only in the Computer-Delivered Test.

Paper-Delivered Test:

Section	No. of sub-sections	No. of Questions	Time (in minutes)
Analytical Writing	2	Analyse an Issue	30 minutes
Analytical Writing	2	Analyse an Argument	30 minutes
Verbal Reasoning	2	25 Questions per sub-section	35 minutes per sub-section
Quantitative Reasoning	2	25 Questions per sub-section	40 minutes per sub-section

Scoring:

Section	Scoring
Analytical Writing	0-6 in half-point increments
Verbal Reasoning	130-170 in one-point increments
Quantitative Reasoning	130-170 in one-point increments

That’s all for now. In our next article, we will go in depth with each of the sections and give you an idea of what kind of questions will be asked, what you can do to prepare and more. If you have taken GRE before, or have any suggestions, write to us in the comments below.

If you are planning on studying abroad, perhaps you’re also planning on taking GMAT. You’ll find this article on the GMAT structure helpful. If you want to know more about the individual sections of GMAT, then click here.