Basics of the test, its format and scoring

Analytical Writing Verbal Section Quant Section

Section 1 Section 2 Section 1 Section 2
Issue Argument 20 Questions 20 Questions 20 Questions 20 Questions
(30 (30
minutes) minutes) (30
minutes) (30 minutes) (35minutes) (35 minutes)

The test always begins with the Analytical Writing.

The Quantitative and the Verbal Section might come in any order.

There is one additional experimental section. It could be either in

Quantitative or Verbal Reasoning. This section is not considered for scoring.

You may get a ‘Research Section’ at the end of the test. You have the option
to skip it.
 For the Verbal Section, the score will be
reported on a scale of 130-170, in 1-
point increments.

 Forthe Quantitative Section, score will be

reported on a scale of 130-170, in 1-
point increments.

 ForAnalytical Writing, score will be

reported on a scale of 0-6, in half-point
increments.
There is NO negative marking in the revised GRE. Your
score will purely depend on the number of questions
answered correctly.

 The test software allows you to go to the next question

without answering the question. It also allows you to
mark any question for review. If you have excess time
at the end of the test, you could review this question.
You could also change the answer if required.

 It is therefore advised that you make an intelligent

guess and answer the question before moving to the
next question. In case your guess was right, you get
credit. In case it was incorrect, you have nothing to
lose.
340 (max score)

330+ is considered
superb!!

325-330 is considered
very high.

320-325 is considered
high.

Around 315 is
considered good.

260 (min score)

 Section 1 Section 2

• You need to • This section

answer 20 will also
questions. contain 20
questions.
• The average • However, the
difficulty level difficulty of
The questions are at 5 levels of
of Section 1 isDifficulty – Level 1, Level
this 2, Level 3, Level
section
4, Level 5. the same for all will vary
test and
takers. depending on
Level 1 is the Easiest Level 5 is Most Difficult.
your performance
Your final score not only in depends on the
the first
section
number of questions that you answered
correctly, but also on the difficulty level
of the questions.
 3 types of Questions

Text Completion Sentence Reading

Equivalence Comprehension
• A sentence is • A sentence is • Passage of size
provided with one provided with a varying from 100 to
or more blanks. single blank. 500 words.

• You need to select • You need to select • You need to answer

words from the two words from the questions based on
provided options options provided, the passage.
which when inserted such that overall
in the blanks make meaning conveyed by • There could be 1-5
the sentence both sentences questions could per
meaningful remains the same. passage
 4 types of Questions

Multiple Choice, •You need to solve a question and select one

Single Selection option from the choices provided

•Similar to the previous type, but more than one

Multiple Choice, option in the choice list could qualify as answer
Multiple to the question.
Selection •You need to select all the relevant options to
get the question right.

•You need to solve a question and enter your

answer in the text box provided.
Numeric Entry •You will not be provided with options as in the
earlier three types.

Quantitative •You will be given two mathematical expressions.

•You need to compare the two and determine which
Comparison of the two is numerically higher than the other.
 Arithmetic
 Algebra
 Geometry
 Data Interpretation
 Basic Statistics
 Normal Distribution
 Probability, Permutation & Combination
 Applied Mathematics
You should be able to apply mathematical concepts to real life
situations.
Example

 Profit and Loss

 Age
 Mixture and Solutions
 Distance-Speed
 Work/Effort estimation
 Venn Diagrams etc.

Topics such as Trigonometry and Calculus are not within the scope of the Quantitative
section of the GRE
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 We know that there are 2 sections,
each containing 20 questions.
 The average difficulty level of
questions of the first section is the
same for all the test takers.
 The difficulty level of questions in
the second section depends on the
performance in the first section.
 Let's take some examples and see how
the scoring system works in GRE.
 Let'ssay a test taker blindly marks
questions without thinking.
Statistically, he is likely to get 20%
of the questions correct ( 1 in 5).
 Very few serious test takers would
actually do that.
 In practice, the test taker would try to
do his best in section 1 and try to get
as high a raw score as possible.
 Let's say he gets 17/20 in the first
section.
The difficulty of the Questions in the second section
will be section-wise adaptive.
 For example, in the Quant section, the difficulty level
of the questions in Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Data
Analysis in the second section will depend on the
performance in the Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, DA of
the first section.
 So, if you have done extremely well in Arithmetic,
Algebra, Geometry, you will get Questions of higher
difficulty level on these topics.
 If your performance in Data Analysis has not been up to
mark in the first section, you might get Questions of
the same difficulty level and slightly lower than that.
Let's say you score 16/20 in the second section.
 Your net score is 33/40 in the two sections.
 Let's say that the average difficulty level of
the Qns the 33 Questions that you have answered
correctly is 3.6
 Let's say there is another test taker who also
scored 33/40, but with a average difficulty
level of 3.8.
 You may get a score in the 158-160 range. The
other test taker will get in the 161-162 range.
 Thereis no such thing as marks for a
Level 1, Level 2, … Level 5 question
etc.

 The final score is a function of

• The raw score in the two sections
• Difficulty level of the Questions answered
correctly.
 Remember that in the actual test, the
difficulty level of the Questions is
not displayed.
 You have no way to know if the current
Question is Level 1, 2,3,4 or 5.
 Therefore, you cannot make any
strategy based on this. (example: I
will first answer level 1,2 questions,
then level 3, then 4 etc That is not
possible).
 Try to score as high as you can in the first
section.
 This will ensure a that the average difficulty
level of Questions in the second section is
higher.
 Ensure that you at least maintain the same raw
score in the second section (or excel if you
can).
 This will ensure that you get a high raw score
and high difficultly level questions solved
correctly.
 After completing your learning sessions (or
about 70-80% of the syllabus), start taking
one or two GRE style tests.
 They will give a good sense of the scoring
system.
 It will also know which kind of questions
types or topic types are pulling you down.
 This will help you improve in those areas,
which in turn will ensure that you score
better in those topics and consequently get
high difficulty Questions in those topics in
the second section and do well in those too.
Contact your SFA or your Counselor at GREedge if you need
more help.