GRE Test Details
What are the Skills Tested in GRE?
Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)
Quantitative Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning
Analytical Writing
The analytical writing section aims to measure the test taker's ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively, support ideas with relevant reasons and examples, examine claims and accompanying evidence, sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion and control the elements of standard written English.
Verbal Reasoning
The verbal reasoning section aims to measure the test taker's ability to analyze and draw conclusions from the discourse, reason from incomplete data, identify author's assumptions and/or perspective, select important points, distinguish major from minor or relevant points, summarize text, understand the structure of a text, understand the meanings of words, sentences and entire texts and understand relationships among words and concepts.
List of topics covered under the verbal section
Basic Sentence structure: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives
Verb Tense
Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions
Pronoun Agreement
Subject-Verb Agreement
Modifiers
Parallelism
uantitative Reasoning
The quantitative reasoning section aims to measure the test taker's ability to understand quantitative information, interpret and analyze quantitative information, solve problems using mathematical models, and apply basic mathematical skills and elementary mathematical concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics.
List of topics covered in Quantitative Reasoning
Ratio and proportion; Profit and loss; Simple and compound interest; Speed, distance and time; Permutation & combination; Linear equations; Quadratic equations; Sets Theory; Statistics; Powers and roots; Probability; Pipes, cisterns, work, time; Lines and angles; Triangles; Polygon; Quadrilateral; Circles; Coordinate geometry; Order of operations; Volume and surface area; Percentage; Number properties
GRE Syllabus – General Exam Pattern
Even though one is aware of the GRE Syllabus and knows all the answers, failure to manage time can lead to an incomplete exam. This is where the importance of being familiar with the GRE Exam pattern is of utmost importance. The GRE question paper is divided into three main sections, namely, Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. The total time given to complete the exam is three hours and thirty minutes (3 hours 30 minutes=210 mins) and for computer-based, it is three hours and forty minutes (3 hours 40 minutes= 220 mins).
Test Pattern for Computer-Delivered General GRE
For the computer-based pattern, each of these sections is further divided into two-sub-sections with forty questions in total (Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning). Analytical Writing has only one section that contains two tasks with a time duration of one hour. Apart from these main sections, there are two other variable sections included in the computer-based pattern exam. This section is followed by a ten-minute break after the Quantitative Reasoning part is complete. However, these two variable sections- Unscored and Research section- are not included in the final GRE Scores.
GRE Sections | No. of Sections | Duration
Analytical Writing: | 1 section- two tasks | 60 minutes
Verbal Reasoning: |2 section- 40 questions | 60 minutes |
Quantitative Reasoning: |2 section- 40 questions | 70 minutes
Unscored | Varies | Varies
Research | Varies |Varies
GRE POWERPREP II Software
- Preparation for the Computer-based GRE revised General Test – Along with the sample questions, strategies and tips, this free software includes two full-length practice tests. They have timed tests, which simulate the test-taking experience including the user-friendly design features like changing answers within a section, as well as an on-screen calculator.
Difference between sentence equivalence and text completion
Sentence Equivalence questions give you one sentence with a blank and have you pick two words that make equivalent and coherent sentences. Text Completion questions give you one to five sentences with one to three blanks and have you pick words for the blank or blanks separately.