1. So you have to take the GRE?  You’ve come to the right place!

    This article concentrates in one place all of the answers to burning questions you might have, such as ‘What is a good GRE score’, ‘How hard is the GRE’ or ‘What do I need to study for the GRE’?.  Read on and find out all you need to know about the GRE general test.

    Registering and taking the GRE

    The computer-based GRE General Test can be taken worldwide, almost every day. To see the exact time locations, use this link. You’ll need to select the ‘GRE General Test’, to input your location, and to choose a target time, after which you’ll automatically be shown which test centers and times are available for scheduling. If you’d rather take the paper-based GRE, then your options are more limited -- the paper-based exam is given 3 times a year: around August, September, and December. To see the exact dates for the paper-based GRE, use this link.
    Everyone is eligible to take the GRE! Provided they have the required identification and are willing to pay, of course. When you arrive at the test center, you’ll need to show a government-issued, valid ID which has your first and last name spelled in exactly the same way as it appears in your GRE registration form. So when signing up for the GRE, make sure to use your full name as it appears in your ID. For exact details see here.
    If you took the computer-based GRE and decided to keep your score, it will be visible on your ETS account within 10-15 days of your exam. If you took the paper-based GRE, your scores will be available on your account and sent to your desired schools 5 weeks after the test date. You may view, download, and print your report from your online account.
    Upon completing the GRE, you’ll need to decide, before seeing your score, whether or not to keep it. That is, you’ll be shown a screen like this: GRE Q&A image As you can see, this screen allows you to cancel a score before seeing it if you feel you’ve had an extremely bad session.  Such ‘canceled scores’ can be reinstated for a fee of $50 if you notify the ETS within 60 days of your test, however once viewed they are on your profile to stay.  If you choose to view your scores, you’ll see the unofficial score results from the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the GRE exam, are available immediately after completing the test.
    Taking the GRE General test costs between $200 to $250, depending on where you are in the world. Most locations are $205, with Australia, China, Nigeria, and Turkey costing more at the time of this writing. Additionally, some locations have additional tax requirements, which should be checked directly with your local GRE administrator. Be sure to check online for the most recent pricing.
    Canceling the exam at least 4 days before the test day will get you a refund of half of the test fee. If you’re worried that you might have to cancel, make sure to complete your registration properly, as otherwise you might not be eligible for the refund.

     

    Applying to schools

    You can use your GRE General Test score to apply to graduate schools in a variety of different fields, from English to Computer Science to Anthropology. Additionally, some Law and Business programs are now accepting the GRE instead of the LSAT and GMAT. To see which exams your specific target programs require, check out their admissions information, which is usually easily accessible online.
    A good GRE score changes with the school, and even more so with the specific type of program. We go into the details in this blog, but the basic idea is that you want a 85th percentile score -- about 160 Verbal and 163 Quant -- to have a good shot at most top-tier programs. Note that humanities programs such as Education and English will likely put a much higher emphasis on Verbal whereas math-intensive programs such as Mathematics or Physics will put a much higher emphasis on Quant. So to really answer your question, you should do an online search of your target schools’ GRE score requirements.
    On test day, you can choose to send out your scores from the most recent test or from all previous GRE tests to 4 institutions for free. To do so, make sure to find out your schools’ ETS codes ahead of time. You can find the list of the relevant schools, along with their ETS codes, here. If you forget to find the ETS code ahead of time, worry not! You can usually tell the test center the schools’ names and they’ll find the codes for you.
    This used to be the case; you could choose whether to send all previous scores or just the most recent one. However, the ETS has recently introduced a new GRE ScoreSelect option, which allows you, for a fee, to choose which scores to send to the schools. You can access this option online, via your ETS account.
    GRE exams taken after July 2016 are valid for 5 years from the test date, after which the scores expire and can no longer be sent to target institutions. Exams taken from July 2013 to June 2016 are also valid for the June 5 years after they were taken, so an exam taken on November 2014 is valid until June 2019. GRE scores received before July 2013 are no longer valid.

     

    Content and skills required for the GRE

    See a full breakdown of the GRE structure here; the bottom line is that you’ll need up to 4 hours to complete your GRE: 1 hour for writing essays, 1 hour for 2 Quant sections, 1 hour for 2 Verbal sections, 30 minutes for an ‘experimental’ section, and another 30 minutes of breaks. Add on to this arriving at the test center 30 minutes early and chilling out after the exam for another 20 minutes, and you have a long day ahead of you… be prepared! Make sure to sleep well the night before, to arrive with energies, and to make sure you have as few other distractions as possible.
    The math concepts required for the GRE do not go beyond high-school level math but the level of English required can be advanced. However, the GRE is not a test of your knowledge, but rather of your reasoning abilities. The difficulty of the GRE lies in piecing together different strands of information quickly and in developing a decision-making process which allows you to choose which approach will get you to the correct answer fastest. To learn more, check out our blog on the topic here.
    The computer-based GRE General Test is section-adaptive. This means that you will get an initial section of ‘medium’ difficulty, and a second section whose difficulty is determined based on your performance in the first one. To read more about this, visit our blog on the GRE structure here.
    As the GRE tests your critical thinking and reasoning skills, you should not study for it as you would for a regular college exam. That is, acing the GRE is less about cramming knowledge and more about developing strategic depth -- from all the methods available to solve a specific question, which one works best for you? How should you manage your time between the different question types? When should you ‘cut your losses’ and move on to the next question? At examPAL, we split each topic into 3 parts for precisely this reason: the first part teaches you the basic rules you need to know; the second part teaches you which strategies are out there and how you can apply them in practice; and the third helps you bring the two together with AI-based targeted practice. This sequential learning process, alongside constant revision from your end, will guarantee that you not only learn the material, but learn how to use it on exam day.
    Yes! The built-in GRE calculator supports basic functions, such as addition, multiplication, division, roots and exponentiation. But -- you shouldn’t use the calculator unless you have to, as it can take more time then simple math and can be error-prone if you have to multiply many numbers or type in many digits. In particular, things such as multiplication of single-digit numbers or the first 5 powers of 2, should be known by heart. How to convert basic percents to fractions is also very useful. For example, 50% = half, 25% = a quarter, 10% = a tenth, and so on.
    examPAL offers a score improvement guarantee for anyone who has taken the GMAT before and is unhappy with their score. We offer a 6 point (!) improvement guarantee (see here for full details) or your money back.
    mm
    Dave Green
    Senior tutor and professional test-prep writer. Interdisciplinary wizard, with Master’s degrees in economics, philosophy, and political science at HUJI.

No Comments. Be the first to post

Loading...
Menu Title