Meet the Revised GRE
Breakdown
The Sections
The Revised
GRE will consist of two Verbal sections, two Quantitative sections, and one experimental
section, which can be either Verbal or Quant. The experimental section will not
count towards your score. You will receive an overall Quantitative score in the
130 to 170 range, and an overall Verbal score, also from 130 to 170. Thus, the
Revised GRE is out of 340.
Number of questions and time limit
For the
computer-based exam, the Verbal sections contain 20 questions each. You will be
given 30 minutes to complete each section. The Quantitative sections also
consist of 20 questions each, but you will have 35 minutes to complete each
section.
The Quantitative Sections
The
Quantitative section is made up of about 7 Quantitative Comparison Questions
and 13 non- Quantitative Comparison questions (a majority of which will be
Multiple Choice, with a few (1-2) Numeric Entry and Multiple Answer questions
each).
Multiple
Choice is pretty standard—you’ll just have to identify the one possible correct
answer.
Multiple
Answer can have up to 10 answer choices, and you’ll have to “select all that
apply”, which means that the number of correct answers is also unknown.
Numeric
Entry is an open-ended question type in which you will have to type in the
correct value.
Quantitative
Comparison will list two quantities, A and B (anything from algebraic
expressions to the side length of a given geometric shape) and ask you to
compare them and select one of the following: A is equal to B, A is greater
than B, A is less than B, or that the relationship between the two quantities
cannot be determined from the information given.
Quantitative
sections.
The Verbal
Sections
The Verbal
Section is made up of about 6 Text Completions, 4 Sentence Equivalence
questions, and 10 Reading Comprehension questions.
Text
Completions can have one to three blanks, and range from short sentences to a
four-sentence paragraphs. For two- and three-blank Text Completion questions,
you must answer each blank correctly to receive full points—no partial credit!
Sentence
Equivalence questions have six possible answer choices. For every Sentence
Equivalence question, there will be two correct answers. To receive any credit
you must choose both correct answers.
Reading
Comprehension passages range from 12 to 60 lines. Topic matter is usually
academic in nature and covers areas such as science, literature, and the social
sciences. Question types include standard multiple-choice questions, highlight
the passage questions, and multiple-answer questions, which require you to
choose any one of three possible answer choices.
The Writing
Section
To begin
the test, there are two essays, and you’ll be given 30 minutes for each: The
Issue and The Argument. Neither is part of your 130 – 170 score. Each essay
receives a score ranging from 0 – 6.
Your final
essay score is the average of both essay scores.
We have
in-depth examples and strategies for each section later in this book.
How is the Revised GRE Scored?
The Revised GRE scale
may seem pretty arbitrary. After all, who has ever been graded on a test from
130 – 170? Not that the 200 – 800 scale was standard, but, still, there was a
certain panache in being able to say, “I got an 800!” (a 170 sounds far
from perfect). And, just to clarify, both these scales apply to the verbal
section and math section, so, technically, the new GRE is out of 340 (which
sounds just as awkward).
So, why the strange
range (pardon the rhyme)? Well, according to ETS, they wanted to stick to three
digits so that the colleges wouldn’t have to overhaul all the textbox entries that
call for three digits. Fair enough. Also, to avoid confusion with the current
scoring system, ETS made sure the two score ranges didn’t overlap (had they
made the new GRE out of 200, then a person who’d gotten that score on the
current GRE would suddenly look a lot smarter if they were to say a few years
from now, “Hey, I got a 200 on the GRE verbal section”).
On the surface, the new
GRE scoring range appears to be more limited than that of the current system.
After all, 200 – 800, based on 10-point intervals, allows for only a 61-point
spread, compared to the new GRE’s 41-point spread, based on one-point
intervals. The new GRE makes up for this more limited range by giving more
significance to the extreme ends of the scale. For example, on the current GRE,
there really isn’t much difference between 730 and 800 on the verbal—they are
both in the 99th percentile range. On the new GRE, the difference between 165 and
170 will be the 99th percentile vs. the 96th percentile.
At the end of the day,
you are not going to be tested on these statistical nuances. The important thing
to remember is that many colleges base their rankings on a percentile score,
which you will also receive as part of your score report.
Click the link below to download Magoosh Complete Guide to GRE from our free dedicated google pdf drive.
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