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GRE Exam Syllabus: General Test Pattern | 2018 –
2019
General
Test Pattern for GRE Exam
Many
universities and colleges in the US, Canada, UK, and other countries use
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores as a criterion for admissions to their
graduate-level courses. The ETS GRE (revised) General Test evaluates the
test-taker’s overall knowledge and skills in three main segments—analytical
writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. The scores indicate the
candidate’s aptitude for taking up graduate studies in various disciplines.
ETS also offers GRE Subject Tests in
various areas. In this article, we’ll the Subject Tests and focus on the
General Test.
The
GRE offers the General Test in two formats—computer-based and paper-based. The
computer-based test lasts about three hours and 45 minutes overall, and
consists of six sections, or
“measures,” as they are officially known: one section on analytical writing,
two sections each on verbal and quantitative reasoning, and an additional
section that may contain questions on either verbal or quantitative reasoning
but is not taken into account for scoring nor timed. The test always starts
with the analytical writing section; the other sections may follow in any
order.
The analytical writing segment
comprises two tasks (“analyse an issue” and “analyse an argument”) to be
completed in 30 minutes each. The verbal and quantitative segments contain 20
questions each, but while 30 minutes are available for each of the two verbal
sections, 35 minutes are given for each of the two quantitative sections. The
order of the sections is not announced, so the test-taker does not know which
section is unscored and meant only for research. However, a research section
may sometimes be identified as such, and may follow the five scored sections.
The Educational Testing Service (ETS), which conducts the GRE, offers software
(Power Prep II) that allows the candidate to experience the test first-hand.
As mentioned, GRE is also offered in
a paper-based format. The main segments are the same—analytical writing, verbal
reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. Each of these three segments has two
sections. While 30 minutes are available for each section on analytical
reasoning, 35 minutes are given for each section on verbal reasoning, and 40
minutes for each section on quantitative reasoning. The test lasts about three
hours and 30 minutes overall.
The computer-based and paper-based
tests both have a 10-minute break during the course of the tests.
GRE
Syllabus: Three main segments
Analytical
writing
The two-task analytical writing
segment appraises the test-taker’s ability to critically examine complex issues
and arguments and put forth his or her ideas clearly and logically. In the
first task, called the “analyse an issue task,” a viewpoint on a topic of
popular interest is presented, and the candidates are asked to analyse the
issue and express their own opinions. In the second task, “analyse an argument
task,” an argument is presented, and the candidates have to analyse the logical
strength of the argument and point out its pluses and minuses. The objective is
not to test the test-takers’ knowledge in a particular topic but rather their
analytical capability and power of expression.
Candidates who take the General Test
on the computer-based format will have no advantage over those who opt for the
paper-based format: only a basic word-processor, with options to insert and
delete text and copy and paste material, is made available to them, and the
test-takers cannot correct their spellings or grammar.
Here is a typical example of an
issue-task question that one might see on the test.
Issue statement: The comforts of
life available today are making people “soft,” and they are gradually losing
their strength of character and becoming weaklings.
Task instruction: Discuss your
response, giving logical reasons to support your opinion. Also say under what
circumstances the statement might or might not stand. Explain your position
taking into consideration those circumstances, too.
Verbal Reasoning
The verbal reasoning segment
measures the test-taker’s capacity to read and understand written material of
the kind that is commonly used in academia. Three types of questions have been
devised: (i) Reading comprehension; (ii) Text completion; and (iii) Sentence
equivalence. To be able to comprehend texts in graduate school, a student will
be required to identify the relationships between parts of a sentence, and
associations between words and concepts. The verbal reasoning segment tests
whether the test-taker has the talent and ability necessary. About 50 percent
of the questions are on reading comprehension, and the rest expect the
candidate to read, understand, and complete sentences or passages.
In order to score high in reading
comprehension, the candidate has to understand the meaning of words and the
purport of paragraphs and passages; understand how parts of a text relate to
one another; be able to pick out important points from unimportant ones; infer
stated and unstated information from passages; and grasp the author’s opinion
and position on the issue. The passages may be drawn from any of the sciences,
humanities, or business topics published in academic or non-academic journals.
Under text completion, the candidate
is asked to supply missing words or phrases in a passage, given the overall
context. Again, what is tested is the ability to comprehend the text and make
the correct inferences.
The third type of questions—sentence
equivalence—requires the test-taker to fill in the blank in each sentence with
the most appropriate word and also select an alternative word from six choices.
The task is not limited to picking out a word that appears suitable, but
includes intuiting the context and selecting the two best options from among
the possible answers.
Quantitative Reasoning
The main objective of the GRE
quantitative segment is to assess the test-taker’s grasp of the basic math
concepts of algebra, arithmetic, geometry, and data analysis, and skills for
solving problems based on these concepts. There are various topics under each
of the main concepts. A detailed list is available on the ETS website.
The questions on mathematics and
statics are of the high-school level. Trigonometry or calculus or other areas
that come under higher level mathematics are not included. Knowledge of
high-school mathematics concepts, such as “prime numbers are greater than one”
and “numbers increase towards the right of the number line,” is sufficient.
Four types of questions can be found
as part of quantitative reasoning: quantitative comparison, multiple-choice
with one correct answer; multiple-choice with one or more correct answers; and
numeric entry (computation) questions. Among these types of questions,
quantitative comparison questions perhaps demand a short explanation: they ask
the test-taker to compare two quantities and select one statement from four that
best describes the comparison.
Candidates taking the computer-based
test are provided with on-screen calculators, and those taking the paper-based
test are provided handheld calculators. However, the ETS GRE website contains
some guidelines that advise against the use of the calculator for some type of
questions. It points out that the powers of reasoning and estimating may be
more effective and less time-consuming in these cases.
List of
topics in GRE Quantitative Reasoning Syllabus
Here are some concepts that will be
tested in the GRE quantitative section. It has a lot of overlap between the
basic topics tested in the GMAT exam. So you’ll find that the preparation can
help you for both tests.
·
Number properties
·
Percentage
·
Pipes, cisterns, work, time
·
Polygon
·
Circles
·
Co-ordinate geometry
·
Volume and surface area
List of topics in GRE Verbal
Reasoning Syllabus
The clickable links will launch a
tutorial covering the basic concepts from the GRE verbal syllabus.
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