ABOUT GRE by "Mr. Krishna CH"

GRE-Graduate Record Examination

WHAT IS GRE?

The Graduate Record Examination or GRE is a Computer Adaptive Test(CAT) that is required for admission for many graduate schools principally in the United States of America and many other English-speaking countries in the world].This prestigious test is being administered by Educational Testing Service (or ETS) since 1949. The exam is primarily focused on testing abstract thinking skills in the areas of mathematics, vocabulary, and analytical writing. The GRE is typically a computer-based exam that is administered by select qualified testing centers; however, paper-based exams are offered in areas of the world that lack the technological requirements.

In the admissions process of different graduate schools, the level of emphasis that is placed upon GRE scores varies widely between schools and between departments within schools. The importance of a GRE score can range from being a mere admission formality to an important selection factor.

There are many critics that the exam format is so rigid that it effectively tests only how well a student can conform to a standardized test taking procedure. The ETS responded by announcing plans in 2006 to radically redesign the test structure starting in the fall of 2007. The new questions have been gradually introduced since November 2007.The cost of the general test is 180$ as of September 2009.This test is conducted by Prometric Solutions which has its branches all over India. The GRE score is valid f or 5 years.

STRUCTURE OF GRE:

Analytical Section
•Issue Task
•Argument Task
Verbal Section
Quantitative Section
Analytical Section
•Issue Task
•Argument Task
Experimental Section

SECTIONS:

The exam consists of four sections. The first section is a writing section, while the other is multiple choice patterns. The multiple choice questions will test the quantitative and verbal skills of the student. The third section is optional and is not included in the reported score. After the analytical section, we may get Quantative section or verbal section not necessarily in the same order. The entire test takes 4 hours. Each of the section, the quantative or verbal section has a maximum score of 800 and minimum score of 200.The total score is up to 1600.The result of the analytical section is graded from 1.0 -6.0.All the questions should be attempted so that you may not lose marks. There is no negative marking but you will lose marks if you don’t attempt any question.

Verbal Section
All the questions in this section are in the multiple choice questions. The questions consist of Analogies, Antonyms, Sentence Completion and Reading Comprehension which may randomly. In a typical examination, this section consists of 30 questions and 30 minutes is given to complete this section. The questions usually composed of 8-10 questions about antinyms, 6-8 analogy questions, 5-7 sentence completions and 8-10 questions in reading comprehension.

Quantitative Section
All the questions in this section are of multiple choice questions. Usually this is the highly scoring section. The questions in this section test high school level mathematics. In a typical examination, this section contains 28 question and 45 minutes is given to complete this section. This section comprises of 14 quantative comparison questions, 10 discrete quantative questions and 4 data interpretation questions.

Analytical writing section
The Analytical Writing Section consists of two different essays, an “issue task” and an “argument task”. The Writing Section is graded on a scale of 0-6.The essays are written on a computer using a word program specifically designated by ETS. Each essay is scored by at least two readers on six point scale.

Issue Task
The test taker will be able to choose between two topics given to write the essay. The time allowed for this essay is 45 minutes. The issue may be from any of the general topics.

Argument Task
The test taker will be given two arguments and will be asked to write any one of the two. In this section you have to write an essay that critiques the argument and to make suggestions about how to improve the logic of the argument.

Experimental section
This section is an optional one. The questions can be either verbal or quantative. Although, the experimental section does not account to the real score, it is unidentified and appears identical to the real part of the test. As test-takers have no clear way of knowing which section is experimental, they are forced to complete this section. This section does not appear on all GRE examinations.

Reference :
www.eduers.com
www.studentsrunway.com
www.greguide.com
www.drrajusgre.com
www.grepracticetests.com

Official sites:
www.ets.org
www.prometric.com