GRE

About the GRE Test

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE), created and administered by ETS, is used by thousands of graduate and business schools to make admission and fellowship decisions. Many graduate programs require scores from the GRE General Test as part of a complete application, and some also require or recommend scores from one or more GRE Subject Tests .

What is the GRE?

The GRE General Test is a graduate-level admissions exam used by many graduate school and business school programs. The GRE provides grad and b-schools with one common criterion that can be used to compare all applicants, who  come from all over the world and will certainly have an enormous range in academic and professional experience.

Your GRE score is a significant part of your graduate school application , but it certainly isn’t the only part. Admissions officers consider many other factors, including your undergraduate GPA, work and research experience, personal statement , letters of recommendation, and interviews. Some grad programs also require or consider GRE Subject Test scores.

It’s possible your GRE score could come in handy if you are interested in law school, as some schools are accepting (or are considering accepting) GRE scores in lieu of LSAT scores .

What’s on the GRE?

GRE Sections

The GRE is a 3 hour 45 minute computer-adaptive test (CAT) that has three sections: an Analytical Writing Assessment, a Quantitative Section and a Verbal Section. Here’s an overview of what’s on each GRE section.

GRE Format 

Analytical Writing Section

• 2 Essays
• 60 minutes total
  • 30 minutes for the “Issue” essay
  • 30 minutes for the “Argument” essay
• Tests ability to communicate complex ideas in a concise and effective way, evaluate claims and evidence, support ideas using logical reasoning and relevant examples, and use standard written English to prove an argument

Quantitative Section

• 2 Sections, approximately 20 questions each
• 35 minutes
• Tests basic math topics in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry , plus ability to problem solve and analyze data
• Questions types: Quantitative Comparisons, Problem Solving, Data Interpretation

Verbal Section

• 2 Sections, approximately 20 questions each
• 30 minutes
• Tests ability to analyze sentences and writing passages, including understanding key concepts and vocabulary-in-context
• Question types: Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, Sentence Equivalence

How Long does the GRE Take?

Start to finish, the exam will take you 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete.

How do I register?

You must register online to take the GRE in advance of your test date; walk-in GRE registration at test centers is not accepted. The GRE is administered by ETS and given at Prometric testing centers. Visit ETS  to register. The GRE costs $205 in most locations. 

How is the GRE scored?

Before we dive into answering that question, it’s important for you to know that the GRE was revised in 2011 and the scoring was changed. For GRE exams taken prior to August 1, 2011, the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the exam were scored from 200-800 in 10-point increments, and from 0-6 in half-point increments for the Analytical Writing portion of the exam.

The GRE revised General Test (this includes all tests taken on or after August 1, 2011) is the most current form of the exam. The GRE Verbal and Quantitative sections are now scored between 130-170 in 1-point increments, with 170 being the highest GRE score possible for the overall Verbal and overall Quantitative scores. The Analytical Writing score range has remained the same: it is still scored from 0-6 in half-point increments.

How Important are GRE Cutoff Scores?

Before we look at the range of possible GRE scores, it is important to have a clear understanding of the relative importance of GRE cutoff scores in determining your potential admission to graduate school. When a graduate school looks at your application, they are looking at a wide variety of factors that tell them whether or not you may be a successful student in their program; the GRE scores that you submit are merely one of these factors. If your score is below their “cutoff” point, your application will be thrown out before you’re even considered.

Universities use GRE cutoff scores as a convenient way to weed out low-level candidates that they would likely not consider for admission anyway.

Finding those cutoff scores is as easy as going to the web page of your chosen program in your college or university and looking at their admissions requirements. These cutoff scores do not answer the question, “What is a good GRE score?”, but they will let you know the lowest possible score that the program will accept, which is a good first step in preparing for the GRE. To the right you’ll see the Top Ranked MBA Programs and their Cutoff Scores for the GRE.

In order to get a solid GRE Score, you should remember that this computerized test is section-adaptive. That means that how well you perform on the first type of a specific section will determine how hard the second section of that type will be. It is a good idea to go back and check your answers carefully in the first section of each type (i.e. Verbal or Quant) to maximize your opportunity for doing well in that section so you will be offered an even harder section next in order to get the highest possible score.

What is a Good GRE Score FOR YOU?

The GRE score you will need to be admitted to a specific graduate program will depend on the requirements of that program and how competitive it is. Most graduate schools have information posted on their sites about the average GRE scores of their most recent incoming class. You can also consult the annual graduate school rankings by U.S. News & World Report for GRE score ranges, or browse graduate student forums to get an idea of the GRE requirements for specific schools and programs.

ETS does not publish median GRE scores, however, based on the scores of a majority of test takers in recent years, the median hovers around 150-151 for the Verbal and Quant sections of the exam, and is about 3.7 for the AWA. To be competitive, you will need scores that are well above the median totals of around 303-306.

Some graduate programs have total cut-off scores (as mentioned above); other departments are only interested in the Verbal or the Quant sections of the exam. Most programs look at GRE scores as only one element of your application package, which includes letters of recommendation, your undergraduate transcripts and GPA, and your statement of purpose. Beyond the simple measure however, knowing what score you should aim for becomes a little more tricky. 

Your target GRE score is dependent on a number of factors, including both the school as well as the specific program to which you are applying.  

Other factors considered in graduate school applications include:

• Undergraduate GPA
• Professional resume
• Statement of Purpose
• Letters of Recommendation

Ultimately, the answer to the question, “What is a good GRE score?” can only be answered once you know the school and the program to which you are hoping to apply. We break that down for you further, below.

GRE Score Percentiles Breakdown

GRE score percentiles are printed on your score report so that you (and graduate schools) can tell how well you did in comparison to all other test takers since August 1, 2011. Specifically, the score percentile shows the percentage of test takers who scored lower than a specific scaled score. For example, if you got a scaled score of 163 for the Verbal section, that is equivalent to a score percentile of 92, which means that 92% of all test takers scored lower than you for the Verbal portion of the exam.

GRE Percentile Scores for Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing

As a rule, the following scores are considered very competitive:

• Verbal Score between 158-162 (equivalent 0f 78th-89th percentile in 2014)
• Quantitative Score between 159-164 (equivalent of 74th-88th percentile in 2014)
• Analytical Writing Score above 4.5

Likewise, the following scores are considered decent (better than 50th percentile), and may be good enough to get you into some of the programs that interest you:

• Verbal Score between 152-158 (equivalent of 54th-78th percentile in 2014)
• Quantitative Score between 153-158 (equivalent of 52th-71st percentile in 2014)
• Analytical Writing Score of 4.0

Accepted GRE Scores by School 

Your GRE score will likely be an important factor in your application package. The GRE is accepted by very many different schools and programs in a large variety of disciplines (the Arts, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Business, Foreign Languages etc.), so it is difficult to give an overall answer about what kind of GRE score will get you into a particular program.

Many programs in the humanities are less concerned with your performance on the Quant section of the exam, whereas Engineering departments are likely to care more about your scores in that section. That said, the better your score on the GRE, the more options you will have when it comes to graduate school admissions. In general, top schools (for example, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, Duke, Columbia, UCLA, and Cornell) will prefer candidates who score in the 80th percentile or above on either the Verbal or the Quant section of the exam, depending on the type of graduate program.

Your best bet is to research those programs that interest you most to find out the typical score range of admitted students. For example, Princeton University publishes detailed statistics on the GRE scores of applicants, admitted students, and those who enrolled each year. For 2014, average GRE Verbal scores for admitted students across all departments ranged from 159-164. The average GRE Quant scores for admitted students ranged from 156-165. You can reference the cutoff scores for top schools in the infographic above.

Just like different schools have different GRE score requirements, so too do different academic programs within a school. The question however, is less about the requirements of a given school or program, and more about what score will actually make you a competitive candidate for your chosen program. For this, it is useful to look at average GRE scores, rather than low-end cutoff scores.

Luckily, ETS maintains statistics on average GRE scores of students entering a wide variety of academic programs.

Average GRE Score by Program

In general, if you plan on attending a minimally or moderately competitive school, and your scores are above the average for the program to which you are applying, your application is likely in good shape, given that all of the other application components are high quality. At a highly competitive school, your scores will likely need to be higher in order to make your application stand out from the rest of the pack.

The best place to start, is to see if you can get the information from your school on the average GRE scores for the current academic year. This will give you a benchmark to shoot for so that you have a more concrete idea of the minimum score you are trying to achieve.

*Data Sourced from ETS

You should also remember that having an excellent (or even perfect) GRE score is no guarantee that you will be admitted to a particular program. Graduate school admissions committees in the U.S. tend to look at a student’s entire application, and may place as much emphasis on your GPA, your letters of recommendation, and your personal statement as on your GRE scores.

GRE Score Calculator

Different programs and schools use different formulas, but you can use a GRE calculator or a GRE/GMAT admissions calculator (readily available online) to determine the minimum GPA and GRE (or GMAT) scores you will likely need to get into a particular program.