General Test
The General Test consists of three scored
sections:
- Verbal (V): 30-minute section (30 questions)
- Quantitative (Q): 45-minute section (28 questions)
- Analytical (A): 60-minute section (35 questions)
The verbal measure tests your ability to analyze and evaluate written
material and synthesize information obtained from it, analyze
relationships among component parts of sentences, and recognize
relationships between words and concepts.
The quantitative measure tests
your basic mathematical skills and your understanding of elementary
mathematical concepts, as well as your ability to reason quantitatively
and solve problems in a quantitative setting.
The analytical measure tests
your ability to understand structured sets of relationships, deduce new
information from sets of relationships, analyze and evaluate arguments,
identify central issues and hypotheses, draw sound inferences, and
identify plausible causal explanations.
General Test use questions from
diverse areas of experience. The areas tested range from the activities of
daily life to broad categories of academic interest such as the sciences,
social studies, and the humanities. The content areas included in the
quantitative section of the test are arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and
data analysis. These are content areas usually studied in high school.
Questions in the analytical section measure reasoning skills developed in
virtually all fields of study. No formal training in logic or methods of
analysis is needed to do well in these sections.
Test Preparation
GRE General Test questions are designed to measure skills and knowledge
gained over a long period of time. Although preparation for a few weeks or months before the
test you might increase your scores
to some extent by ,
last-minute cramming is unlikely to help. Try the followings:
- Become familiar with each type of question used in the test, paying
special attention to the directions. If you thoroughly understand the
directions for each question type before you take the test, you will
have more time during the test to focus on the questions themselves.
- Research suggests that practicing unfamiliar question types results
in improved performance and decreases the likelihood of inaccurately low
scores. You should still read the directions for each group of questions
carefully during the actual test administration.
- Use official GRE test
preparation publications to familiarize yourself with questions used on the GRE.
