A final-revision summary of the shorter GRE General Test. Study aid only; ETS’s materials are authoritative.
The five sections
| Order | Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Analytical Writing (Analyze an Issue) | 1 essay | 30 min |
| 2-5 | Verbal x2 and Quantitative x2 (any order) | 27 V + 27 Q | 18+23 / 21+26 min |
Total about 1 hour 58 minutes. No break, no unscored section.
Scoring
| Measure | Scale | Increment |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | 130-170 | 1 point |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 130-170 | 1 point |
| Analytical Writing | 0-6 | half point |
No pass mark. Each score comes with a percentile rank. The same scaled score is a higher percentile on Verbal than on Quantitative. Scores reportable 5 years.
Verbal strategy
- Predict the blank before reading options (Text Completion, Sentence Equivalence).
- Sentence Equivalence needs two near-synonyms that keep the same meaning.
- Reading Comprehension answers must be supported by the passage, not outside knowledge.
- Learn vocabulary in context, not as bare definitions.
Quantitative strategy
- Quantitative Comparison: test cases, including 0, fractions and negatives; “cannot be determined” never applies to two fixed numbers.
- Estimate when options are spread out; plug in numbers for abstract problems.
- Use the on-screen calculator only for tedious arithmetic.
- Reread what is asked before committing; many misses are correct maths to the wrong question.
Analytical Writing strategy
Clear position, two or three developed reasons with specific examples, organised and clean. Development beats length and fancy words. Scored by a trained reader plus the e-rater engine.
Reminders
The first Verbal/Quant section is fully scored and sets the difficulty of the second, so do not treat it as a warm-up. Within a section you can skip, flag and change answers, so bank easy points first.