The Graduate Record Examination GRE®, measures verbal, quantitative and analytical writing skills. Data shows that scores on the GRE General Test consistently predicts graduate school students' grades and performance.

Many programs, especially those at large state schools, establish cut off points for GRE scores to limit the application pool, while others use GRE scores to directly determine how much financial support you receive.

Purpose of Examination

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE*) General Test is designed to provide graduate schools with common measures for comparing the qualifications of applicants In addition to an admission criterion, schools often use GRE scores to determine eligibility for merit-based grants and fellowships, as well as teaching and research assistantships.

Test Format

Section	Topics Tested	Duration
Verbal	Reading Analytical Reasoning Vocabulary	30 minutes
Quantitative	Basic Math Mathematical Concepts Quantitative Reasoning	45 minutes
Writing Assessment	Analysis of an Argument Analysis of an Issue	75 minutes
Total		2 hrs 30 min.

Section	Type of Question	Format:
Verbal	Sentence Completions Analogies Reading Comprehension Antonyms	30 questions
Quantitative	Problem Solving Quantitative Comparisons	28 questions
Writing Assessment		One 45-minute essay One 30-minute essay

Test centers

GRE can be taken on weekdays from Monday to Friday at Thomson prometric centers through out the world. One can’t give GRE on weekend.

Fees

Test Fee: US$ 180* (Includes fee for reporting scores to 4 universities)

Score

The GRE score is for a total of 1600. The score is based on a combination of the Quantitative and Verbal sections and will be in a range of 200-800 each.

The essays are scored in a range from 0 to 6. The ratings of the essay will be 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.5, 4.0, 3.5, 3.0,2.5, 2.0, 1.5 and 1.0. the desired level is 5 and above.

GRE score is valid for five years, however most of the universities insist on a GRE score not more than 2-3 years old. A desired score is 1400 and above.