| Measure |
Number of Questions |
Allotted Time |
Analytical Writing
(One section with two separately timed tasks) |
One “Analyze an Issue” task and one “Analyze an Argument” task |
30 minutes per task |
Verbal Reasoning
(Two sections) |
20 questions per section |
30 minutes per section |
Quantitative Reasoning
(Two sections) |
20 questions per section |
35 minutes per section |
| Unscored |
Varies |
Varies |
| Research |
Varies |
Varies |
The total time allocated for the GRE exam is 3 hours and 45 minutes. There are 6 sections in the test with a 10 minute break after the thirds section . The Analytical Writing section will appear first. The Quantitative reasoning, the verbal reasoning and unscored sections may appear in any order.
The highest score that can be obtained on GRE is 340. The range of score for Verbal Section is 130-170, in 1-point increments ; for Quantitative Reasoning is 130-170 , in 1-point increments and for Analytical Writing 0-6, in half point increments.
Assessment of Analytical Writing
This section requires you to provide focused responses based relevant to the tasks presented, so you can precisely illustrate your ability in directly responding to a task.
The assessment of this section measures your ability to-
- Express and understand complex ideas effectively
- support ideas with pertinent reasons and examples
- scrutinize claims and supporting evidence
- sustain a well-focused and coherent discussion
- control the components of standard written English
This section requires you to provide focused responses based relevant to the tasks presented, so you can precisely illustrate your ability in directly responding to a task.
Verbal Reasoning
This section measures your ability to:
- analyze and draw conclusions from communication; reason from deficient data; identify author’s viewpoint; understand different levels of meaning, such as literal, figurative and author’s intent
- select important points; distinguish major from irrelevant or minor points; summarize text; understand the structure of text
- understand the meaning of words, sentences & entire texts; understand the relationship among words and concepts
Quantitative Reasoning
The Quantitative Reasoning section includes an on-screen calculator.
This section measures your ability to:
- understand, interpret and analyze quantitative information
- solve problems using mathematical models
- apply elementary concepts and basic skills of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis
