The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for most graduate schools in the United States.The GRE is owned and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). The test was established in 1936 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
According to ETS, the GRE aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoining, analytical writing, and Critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of learning. The content of the GRE consists of certain specific algebra, geometry, arithmetic, and vocabulary. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based exam administered at prometric testing centers. In the graduate school admissions process, the level of emphasis that is placed upon GRE scores varies widely between schools and departments within schools. The importance of a GRE score can range from being a mere admission formality to an important selection factor.
The GRE was significantly overhauled in August 2011, resulting in an exam that is not adaptive on a question-by-question basis, but rather by section, so that the performance on the first verbal and math sections determine the difficulty of the second sections presented. Overall, the test retained the sections and many of the question types from its predecessor, but the scoring scale was changed to a 130 to 170 scale (from a 200 to 800 scale).
The cost to take the test is US$205, although ETS will reduce the fee under certain circumstances.They also promote financial aid to those GRE applicants who prove economic hardship. ETS does not release scores that are older than 5 years, although graduate program policies on the acceptance of scores older than 5 years will vary.
The Graduate Record Examinations was “initiated in 1936 as a joint experiment in higher education by the graduate school deans of four eastern universities and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
The first universities to experiment the test on their students were Harvard University, Yale University,Princeton University and Columbia University. The University of Wisconsin was the first public university to ask their students to take the test in 1938. It was first given to students at the University of Iowa in 1940, where it was analysed by psychologistDewey Stuit .It was first taken by students at Texas Tech University in 1942.In 1943, it was taken by students at Michigan State University, where it was analyzed by Paul Dressel. It was taken by over 45,000 students applying to 500 colleges in 1948.
“Until the Educational Testing Service was established in January, 1948, the Graduate Record Examination remained a project of the Carnegie Foundation.”
Scaled score percentiles
The percentiles for the current General test and the concordance with the prior format are as follows. Means and standard deviations for the measures on the new score scale are not yet available:
Scaled score | Verbal reasoning percentile | Verbal prior scale | Quantitative reasoning percentile | Quantitative prior scale |
---|---|---|---|---|
170 | 99 | 760–800 | 98 | 800 |
169 | 99 | 740–750 | 97 | 800 |
168 | 98 | 720–730 | 95 | 800 |
167 | 97 | 710 | 94 | 800 |
166 | 96 | 700 | 92 | 800 |
165 | 95 | 680–690 | 90 | 790 |
164 | 93 | 660–670 | 88 | 790 |
163 | 92 | 650 | 86 | 780 |
162 | 89 | 630–640 | 83 | 770 |
161 | 87 | 620 | 80 | 770 |
160 | 84 | 600–610 | 78 | 760 |
159 | 81 | 590 | 74 | 750 |
158 | 78 | 570–580 | 71 | 740 |
157 | 74 | 560 | 68 | 730 |
156 | 71 | 540–550 | 64 | 720 |
155 | 67 | 530 | 60 | 700–710 |
154 | 63 | 510–520 | 56 | 690 |
153 | 59 | 500 | 52 | 680 |
152 | 54 | 480–490 | 48 | 660–670 |
151 | 50 | 460–470 | 44 | 640–650 |
150 | 45 | 450 | 40 | 630 |
149 | 41 | 430–440 | 37 | 610–620 |
148 | 36 | 420 | 32 | 590–600 |
147 | 33 | 410 | 28 | 570–580 |
146 | 29 | 390–400 | 25 | 550–560 |
145 | 25 | 380 | 21 | 530–540 |
144 | 22 | 370 | 18 | 500–520 |
143 | 18 | 350–360 | 15 | 480–490 |
142 | 16 | 340 | 12 | 460–470 |
141 | 13 | 330 | 10 | 430–450 |
140 | 10 | 320 | 8 | 400–420 |
139 | 8 | 310 | 6 | 380–390 |
138 | 7 | 300 | 4 | 350–370 |
137 | 5 | 290 | 3 | 330–340 |
136 | 3 | 280 | 2 | 300–320 |
135 | 2 | 280 | 1 | 280–290 |
134 | 2 | 270 | 1 | 260–270 |
133 | 1 | 260 | 1 | 240–250 |
132 | 1 | 250 | <1 | 220–230 |
131 | 1 | 240 | <1 | 200–210 |
130 | <1 | 200–230 | <1 | 200 |
Analytical Writing score | Writing % Below |
---|---|
6 | 99 |
5.5 | 98 |
5 | 93 |
4.5 | 80 |
4 | 56 |
3.5 | 38 |
3 | 15 |
2.5 | 7 |
2 | 2 |
1.5 | 1 |
1 | <1 |
0.5 | <1 |