5. GRE
“The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and Canada. The GRE is owned and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The test was established in 1936 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.”
GRE scores are
only needed by some universities. Based on my experience and some of my
friend's/ senior's experiences, universities in the USA, Singapore (NTU and
NUS), a few Canadian Universities and some high ranking universities in Europe
have some entry requirements for GRE score. However, these universities also
have some exceptions for GRE in some graduate programs. Therefore, it’s
recommended to check eligibility of postgraduate programs on university
websites.
There are two types
of GRE tests; GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test.
GRE General Test
“GRE General
Test is a graduate-level admissions exam used by many graduate schools and
business school programs. The GRE provides grad and b-schools with one common
criterion that can be used to compare all applicants, who come from all over
the world and will certainly have an enormous range in academic and
professional experience.”
GRE general test
provides one common platform to evaluate applicants from different countries
with various educational backgrounds. GRE general test score is generally required
by many postgraduate study programs than the subject test. General GRE test
consists of 3 sections; Quantitative (Q) Verbal (V) and Analytical Writing (AW).
You can find further information on the GRE general test from the ETS website. https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about
Most
universities have minimum requirements of GRE score 310+ (total from Q and V)
and 3 or 3+ score from AW section. On average, 1-6 months can be used for GRE
preparation. Magoosh, Manhattan, Barron, Princeton Review have some learning materials
and practice tests.
|
Measure |
Range of scores |
No of sections |
No of questions |
Time |
|
Analytical Writing |
0-6 |
1 |
2 tasks |
30 min per task |
|
Quantitative Reasoning |
130-170 |
2 |
20 questions in each section |
35 min per section |
|
Verbal Reasoning |
130-170 |
2 |
20 questions in each section |
30 min per section |
|
Unscored (can be V or Q) |
- |
1 |
20 questions |
30/35 min per section |
I did GRE
general test (computer-based) managed by ETS and my test centre was OpenArc
Campus in Colombo. In 2020, $205 was charged as GRE registration fee. My
preparation time was about 2 months.
|
Measure |
Basic Information and Tips from My Experience |
|
Analytical Writing |
This contains 2 essays; Issue essay and Argument essay. “It tests your ability to communicate complex ideas in a concise and effective way, evaluate claims and evidence, support ideas using logical reasoning and relevant examples, and use standard written English to prove an argument” Practising writing 2 types of these essays is definitely needed and you should adhere to some essay writing techniques which are desired and recognized by GRE examiners. I referred to the sample essays in ETS official books and other well-known GRE learning sources. From that, I was able to get an idea about the way I should write 2 essays in order to achieve some good score. The practice of brainstorming of ideas to write good essays is really important to obtain a good score in analytical writing.
Using vocabulary learnt during verbal reasoning section is also beneficial to write good essays. Adhering to instructions, providing examples, well-organized structure, proper flow, and logical reasoning are some important things to be considered in analytical writing section. |
|
Quantitative Reasoning |
“It tests basic math topics in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, plus the ability to problem solve and analyze data. Questions types: Quantitative Comparisons, Problem Solving, Data Interpretation” For a person with mathematics/science/engineering background, the Quantitative section is really easy. It contains questions with basic fundamentals of mathematics. As in the Sri Lankan education system (Local), the content of the questions is similar to the content of O/L mathematics subject. Therefore, if you have such basic mathematical skills, then you just need to refresh your knowledge and practice some tests to keep your speed in the test. In my case, since I like mathematics very much, I did this section well (165+ score). However, if you need to refresh your mathematics knowledge, you can refer to Math Review by ETS. |
|
Verbal Reasoning |
“It tests your ability to analyze sentences and writing passages, including understanding key concepts and vocabulary-in-context. Question types: Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, and Sentence Equivalence.” For this, you need to learn some vocabulary and it is essential to achieve a good score in this section. I learnt about new 1270 words and revised them regularly to avoid forgetting. Learning materials I referred to learn vocabulary were vocabulary list of Cracking the GRE (2014) - Princeton Review and Magoosh GRE 1000 words list. I made flashcards by myself (1/4th of A4 paper; 10 words on one side of the paper, their meanings on the other side of the paper). Apart from that, I used GRE Vocabulary Flashcards app by Magoosh to revise words and it was also effective to keep remembering the new words. At first, learning new words can be quite difficult, but it gradually becomes a habit and a convenient task. Per day, I used to learn new words ranging from 50-100. These newly learnt words were always present in the questions/answers in this section. I also used to read articles daily from The New York Times covering various topics (Business, politics, health, science and technology, arts, books, etc.). It was to improve my speed-reading and comprehension. Since the beginning of preparation for GRE, I had an issue with this section due to my slow processing speed of comprehension. It may be due to a reason that it was more than 1 year after my graduation and my grasping speed has become slow or it may due to an inherent weakness which I have not known before. Therefore, it is always recommended to improve your reading and comprehension before taking the GRE test. I did many practice tests/ practice questions of The Official Guide to the GRE General Test, Manhattan GRE Reading Comprehension & Essays, Cracking the GRE (2014) - Princeton Review, Manhattan GRE Text Completion & Sentence Equivalence, Manhattan 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems and Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests. Even though I did a sufficient amount of practice questions, my verbal reasoning skills only improved at a slow rate within 2 months of preparation time. Therefore, I could not get a 160+ score for the verbal reasoning section. |
In general, there
are many learning resources, practice tests, preparation plans which are freely
available on the web as well as to be purchased. I did not purchase any materials
since I already had some hardcopies/ photocopies of a few used books. However,
you can also find older versions of some useful materials from the web. I also
joined some GRE study groups on Facebook and there were also many important materials.
Main materials I referred were given below.
- The Official Guide to the GRE General Test
- Cracking the GRE (2014) - Princeton Review
- Manhattan GRE Reading Comprehension & Essays
- Manhattan GRE Text Completion & Sentence Equivalence
- Manhattan 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems
- Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests
- Magoosh GRE 1000 words list
My official results were available after 9 days from the test date. When registering for GRE, you have to create an ETS account and pay the fee.
“After GRE test, you can view your unofficial Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores at the test centre; however, because of the essay scoring process, you will not view your Analytical Writing score at that time. About 10–15 days after the test date, official scores will be available in ETS account and sent to the score recipients (universities) you designated on test day.”
Method of sending GRE scores to the university can be varied according to the admission requirements of the particular university. Some universities are satisfied with sending GRE scores by you in the stage of applying. Therefore in such cases, you can send your score report which is available in your ETS account after receiving the official scores. However, some other universities have the requirement of sending GRE scores (electronic copies or hard copies) directly by ETS. For such scenarios, you should request from ETS to send your GRE scores to the prospective universities.
"Your test fee entitles you to request that scores be sent to up to four graduate institutions or fellowship sponsors. With the ScoreSelect option, you can decide which test scores to send to the institutions you designate, so you can send the scores you feel show your personal best, giving you more confidence on test day. If you wish to send scores to additional institutions or decide to send scores after test day, you may do so by ordering Additional Score Reports for a fee of US$27 per recipient."
GRE Subject Test
“The GRE Subject
Tests are achievement tests that measure your knowledge of a particular field
of study. Not every school requires a GRE Subject Test, but many of the most
competitive programs do. There are six GRE Subjects: biology, chemistry,
English literature, maths, physics, and psychology.”
Since I had no
experience and much knowledge on GRE subject test, I do not prefer to state any
important facts. However, if you are at an uncertain state between General or
Subject test, it is always recommended to go through the university website and contact
the university to inquire about their requirements in a specific graduate program
you're interested.
* Please noted that quoted statements are obtained from some online resources.
* You can study some materials uploaded (which I have used as references) in the following drive for further understanding.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17Oyek0JYFPK8YxWEDN1RObQoR2GRj947?usp=sharing
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