To determine if you are prepared for the demands of graduate academic study, graduate admissions committees and business school admissions committees consider your GRE score, academic record, and supporting papers.
An essential component of the graduate school or business school admission process is the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE. The GRE is a multiple-choice, computer-based, international test that is frequently needed for enrollment in MBA and graduate programmes.
GRE Overview
Look at the prerequisites – or minimums, if applicable at the graduate or business schools to which you are applying before deciding on your GRE score objective. This will provide your starting point for scoring. You can figure out what GRE score will make you a competitive applicant if you can uncover the mean or average GRE score of approved applicants.
Scores on the GRE’s Verbal and Quantitative sections range from 130 to 170. The average verbal reasoning score is 151, while the average quantitative reasoning score is 153. The typical score on the Analytical Writing Assessment, which ranges from 0 to 6 in half-point increments, is 4.0.
| Percentile | Scaled GRE Score* |
| Top 10% of all test takers | 162 |
| Top 25% of all test takers | 157 |
| Top 50% of all test takers | 151 |
| Below the 50th percentile of all test takers | 150 |
GRE Syllabus 2023
For graduate and business schools to compare applicants’ qualifications and readiness for graduate-level academic work, test manufacturer ETS created and offered the GRE. To determine if you are prepared for the demands of graduate academic study, graduate admissions committees and business school admissions committees consider your GRE score, academic record, and supporting papers.
| Test section | Tasks | Time limit |
| Analytical Writing | 2 separate analysis tasks | 30 minutes per question. |
| 1 x ‘analyze an issue | 1 hour total | |
| 1x ‘analyze an argument | ||
| Verbal Reasoning | 2 sets of 20 questions | 30 minutes per question. 1 hour total |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 2 sets of 20 questions | 35 minutes per question set 1 hour and 10 minutes total |
| Unscored or Research | No set amounts | No time limits |
GRE Syllabus: Analytical Writing (AWA) Section
The analytical writing portion of the GRE assesses a candidate’s capacity to construct an argument supported by examples, data, and justifications. Students respond in writing to a chosen topic (analyze an issue). You also respond to inquiries regarding a little writing excerpt (analyze an argument).
Each activity has a 30-minute time limit. Below, we go into further depth on the specifications for the “analysis a problem” and “Analyse an argument” parts.
- Examine a situation.
- Students are given an issue statement in a paragraph in this part. Next, you compose a response on the given subject. You must also concisely state your own opinions in writing. However, you must also demonstrate that you have comprehended many perspectives and concepts.
- Examine an argument
- Students are presented with a brief piece that they must read and react to with an answer. The author offers an argument supported by evidence in the supplied section. The students then explain the writer’s reasoning. You must also evaluate the passage’s facts and logic and describe how effective it is.
GRE Syllabus: Verbal Reasoning Section
The GRE verbal reasoning part has three types of questions. These are the understanding of reading completion of the text, Equivalence of sentences. There are two sets of reading comprehension questions. However, the text completion and sentence equivalence components are separate from the comprehension section.
The verbal reasoning component has a time limit of one hour. This is divided into two 30-minute halves. Students are given a short paragraph to read for each segment, and you react with multiple-choice responses.
However, the sorts of replies vary depending on the segment of the test. The following summary describes the specifics of each verbal reasoning part.
- completion of text
- Text completion requires pupils to read a piece of one to five sentences in length. Then you choose the most appropriate word to fill in the holes in the text. Students are given three options for each vacant area in the text. Then, from the offered list, choose the word that best reflects the context of the text. The responses are listed in columns, such as blank 1, blank 2, and so on. There is just one right answer for each text completion question. There is no additional credit for this section of the exam.
- Equivalence of sentences
- Finally, students read one phrase per question in the sentence equivalence part. Then, from a list of six multiple-choice responses, you fill in the blanks.
GRE Syllabus: Quantitative Reasoning Section
In the quantitative reasoning component of the GRE exam design, students solve math problems. This section of the test has four types of questions.
- Questions about quantitative comparisons
- Multiple-choice (one correct answer) (one correct answer)
- Multiple-choice (one or more correct answers) (one or more correct answers)
- Input of numbers
- The questions might be stand-alone or part of a series depending on piece of facts.
Students will answer many questions concerning a data set, graph, or table for the data set questions. These question types may appear in the multiple choice or numerical entry section. If you take the exam at a testing center, you will also have access to an on-screen calculator.
Students who take the paper test are also provided with a calculator. Here, we give pupils more detailed information on each quantitative reasoning.
Also Read: GRE Eligibility Criteria 2023
GRE Subject Test Syllabus 2023
Even if you know the GRE exam format and material and have memorized all the answers, failure to manage time might result in an incomplete exam. At this point, it is vital to be familiar with the GRE exam structure and material.
The three basic components of the GRE exam paper are Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. The overall time restriction for the GRE computer-based test is three hours and 45 minutes.
The GRE syllabus first two components, GRE Quantitative Reasoning and GRE Analytical Writing are well-defined, but the GRE quantitative reasoning curriculum is complex. Let’s take a closer look at each part to have a better understanding of the subject that will be addressed.
Geometry is most likely the most challenging topic on the GRE quants course. Line properties, isosceles, equilateral, and other polygons, circles and their many qualities, Pythagorean theorems, and the notions of area, perimeter, and volume are all covered. You could download various GRE syllabus PDFs and perhaps try to take a GRE practise paper to have a better grasp of the GRE exam.
Psychology Syllabus
The exam has roughly 205 multiple-choice questions. Each test question offers five possibilities from which the test taker must choose the one that is the correct or best response to the question.
Some of the stimulus items, such as an experiment description or a graph, may serve as the foundation for numerous inquiries. The questions on the Psychology Test are selected from the core of information most typically encountered in undergraduate courses in the widely defined discipline of psychology.
A question may demand you to recollect facts, analyze relationships, apply concepts, draw inferences from data, and/or evaluate a study design.
The test follows the language, criteria, and categories outlined in the fifth section. The language, criteria, and categories used in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders are followed by the test (DSM-5).In addition to the overall score, the exam produces six sub scores: (1) Biological, (2) Cognitive, (3) Social, (4) Developmental, (5) Clinical, and (6) Measurement/Methodology/Other.
Biology Syllabus
About 180 multiple-choice questions on three main topics—cellular and molecular biology, organismal biology, and ecology and evolution—make up the Biology GRE Subject Test. At the end of the chapter, a selection of questions based on experiment findings, pictures, or laboratory data are gathered.
Your overall score will be calculated from the number of questions you successfully answer using a 200–990-point scale. You will obtain a sub score in each of the three major areas in addition to your overall score (cellular and molecular biology, organismal biology, and ecology and evolution). Sub scores are given as numbers between 20 and 99.
Literature in English Syllabus
Most students who want to enroll in master’s programmes in literature at prestigious foreign institutions choose the GRE English Subject test. 230 multiple-choice questions on the Literature section of the GRE may typically be finished in 2 hours and 50 minutes.
The questions are based on literary trends and works, including plays, poetry, and biographies, among others. Literary Analysis (45–55%), Cultural Contexts (20–25%), Identification (15–20%), and the remaining 10–15% are allocated across the History and Theory of Literary Criticism in the GRE Literature subject test schedule.
The GRE Literature in English questions includes a wide range of subjects, including poetry, theatre, essays, novels, short stories, biographies, and critiques.
Mathematics Syllabus
Most students who want to enroll in master’s degree programmes in mathematics at prestigious foreign universities choose to take the GRE in mathematics. There are typically 66 multiple-choice questions on the GRE’s Mathematics section, and they may be finished in 2 hours and 50 minutes.
Most of the problems are made up of the fundamental concepts you learned in your undergraduate-level mathematics courses. Calculus makes up 50% of the GRE’s mathematics subject exam curriculum, followed by algebra (25%), and the other 25% is made up of topics like sequence and series, statistics, combinatorics, and more.
Its applications and subject content are both covered in the calculus portion, which is supposed to be familiar to all mathematics majors.
You might anticipate inquiries on differential and integral calculus of one or more variables, as well as their relationships to other areas of mathematics like trigonometry and coordinate geometry. An extra 25% of the exam is made up of algebra questions that assess knowledge of elementary algebra, abstract algebra, number theory, and linear algebra.
The remaining GRE math subject tests cover extra material, including series, probability, statistics, algorithms, etc.
Physics Syllabus
There are about 100 five-choice questions on the test, some of which are clustered together and are based on resources including diagrams, graphs, experimental data, and descriptions of physical phenomena.
The purpose of the exam is to evaluate how well the candidates understand fundamental concepts and how well they can use these concepts to solve issues. Based on mastering the first three years of undergraduate physics, most exam questions may be answered.
The test primarily uses the International System (SI) of Units. The Physics Test yields three sub scores in addition to the total score: (1) Classical Mechanics, (2) Electromagnetism, and (3) Quantum Mechanics and Atomic Physics.
The questions on which sub-scores are based are distributed throughout the test; they are not set aside and labeled separately, although several questions from a single content area may appear consecutively.
Chemistry Syllabus
There are about 130 multiple-choice questions in the exam. A periodic table, a table of information presenting several physical constants, and a few conversion factors between the International System (SI) of units are all provided in the exam booklet.
Additional physical constant values are presented along with the question wording if needed. Mathematical operations are made simpler in test questions. Therefore, no calculators nor logarithm tables are required. If using logarithms is essential to solve an issue, the required values are provided alongside the question.
The four conventional divisions of chemistry into disciplines and various interrelationships among the areas are highlighted in the test’s content. Due to these connections, certain inquiries may test more than one of these linkages.
Some test takers may associate a particular question with one field, whereas other test takers may have encountered the same material in a different field. For example, the knowledge necessary to answer some questions classified as testing organic chemistry may well have been acquired in analytical chemistry courses by some test takers.
Consequently, the emphases of the four fields indicated in the following outline of material covered by the test should not be considered definitive.
- Analytical Chemistry: 15%
- Inorganic Chemistry: 25%
- Organic Chemistry: 30%
- Physical Chemistry: 30%
Also Read: Steps to Fill GRE Application Form
FAQs – GRE Syllabus 2023
What is a decent GRE score?
The point range on the GRE is 260 to 340. High GRE exam scores are necessary, though they may not be the sole criterion for admission to the finest colleges overseas. A GRE score of 300 can get you into a respectable university. Universities often give students with GRE scores of 310 or higher substantial consideration.
Is 130 a respectable GRE score?
On the GRE, there are only 41 potential total scores, thus answering one extra question properly might increase your score from an ordinary one to a terrific one.
What does 70% mean on the GRE?
A 160 Quant score, for example, correlates to the 70th percentile, which means you outperformed 70% of test-takers (but scored lower than 30%). The tables below show good GRE results based on percentiles from those who took the test between 2017 and 2020.
Is 149 considered a verbal solid score?
A 50th percentile score (150-151) is completely fine for some programmes, however, anything less than the 75th percentile (157) might be a strike against you. Most elite institutions demand Verbal scores of at least 160, or in the top 10-15 percent.