Guide to Getting Into Graduate School > The GRE

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is a standardized test used to assess skills in three areas: Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing. Almost every graduate program requires the GRE, so the sooner you start preparing for it, the better your chances for success. The GRE is given year-round, once or twice a month. The GRE Psychology subject test (which is only required by certain schools) is given less frequently, so plan ahead.

Scores on the Verbal and Quantitative areas range from 200-800, and scores on the Analytical Writing area range from 1-6. An applicant needs a combined minimum score (i.e., Verbal/Quantitative scores) of 1,000 to be competitive for a Master's Program, and a minimum combined score of 1,200 to be competitive for a Doctoral Program.

Preparing for the GRE is very important. You should begin studying and taking practice tests early in the summer between your junior and senior years, and plan to take the test before school starts at the end of summer. Testing is on a first-come first-serve basis, and every exam date is busy, some already filled, so register early. For example, the month of November is usually reserved well in advance, because that is the final testing date for seniors who wish to send GRE scores to meet January deadlines. Weekend test dates are the first to be booked, since they do not conflict with class times. When planning your test dates, consider the deadlines of your prospective schools and remember that you cannot test twice in the same month.

During the test, you will not be allowed your phone, your music player, your watch, or even a mechanical pencil. Your scratch paper will be provided by the testing agency and will be collected at the end of the session.

It is recommended that you research some graduate schools before you take your GRE, because you will have the option to send some scores for free at the time of your test. These screens appear in the beginning of the test and you are not timed on them, so be sure to read them carefully since there is not a "Back" button. When you finish the test, right before you receive scores for your verbal and quantitative sections, you will get the option not to send your score. Unless your test was a complete catastrophe (like a massive gastric disturbance which prevented you from answering most of your test), you shouldn't waive your scores, since you've already spent the money and most people tend to score higher than they thought they did.

Preparation

Here are some tips for preparing:

• Purchase a GRE study guide. We've recommended some at the bottom of this section.
• To prepare for the verbal section, read in your spare time. Reading widely builds your vocabulary skills and improves your analysis of written works. Look up words in the dictionary if you don't know what they mean. Practice guide books for the GRE will contain lists of words commonly found on GRE exam. Study these lists on flash cards.
• The quantitative section assesses your ability to do geometry and basic math. Luckily, this is like seventh grade math. Brush up on your algebra and trigonometry. You shouldn't go back and study seventh grade math, but you should have a good grasp of conceptual relationships between angles in a shape (particularly triangles), numbers in a number line, exponents, fractions, etc. Most importantly, practice this section with a GRE prep book, because the types of problems in the GRE are very specific, and you might see the same problem in your prep book and your test only with the numbers changed.
• Strong skills in logic will help you perform better on the analytical section of the GRE. You might want to take a class or two in logic or critical thinking. Usually these classes are found in the Philosophy department.
• Take the practice tests in the back of the study guide. Time yourself, because you will be under time pressure on test day. Resist the urge to skip around questions, as you will not have that option when test day comes. Practice tests also provide the opportunity to learn how to guess on harder questions or skip them altogether. It is assumed that if the test was not timed, most students would get perfect scores. Therefore, successful time management is absolutely essential to getting a competitive score.