GRE

Graduate Record Examination

All graduate school applicants have to sit the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), an exam conducted by the educational testing service ETS. The scores in the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) will aid the graduate school in which the applicant will be applying to test the potential of the student. Along with the grades scored in previous institutions, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores will be used by the graduate school in deciding if you are fit for any program in the institution. GRE has two kinds of examinations the general test and the subject test the former of which is required for admission in most graduate schools.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is very flexible, especially the general test, which allows the applicant to choose when to sit the exam. This is an exam conducted everyday and the candidate can choose to sit the exam any working day. The registration for the exam is the catch; since you need to have registered within a period of time for you to sit the exam at a certain date in the year. For those who want a specific date within the months of September to December, you have to choose the date in advance, at least 2 to 3 months before. The general test is divided into three parts, the verbal, quantitative and analytical writing parts.

The quantitative and verbal tests each have a score between 200 and 800. These scores are very important for anyone who wants to get into graduate school, which requires a score of 450 to 500. Anything below that will not be considered for any graduate school. One has to register before taking the GRE. For the general test which is more in demand you have to register at least two or three months before to get the date you wanted. For the subject test, you have to register at least 6 weeks before to get the date. Online registration has made it easy for many applicants. For those who still prefer to register by mail, it has been made possible as well by writing to GRE, CN 6000 Princeton, NJ 08541-6000.

The GRE subject test assesses the applicants’ knowledge in specific fields of study. It is required of any applicant to a graduate school and some universities require it for all master’s level applicants. The test is available in different areas like Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Literature in English, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology and biochemistry. All questions have the same points and you have at most a minute to answer the question. There are no penalties for wrong answers so you should not leave a question unanswered. Most examinations of this caliber will penalize candidates for wrong answers, some of which take off up to 30% of the total points awarded when an answer is wrong. The GRE does not do that and this is one of the features that have made it an attractive examination.

The candidate must have a valid passport of any country and should have at least completed high school. The proof of high school education has to be given for one to sit for the GRE. There are no limitations on age of the person sitting the GRE. The scores will be sent to the schools you apply for and will be valid for five years. Most universities accept scores that are five years old at most but for the sake of appearances, do not use scores that are more than 2 years old. Given the fact that you can sit the exam anytime you want, you do not have any excuse to use scores that are more than 2 years old.

Last modified: 2011-04-25 09:15:39