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The GRE General TestAcademic Success Center

109 Moon LibrarySUNY-ESF

Agenda

• Overview

• Content

• Scoring

• Retaking the GRE

• Registration

• What to Expect on Test Day

• Test Preparation

Overview

• The Graduate Record Exam General Test is a graduate school admissions test.

• It measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills that have been acquired over a long period of time. It is not related to any specific field of study.

• Computerized test

*You can’t skip a question and come back!

• Takes approximately 3 hours.

Content

Three Sections:

1. Verbal Reasoning

2. Quantitative Reasoning

3. Analytical Writing

Score:

Verbal and Quantitative: Score reported on a 200-800 score scale, in 10-point increments

Writing: Score reported on a 0-6 score scale, in half-point increments

Content

Test Format:

• Optional 30 Minute Tutorial

• Analytical Writing Section

• Optional 10 Minute Break

• Verbal Section

• Quantitative Section

• Possible Unidentified Pretest Section

*May occur in any order after the writing section.

• Optional Research Section

Content

Analytical Writing Tests Your:• Ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and

effectively.

• Ability to examine claims and accompanying evidence.

• Ability to support ideas with relevant reasons and examples.

• Ability to sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion.

• Ability to control the elements of standard written English.

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Analytical Writing

Two separately-timed sections:• “Present Your Perspective on an Issue”

• 45 minutes• Choice between two topics• You must discuss the issue from any

perspective(s) you wish using reasoning and examples to explain and support your views.

• “Analyze an Argument”• 30 minutes• No choice in topic• You must critique a given argument by

discussing how well reasoned you find it.

“Present Your Perspective on an Issue”

Questions to Think About:

• What does the statement mean? What does it imply? What precisely is the central issue?

• Do I agree with all or with any part of the statement? Why or why not?

• Is the statement valid only in certain circumstances?

• Do I need to explain how I interpret certain terms or concepts used in the statement?

• If I take a certain position on the issue, what reasons support my position?

• What examples — either hypothetical or drawn from my readings or direct experiences — could I use to illustrate those reasons and advance my point of view? Which examples are most compelling?

• What reasons might someone use to refute or undermine my position? How should I acknowledge or defend against those views?

“Present Your Perspective on an Issue”

Sample Issue Topics:

• “The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.”

• “People who are the most deeply committed to an idea or policy are the most critical of it.”

• “Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them.”

• “High-speed electronic communications media, such as electronic mail and television, tend to prevent meaningful and thoughtful communication.”

• “The human mind will always be superior to machines because machines are only tools of human minds.”

“Analyze an Argument”

Questions to Think About:

• What claims, conclusions, and underlying assumptions does the argument make?

• Can I think of alternative explanations and counterexamples?

• What additional evidence might weaken or strengthen the claims?

• What changes in the argument would make the reasoning more sound?

“Analyze an Argument”

Sample Argument Topic:

The following is a letter to the editor of an environmental magazine:

"The decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide clearly indicates the global pollution of water and air. Two studies of amphibians in Yosemite National Park in California confirm my conclusion. In 1915 there were seven species of amphibians in the park, and there were abundant numbers of each species. However, in 1992 there were only four species of amphibians observed in the park, and the numbers of each species were drastically reduced. The decline in Yosemite has been blamed on the introduction of trout into the park's waters, which began in 1920 (trout are known to eat amphibian eggs). But the introduction of trout cannot be the real reason for the Yosemite decline because it does not explain the worldwide decline."

Analytical Writing

• Budget your time!

• Allow time to:

• Think about the issue/analyze the argument

• Plan a response

• Write your response

• Proofread your response

• The test uses a basic notepad program. Be through -No grammar or spell check!

• There are no “right” answers. However, you should have a sound argument, using examples, that support your position.

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Analytical Writing

• The Educational Testing Service reserves the right to cancel test scores of any test taker when there is substantial evidence that an essay response includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:

• Text that is substantially similar to that found in one or more other GRE essay responses.

• Quoting or paraphrasing, without attribution, language or ideas that appear in published or unpublished sources.

• Unacknowledged use of work that has been produced through collaboration with others without citation of the contribution of others.

• Essays that are submitted as work of the examinee when the ideas or words have, in fact, been borrowed from elsewhere or prepared by another person.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning:

• 30 Questions

• 30 Minutes

• Tests your ability to:• Analyze and evaluate written material and

synthesize information obtained from it.• Analyze relationships among component

parts of sentences.• Recognize relationships between words and

concepts.

Verbal Reasoning

Four Question Types:

• Analogies

• Antonyms

• Sentence Completion

• Reading Comprehension

Verbal Reasoning

1. Analogies: Tests your ability to recognize the relationship that exists between the words in a word pair and then pick a pair with a parallel relationships.

Example: COLOR : SPECTRUM : :

(A) tone : scale (B) sound : waves

(C) verse : poem (D) dimension : space

(E) cell : organism

Verbal Reasoning

2. Antonyms: Tests the strength of your vocabulary and your ability to pick a word that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the given word.

Example: DIFFUSE :

(A) contend (B) concentrate

(C) imply (D) pretend

(E) rebel

Verbal Reasoning

3. Sentence Completions: Tests your ability to choose a word or set of words that best fit the meaning, syntax, and grammar to complete the sentence.

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Verbal Reasoning

Example:

The ----- science of seismology has grown just enough so that the first overly bold theories have been ----.

(A) magnetic .. accepted

(B) fledgling .. refuted

(C) tentative .. analyzed

(D) predictive .. protected

(E) exploratory .. recalled

Verbal Reasoning

4. Reading Comprehension:

• Tests your ability to comprehend and analyze what you read in a passage.

• Each test has 3 or more passages with 2 or more questions each.

• Passages contain a variety of disciplines including humanities, the social sciences, the biological sciences, and the physical sciences.

Reading ComprehensionQuestions Focus On:

1. The main idea or primary purpose of the passage.

2. Information explicitly stated in the passage.

3. Information or ideas implied or suggested by the author.

4. Possible applications of the author’s ideas to other situations, including the identification of situations or processes analogous to those described in the passage.

5. The author’s logic, reasoning, or persuasive techniques.

6. The tone of the passage or the author’s attitude as it is revealed in the language used.

Quantitative Reasoning

Quantitative Reasoning:

• 28 Questions

• 45 Minutes

• No calculator!

• Tests your ability to:• Understand basic concepts of arithmetic,

algebra, geometry, and data analysis.• Reason quantitatively.• Solve problems in a quantitative setting.

Quantitative Reasoning

Arithmetic Skills:

• Arithmetic operations (+, - , x , /, and ^) with real numbers.

• Operations on radical expressions.

• The number line, estimations, percents, and absolute value.

• Properties of integers (divisibility, factoring, prime numbers, and odd and even integers).

Quantitative Reasoning

Algebra Skills:

• Rules of exponents.

• Factoring and simplifying algebraic expressions.

• Concepts of relations and functions.

• Equations and inequalities.

• Coordinate geometry (slope, intercepts, and graphs of equations and inequalities).

• Your ability to solve linear and quadratic equations and inequalities and simultaneous equations.

• Your ability to read a word problem and set up the necessary equations or inequalities to solve it.

• Your ability to apply basic algebraic skills to solve problems.

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Quantitative Reasoning

Geometry Skills:

• Properties associated with parallel lines, circles, triangles (including isosceles, equilateral, and 30-60-90 triangles), rectangles, other polygons, area, perimeter, and volume.

• The Pythagorean Theorem.

• Angle measure in degrees.

Quantitative Reasoning

Data Analysis Questions:

• Basic descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, and percentiles).

• Interpretation of data given in graphs and tables (bar and circle graphs, and frequency distributions).

• Elementary probability.

• Your ability to synthesize information, to select appropriate data for answering a question, and to determine whether or not the data provided are sufficient to answer a given question.

• Emphasis is on understanding of basic principles and reasoning within the context of given information.

Quantitative Reasoning

Quantitative Comparison Questions:

• Tests your ability to reason quickly and accurately about the relative sizes of two quantities or to perceive that not enough information is provided to make such a comparison.

• Question asks you to compare the quantities in column A and column B to determine which is greater than the other, whether the two quantities are equal, or whether the relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Quantitative Reasoning

Example:

Column A Column B

23 32

(A) The quantity in Column A is greater

(B) The quantity in Column B is greater

(C) The two quantities are equal

(D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Quantitative Reasoning

Example:

Column A Column B

m is an integer

3m +7 7

(A) The quantity in Column A is greater

(B) The quantity in Column B is greater

(C) The two quantities are equal

(D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Quantitative Reasoning

Basic Problem Solving Questions:

• 5-choice multiple choice questions.

• Involves scenarios, graphs, shapes, etc.

Example:

The operation denoted by the symbol @ is defined for all real numbers p and r as follows.

p @ r = pr – p + r

What is the value of (-4) @ 5 ?

(A) -9 (B) -11 (C) -19 (D) 19 E (21)

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ScoringVerbal and Quantitative Sections:

• Your verbal and quantitative scores will depend on your performance on the questions given and on the number of questions answered in the time allotted.

• Both sections are computer adaptive, meaning that the computer selects questions based on your performance on preceding questions and on the requirements of the test design.

• Test design factors that influence which questions are presented to you include:• The statistical characteristics (including difficulty

level) of the questions already answered • The required variety of question types • The appropriate coverage of content

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

• The primary emphasis in scoring is on the test taker's critical thinking and analytical writing skills rather than on grammar and mechanics.

• A single writing score is reported for the test taker's performance.

• The essay score is the average of scores from two trained readers, using a 6-point holistic scale. The scores from the two readings of an essay are averaged and rounded up to the nearest half-point interval (e.g., 3.0, 3.5).

• If the two assigned scores differ by more than one point on the scale, the discrepancy is adjudicated by a third GRE reader.

• An NS (No Score) is reported if the test taker does not write a response for either of the two tasks in the analytical writing section. If the test taker writes an essay for only one of the two tasks, he/she receives a score of zero on the task for which no response was provided.

• During the scoring process, the test taker's essay responses arereviewed by ETS essay-similarity-detection software.

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORES 6 and 5.5 – Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples; is well focused and well organized; skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively; demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORES 5 and 4.5 – Provides generally thoughtful analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically sound reasons and/or well-chosen examples; is generally focused and well organized; uses sentence variety and vocabulary to convey meaning clearly; demonstrates good control of sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORES 4 and 3.5 – Provides competent analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with relevant reasons and/or examples; is adequately organized; conveys meaning with reasonable clarity; demonstrates satisfactory control of sentence structure and language usage but may have some errors that affect clarity.

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORES 3 and 2.5 – Displays some competence in analytical writing, although the writing is flawed in at least one of the following ways: limited analysis or development; weak organization; weak control of sentence structure or language usage, with errors that often result in vagueness or lack of clarity.

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Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORES 2 and 1.5 – Displays serious weaknesses in analytical writing. The writing is seriously flawed in at least one of the following ways: serious lack of analysis or development; lack of organization; serious and frequent problems in sentence structure or language usage, with errors that obscure meaning.

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORES 1 and .5 – Displays fundamental deficiencies in analytical writing. The writing is fundamentally flawed in at least one of the following ways: content that is extremely confusing or mostly irrelevant to the assigned tasks; little or no development; severe and pervasive errors that result in incoherence.

Scoring

Analytical Writing Section:

SCORE 0 – The examinee's analytical writing skills cannot be evaluated because the responses do not address any part of the assigned tasks, are merely attempts to copy the assignments, are in a foreign language, or display only indecipherable text.

SCORE NS – The examinee produced no text whatsoever.

Retaking the GRE

• You may take the GRE only once per calendar month and no more than 5 times within any 12-month period.

• This applies even if you canceled your scores on a test taken previously.

• If you retake, don’t expect extremely large score increases.

• Score reports sent to schools will include test results obtained within the past five-year period.

Registration

• To register for the test, go to www.gre.com.

• Current fee: $130

• Register early! Convenient test days and times fill up fast!

• Closest test center to ESF is the Thomson PrometricTest Center in East Syracuse.

• Test is generally offered Monday through Saturday.

• Remember, it takes a minimum of three weeks after you take the test for your scores to be sent to your selected schools.

What to Expect on Test Day

• You must arrive 30 minutes before your assigned start time.

• Dress comfortably.

• Don’t bring friends or relatives.

• Bring a valid driver’s license and know the names of the schools to where you want your scores to be sent.

• All personal items will be stored in an assigned locker at the test center.

• You can only bring your id to your test computer. Scrap paper and pencils will be provided.

• Keep an eye on your computer’s clock. You will be told when you have five minutes remaining.

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What to Expect on Test Day

• Don’t spend too much time on a question. Keep moving!

• If you are running out of time at the end of a section, make every effort to complete the test. Leave no question unanswered!

• After you select an answer and choose “next,” you will be asked to confirm the answer before the next question appears.

• If you exit a section, you will not be able to return.

• If you need to leave or need help, raise your hand and the administrator will assist you.

Test Preparation

• Practice!

• Know the format and directions.

• Know the rules.

• Download and use the official free GRE PowerPrep Software. This will allow you to practice under the same conditions that you take the test.

• Utilize the free materials at www.gre.com.

• Utilize the materials in the Academic Success Center (109 Moon).

Good Luck!