GRE^® test
About the GRE^® test
Test Pattern
Must Know

TOEFL^® test
About the TOEFL^® test
Test pattern
Must Know

Test Pattern

The GRE^® general test comprises an analytical writing section, one verbal ability section and one quantitative ability section. Besides these, there could be an additional experimental section which may be either a verbal or a quantitative section. Sometimes, ETS may also give an identifiable research section.

Analytical Writing Section

In this section, a candidate has to respond to two types of essays:
(i)  Issue task
(ii) ArgumentTask

One Issue essay has to be typed in 45 minutes. As of now ETS gives two issue topics and a candidate has to type out his response to one of these two topics. In an Issue Essay a topic of general intellectual interest is given and a candidate has to respond by expressing his opinion on the given issue and back it up with valid reasons.

Sample Issue topic :- The application of sciences has proved to be more often a curse than a boon, and it is a threat to a good standard of living.

Besides this, one Argument essay has to be typed in 30 minutes. ETS gives only one argument topic and the candidate has no choice for this type of essay. In an Argument essay, a candidate will examine the logical soundness of an argument and critique it.

Sample Argument topic:-The chairman of the Baleroti car manufacturing company asserted the following in his memo.

"An analysis of our past performance reveals that we did not fare as well as our competitors because we have stuck to outdated designs. However, the encouraging news is that many people across the country would be getting driving licenses very soon and we should be able to increase our market share by selling to these people. Hence, we should stop manufacturing our old-fashioned cars and focus on manufacturing trendy cars. To add teeth to our marketing effort we should now switchover to the Juvenile Ad agency, which successfully marketed a leading cola."

Please note that the ISSUE and the ARGUMENT topics given here as sample topics are not an exact replica of what ETS stipulates in its pool of topics. However, these sample topics are on the lines of ETS topics. For the actual ETS pool of topics please refer to the ETS website.

Verbal Section

Number of Questions = 30
Time allowed = 30 minutes