A GRE score is the marks that you acquire in the GRE or Graduate Record Examination. GRE is conducted by ETS or Educational Testing Service where verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing skills of the candidate are tested. The score which you receive are required for further admission into graduate courses in colleges and universities mainly located in the U.S.A., Canada and some parts of U.K. It is thus, a measure of your intelligence, reasoning and its application. After appearing for the test, your score is reported by ETS to the universities or colleges which you wish to join. It is your GRE score, on the basis of which concerned universities make a judgement. This is because it provides the same standards for all graduate school applicants from completely different backgrounds. However, there are other schools which have varied recruiting philosophy. Therefore, it is seen that some colleges regard these scores as the single most important factor while others give equal chances to SoP, references and mark sheets. Read on to find out more about GRE scores.
GRE Test Score
GRE scores determine whether or not you are eligible to get admission into the college of your dreams! Read the following article for a brief insight on the GRE Test Score concept!
GRE Score
- There are two formats of GRE. These include CBT (Computer-based Test) and PBT (Paper Based Test). They have almost similar scoring patterns which involve the use of the number of correct questions that are answered along with the difficulty level of each question to calculate the score in that particular section.
- With computer-based tests, the candidate is given a set of questions with a difficulty level, specifically designed to match their abilities. The method for calculating a score involves: statistical properties of the questions, the number of questions attempted and the number of correct answers.
- For paper-based tests, the differences in difficulty among test forms are fairly small and they are adjusted through a process known as 'score equating'. The number of questions attempted is included in the calculation of the final scores.
- The GRE test results comprise of four different scores: a total score and the separate scores of verbal, quantitative and analytical writing assessment. The first two sections have a score scale ranging from 130-170 and single point increments.The total score reported from the first two sections are 1600 thus making each of these section scores out of 800. The last section known as the writing assessment is scored separately on 6 with a half point increment.
- The standard scores for the verbal section and quantitative section is 470 and 570 respectively. However, scoring in this part is not predictable as there are no standard measures.
- Viewing your scores online is an advantage that you can opt for free of cost. For computer-based GRE general test takers, points can be viewed online approximately 15 days after your test date. For the PBT GRE general test candidates, scores can be viewed online approximately 6 weeks your exam.
- If you provide the names and the codes of the institutions where you want your official scores to be sent, then ETS gives you the facility of sending it across, free of cost! This is permissible only for 4 colleges or institutes. For anything beyond this number, you need to pay an additional fee of US $15 to send in your applications to other institutes. GRE scores can also be obtained on phone by payment of US $12. A copy of the printed score card will also be posted to your home address, given by you while filling in the application. The GRE score card has details of the marks obtained with the details of the each section.
- In addition to these scores, the report also contains the percentage of examinees that have scored below you. This concept is based on score of the entire GRE testing population for the most recent three-year period. These statistics are important in considering how an applicant for admission to a particular management school compares with everyone in the specified period.
Hope all this information has helped you. All the best for your GRE!