What Is the GRE Test?

GRE stands for Graduate Record Exam. GRE Test is a competitive entrance exam designed and conducted by ETS. The ETS is run by well qualified professionals and it is responsible for administering a number of standardized entrance tests across US.

The GRE Test is your gateway to graduate programs and an essential early step along your career path.

Graduate programs and business schools use GRE® scores to evaluate your readiness for graduate-level work. The GRE Test measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills that are not related to any specific field of study.

• Analytical Writing — Measures critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically the test taker's ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively. There are two writting tasks: a 45-minute Issue task and a 30-minute Argument task
• Verbal Reasoning — Measures reading comprehension skills and verbal and analogical reasoning skills, focusing on the test taker's ability to analyze and evaluate written material. This part includes 4 types of questions: Antonyms, Analogies, Sentence Completions and Reading Comprehension
• Quantitative Reasoning — Measures problem-solving ability, focusing on basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis. This part includes 3 types of questions: Quantitative Comparison,Problem Solving, and Data Interpretation

Who Takes the GRE Test and Why?

Each year, more than 600,000 prospective graduate school applicants from approximately 230 countries take the GRE General Test. Applicants come from varying educational backgrounds and countries, and the GRE General Test provides the only common measure for comparing their qualifications.
GRE scores are used by admissions or fellowship panels to supplement undergraduate records, recommendation letters and other qualifications for graduate study.

Where Do People Take the GRE Test?

The GRE General Test is offered year-round at computer-based test centers in the United States, Canada and many other countries. It is offered at paper-based test centers in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available. See which format is available in your area.

Who Accepts the GRE Test?

The GRE General Test is accepted at more than 3,200 graduate and business schools as well as departments and divisions within these schools.

Business Schools now accept GRE General Test

As more and more business schools look to diversify the candidate pool for their MBA and graduate management programs, they're turning to the GRE® General Test, the most widely accepted graduate admissions test you can take.
It's accepted by a fast-growing number of business schools, including some of the top ranked in the world, such as Harvard University, Stanford University and MIT.
See the list of business schools that accept GRE General Test scores for admission to their MBA programs.

Below List also

• GRE Test Content and Structure
• Computer-based Test
• Strategy and Tips
• Analogies
• Antonyms
• Sentence Completions
• Reading Comprehension
• Quantitative Comparison
• Problem Solving
• Data Interpretation
• "Issue" Task
• "Argument" Task

GRE Test Dates 2011 – Available

GRE Test dates for 2011 are available in several test centers in India. Many prospective students have been trying to schedule GRE exam in first part of  2011, but ETS just opened up the registration for several test centers in India. Test dates are available for January, February and March of 2011.
Question from Comment from Somrita

I am planning to appear for GRE at the end of January 2011 or in the early half of February 2011. I have tried to find out the dates dates available in India during that time on the ETS website, but could not track anything useful. Could you please provide me with the GRE test dates available in January2011 and February 2011?

Hoping for your kind response at the earliest.

Following video shows GRE centers in India that have seat availability for Jan, Feb and March 2011.

GRE Test Dates 2011

As you can see in the video, other than Hyderabad, most of the test centers in India (Ahmadabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Trivandrum) have GRE dates available for early part of 2011. I don’t think ETS have opened-up registration for April of 2011. Students located around Hyderabad, you may consider taking GRE in other test locations.
When this daily newsletter reached thousands of students, many will rush to book the dates. So, if you are planning to take GRE in current format, then try to register for GRE as soon as possible.

GRE VOCABULARY

GRE VOCABULARY PART 19

GRE VOCABULARY PART 18

GRE VOCABULARY PART 17

GRE VOCABULARY PART 16

GRE VOCABULARY PART 15

GRE VOCABULARY PART 14

GRE VOCABULARY PART 13

GRE VOCABULARY PART 12

GRE VOCABULARY PART 11

GRE VOCABULARY PART 10

GRE VOCABULARY PART 9

GRE VOCABULARY PART 8

GRE VOCABULARY PART 7

GRE VOCABULARY PART 6

GRE VOCABULARY PART 5

GRE VOCABULARY PART 4

GRE VOCABULARY PART 3

GRE VOCABULARY PART 2

GRE VOCABULARY 1

GRE-Analytical Writing 2

ANALYZE AN ARGUMENT

30 minutes

You will have 30 minutes to plan and write a critique of an argument presented in the form of a short passage. A critique of any other argument will receive a score of zero. Analyze the line of reasoning in the argument. Be sure to consider what, if any, questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and, if evidence is cited, how well it supports the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what additional information might help you better evaluate its conclusion.

GRE readers, who are college and university faculty, will read your critique and evaluate its overall quality, based on how well you

• identify and analyze important features of the argument

• organize, develop, and express your critique of the argument

• support your critique with relevant reasons and examples

• control the elements of standard written English

Before you begin writing, you may want to take a few minutes to evaluate the argument and plan a response. Because the space for writing your response is limited,

Note that you are NOT being asked to present your views on the subject.use the next page to plan your response. Be sure to develop your ideas fully and organize them coherently, but leave time to reread what you have written and make any revisions that you think are necessary.

GRE-Analytical Writing 1

PRESENT YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON AN ISSUE

45 minutes

You will have a choice between two Issue topics. Each topic will appear as a brief quotation that states or implies an issue of general interest. Read each topic carefully; then decide on which topic you could write a more effective and well-reasoned response. You will have 45 minutes to plan and compose a response that presents your perspective on the topic you select.

A response on any other topic will receive a zero. You are free to accept, reject, or qualify the claim made in the topic you selected, as long as the ideas you  present are clearly relevant to the topic. Support your views with reasons and examples  drawn from such areas as your reading, experience, observations, or academic studies. GRE readers, who are college and university faculty, will read your response and evaluate its overall quality, based on how well you do the following:

• consider the complexities and implications of the issue

• organize, develop, and express your ideas on the issue

• support your ideas with relevant reasons and examples

• control the elements of standard written English

You may want to take a few minutes to think about the issue and to plan a response before you begin writing. Because the space for writing your response is limited, use the next page to plan your response. Be sure to develop your ideas fully and organize them coherently, but leave time to reread what you have written and make any revisions that you think are necessary.

GRE Review of the Analytical Writing Section

OVERVIEW:
The analytical writing section tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills. It assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas, analyze an argument, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. It does not assess specific content knowledge.

The analytical writing section consists of two separately-timed analytical writing tasks:

• a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task

• a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task

You will be given a choice between two Issue topics. Each states an opinion on an issue of broad interest and asks you to discuss the issue from any perspective(s) you wish, as long as you provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support your views.

You will not have a choice of Argument topics. The Argument task presents a different challenge from that of the Issue task: it requires you to critique a given argument by discussing how well reasoned you find it. You will need to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents.

The two tasks are complementary in that one requires you to construct your own argument by taking a position and providing evidence supporting your views on the issue, whereas the other requires you to critique someone else’s argument by assessing its claims and evaluating the evidence it provides.

How the Analytical Writing Section is Scored

Each response is holistically scored on a 6-point scale according to the criteria published in the GRE analytical writing scoring guides (see Appendix A ). Holistic scoring means that each response is judged as a whole: readers do not separate the response into component parts and award a certain number of points for a particular criterion or element such as ideas, organization, sentence structure, or language. Instead, readers assign scores based on the overall quality of the response, considering all of its characteristics in an integrated way. Excellent organization or poor organization, for example, will be part of the readers’ overall impression of the response and will therefore contribute to the score, but organization, as a distinct feature, has no specific weight.

In general, GRE readers are college and university faculty experienced in teaching courses in which writing and critical thinking skills are important. All GRE readers have undergone careful training, passed stringent GRE qualifying tests, and demonstrated that they are able to maintain scoring accuracy.

To ensure fairness and objectivity in scoring

• responses are randomly distributed to the readers

• all identifying information about the test takers is concealed from the readers

• each response is scored by two readers

• readers do not know what other scores a response may have received

• the scoring procedure requires that each response receive identical or adjacent scores from two readers; any other score combination is adjudicated by a third GRE reader

The scores given for the two tasks are then averaged for a final reported score. The score level descriptions, presented in Appendix A , provide information on how to interpret the total score on the analytical writing section. The primary emphasis in scoring the analytical writing section is on critical thinking and analytical writing skills.

Note: The GRE Program is investigating the use of e-rater, ETS's ground breaking automated scoring system, as part of the scoring process for the analytical writing section. If e-rater is incorporated into the scoring process during the 2004-05 testing year, information will be available on the GRE Web site at http://www.gre.org/.

Your essay responses on the analytical writing section will be reviewed by ETS essay-similaritydetection software and by experienced essay readers during the scoring process. In light of the high value placed on independent intellectual activity within United States graduate schools and universities, ETS 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 on one or more other GRE essay responses;

Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task

The “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task assesses your ability to think critically about a topic of general interest and to clearly express your thoughts about it in writing. Each topic, presented in quotation marks, makes a claim about an issue that test takers can discuss from various perspectives and apply to many different situations or conditions.

Your

task is to present a compelling case for your own position on the issue. Be sure to read the claim carefully and think about it from several points of view, considering the complexity of ideas associated with those perspectives. Then, make notes about the position you want to develop and list the main reasons and examples that you could use to support that position. The Issue task allows considerable latitude in the way you respond to the claim. Although it is important that you address the central issue, you are free to take any approach you wish. For example, you might
 

• agree absolutely with the claim, disagree completely, or agree with some parts and not others

• question the assumptions the statement seems to be making

• qualify any of its terms, especially if the way you define or apply a term is important to developing your perspective on the issue

• point out why the claim is valid in some situations but not in others

• evaluate points of view that contrast with your own perspective

• develop your position with reasons that are supported by several relevant examples or by a single extended example

The GRE readers scoring your response are not looking for a “right” answer—in fact, there is no correct position to take. Instead, the readers are evaluating the skill with which you articulate and develop an argument to support your position on the issue.

Understanding the Context for Writing: Purpose and Audience

The Issue task is an exercise in critical thinking and persuasive writing. The purpose of this task is to determine how well you can develop a compelling argument supporting your own perspective on an issue and to effectively communicate that argument in writing to an academic audience. Your audience consists of college and university faculty who are trained as GRE readers to apply the scoring criteria identified in the scoring guide for “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” .

To get a clearer idea of how GRE readers apply the Issue scoring criteria to actual responses, you should review scored sample Issue essay responses and readers’ commentaries. The sample responses, particularly at the 5 and 6 score levels, will show you a variety of successful strategies for organizing, developing, and communicating a persuasive argument. The readers’ commentaries discuss specific aspects of analysis and writing, such as the use of examples, development and support, organization, language fluency, and word choice. For each response, the commentary points out aspects that are particularly persuasive as well as any that detract from the overall effectiveness of the essay.

Preparing for the Issue Task

Because the Issue task is meant to assess the persuasive writing skills that you have developed throughout your education, it has been designed neither to require any particular course of study nor to advantage students with a particular type of training. Many college textbooks on composition offer advice on persuasive writing that you might find useful, but even this advice might be more technical and specialized than you need for the Issue task. You will not be expected to know specific critical thinking or writing terms or strategies; instead, you should be able to use reasons, evidence, and examples to support your position on an issue.

Suppose, for instance, that an Issue topic asks you to consider whether it is important for government to provide financial support for art museums. If your position is that government should fund art museums, you might support your position by discussing the reasons art is important and explain that museums are public places where art is available to anyone. On the other hand, if your position is that government should not support museums, you might point out that, given limited governmental funds, art museums are not as deserving of governmental funding as are other, more socially important, institutions. Or, if you are in favor of government funding for art museums only under certain conditions, you might focus on the artistic criteria, cultural concerns, or political conditions that you think should determine how—or whether—art museums receive government funds. It is not your position that matters so much as the critical thinking skills you display in developing your position. ne of these two. Because the 45-minute timing egins when you first see the two topics, you should not spend too much time making a decision. Instead, try to choose fairly quickly the issue that you feel better prepared to discuss.

Directions*

Present your perspective on the issue below, using relevant reasons and/or examples to support your views.

Sample Topic

“In our time, specialists of all kinds are highly overrated. We need more generalists—people who can provide broad perspectives.”

Strategies for this Topic

This claim raises several related questions: What does it mean to be a generalist or a specialist, and what value do they have for society? Does society actually need more generalists, and are specialists, in fact,“highly overrated”?

There are several basic positions you could take on this issue: Yes, society needs more generalists and places too high a value on specialists. No, the opposite is true. Or, it depends on various factors. Or, both groups are important in today’s culture; neither is overvalued. Your analysis might draw examples from a particular society or country, from one or more areas of society, or from various situations. It might focus on the role of generalists and specialists in relation to communications, transportation, politics, information, or technology. Any of these approaches is valid, as long as you use relevant reasons and examples to support your position.

Before you stake out a position, take a few moments to reread the claim. To analyze it, consider questions such as these:

• What are the main differences between specialists and generalists? What are the strong points of each?

• Do these differences always hold in various professions or situations? Could there be some specialists, for example, who also need to have very broad knowledge and general abilities to perform their work well?

• How do generalists and specialists function in your field?

• What value do you think society places on specialists and generalists? Are specialists overvalued in some situations, and not in others?

• Does society really need more generalists than it has? If so, what needs would they serve?

Now you can organize your thoughts into two groups:

• Reasons and examples to support the claim

• Reasons and examples to support an opposing point of view

If you find one view clearly more persuasive than the other, consider developing an argument from that perspective. As you build your argument, keep in mind the other points, which you could argue against.

If both groups have compelling points, consider developing a position supporting, not the stated claim, but a more limited or more complex claim. Then you can use reasons and examples from both sides to justify your position.

Deciding Which Issue Topic to Choose

Remember that the General Test will contain two ssue topics from the published pool; you must choose

Before making a choice, read each topic carefully. Then decide on which topic you could develop a more effective and well-reasoned argument. In making this decision, you might ask yourself:

• Which topic do I find more interesting or engaging?

• Which topic more closely relates to my own academic studies or other experiences?

• On which topic can I more clearly explain and defend my perspective?

• On which topic can I more readily think of strong reasons and examples to support my position?

Your answers to these questions should help you make your choice.

The Form of Your Response

You are free to organize and develop your response in any way that you think will effectively communicate your ideas about the issue. Your response may, but need not, incorporate particular writing strategies learned in English composition or writing-intensive college courses.

GRE readers will not be looking for a particular developmental strategy or mode of writing; in fact, when GRE readers are trained, they review hundreds of Issue responses that, although highly diverse in content and form, display similar levels of critical thinking and persuasive writing. Readers will see, for example, some Issue responses at the 6 score level that begin by briefly summarizing the writer’s position on the issue and then explicitly announcing the main points to be argued. They will see others that lead into the writer’s position by making a prediction, asking a series of questions, describing a scenario, or defining critical terms in the quotation. The readers know that a writer can earn a high score by giving multiple examples or by presenting a single, extended example. Look at the sample Issue responses, particularly at the 5 and 6 score levels, to see how other writers have successfully developed and organized their arguments.

You should use as many or as few paragraphs as you consider appropriate for your argument—for example, you will probably need to create a new paragraph whenever your discussion shifts to a new cluster of ideas. What matters is not the number of examples, the number of paragraphs, or the form your argument takes but, rather, the cogency of your ideas about the issue and the clarity and skill with which you communicate those ideas to academic readers.

An excellent way to prepare for the Issue task is to practice writing on some of the published topics. There is no “best” approach: some people prefer to start practicing without regard to the 45-minute time limit; others prefer to take a “timed test” first and practice within the time limit. No matter which approach you take when you practice the Issue task, you should review the task directions, then

• carefully read the claim made in the topic and make sure you understand the issue involved; if it seems unclear, discuss it with a friend or teacher

• think about the issue in relation to your own ideas and experiences, to events you have read

about or observed, and to people you have known; this is the knowledge base from which you will develop compelling reasons and examples in your argument that reinforce, negate, or qualify the claim in some way

• decide what position on the issue you want to take and defend—remember you are free to agree or disagree completely or to agree with some parts or some applications but not others

• decide what compelling evidence (reasons and examples) you can use to support your position Remember that this is a task in critical thinking and persuasive writing. Therefore, you might find it helpful to explore the complexity of a claim in one of the topics by asking yourself the following questions:

• What, precisely, is the central issue?

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

• Does the claim make certain assumptions? If so, are they reasonable?

• Is the claim valid only under certain conditions? If so, what are they?

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

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

• What examples—either real or hypothetical— ould I use to illustrate those reasons and dvance my point of view? Which examples are ost compelling?

Once you have decided on a position to defend, onsider the perspective of others who might not gree with your position. Ask yourself:

• What reasons might someone use to refute or ndermine my position?

• How should I acknowledge or defend against hose views in my essay?

To plan your response, you might want to summarize our position and make brief notes about how you ill support the position you’re going to take. When ou’ve done this, look over your notes and decide ow you will organize your response. Then write a esponse developing your position on the issue. Even f you don’t write a full response, you should find it elpful to practice with a few of the Issue topics and o sketch out your possible responses. After you ave practiced with some of the topics, try writing esponses to some of the topics within the 45-minute ime limit so that you have a good idea of how to use our time in the actual test.

Next, compare your response to the scoring guide. ocus on seeing how your paper meets or misses the erformance standards and what you therefore need o do in order to improve.

• quoting or paraphrasing, without attribution, anguage, or ideas that appear in published or npublished sources;

• unacknowledged use of work that has been roduced through collaboration with others ithout 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.

When one or more of these circumstances occurs, your essay text, in ETS’s professional judgement, does not reflect the independent, analytical writing skills that this test seeks to measure. Therefore, ETS must cancel the essay score as invalid and cannot report the GRE General Test scores of which the essay score is an indispensable part.

Test takers whose scores are canceled will forfeit their test fees and must pay to take the entire GRE General Test again at a future administration. No record of score cancellations, or the reason for cancellation, will appear on their future score reports sent to colleges and universities.

GRE Review of the Quantitative Section

Overview
The quantitative section measures your basic mathematical skills, your understanding of elementary mathematical concepts, and your ability to reason quantitatively and solve problems in a quantitative setting. There is a balance of questions requiring arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis. These are content areas usually studied in high school.
Arithmetic 
Questions may involve arithmetic operations, powers, operations on radical expressions, estimation, percent, absolute value, properties of integers (e.g., divisibility, factoring, prime numbers, odd and even integers), and the number line.
Algebra
Questions may involve rules of exponents, factoring and simplifying algebraic expressions, understanding concepts of relations and functions, equations and inequalities, solving linear and quadratic equations and inequalities, solving simultaneous equations, setting up equations to solve word problems, coordinate geometry, including slope, intercepts, and graphs of equations and inequalities, and applying basic algebra skills to solve problems.
Geometry
Questions may involve parallel lines, circles, triangles (including isosceles, equilateral, and 30°–60°–90° triangles), rectangles, other polygons, area, perimeter, volume, the Pythagorean Theorem, and angle measure in degrees. The ability to construct proofs is not measured.
Data Analysis
Questions may involve elementary probability, basic descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, percentiles), and interpretation of data in graphs and tables (line graphs, bar graphs, circle graphs, frequency distributions).


Math Symbols and Other Information

It is important to familiarize yourself with the basic
mathematical concepts in the GRE General Test.
The publication Math Review is available as a download
on the GRE Web site at www.gre.org/
pracmats.html and provides detailed information on
the content of the quantitative section.
The quantitative section contains the following
question types:
• Quantitative Comparison Questions
• Problem Solving – Discrete Quantitative
Questions
• Problem Solving – Data Interpretation
Questions
Questions emphasize understanding basic principles
and reasoning within the context of given
information.






How the Quantitative Section is Scored

The quantitative section of the paper-based General Test is scored the same way as the verbal section. First, a raw score is computed. The raw score is the number of questions for which the best answer choice was given. The raw score is then converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for differences in difficulty among the different test editions; thus a given scaled score reflects approximately the same level of ability regardless of the edition of the test that was taken.
Quantitative Comparison Questions
Quantitative comparison questions measure your ability to:
• reason quickly and accurately about the relative sizes of two quantities
• perceive that not enough information is provided to make such a decision
Directions*Each of the sample questions consists of two quantities, one in Column A and one in Column B. There may be additional information, centered above the two columns, that concerns one or both of the quantities. A symbol that appears in both columns represents the same thing in Column A as it does in Column B.
You are to compare the quantity in Column A with the quantity in Column B and decide whether:
(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.
Note: Since there are only four choices, NEVER MARK (E).**
Sample Questions

Strategies for Answering

• Avoid extensive computation if possible. Try to estimate the answer.

• Consider all kinds of numbers before deciding. If under some conditions Column A is greater than Column B and for others, Column B is greater than Column A, choose “the relationship cannot be determined from the information given,” and go to the next question.

• Geometric figures may not be drawn to scale. Comparisons should be made based on the given information, together with your knowledge of mathematics, rather than on exact appearance.

Answer to Question 1 

root 100 denotes 10, the positive square root of 100. (For any positive number x, root x denotes the positive number whose square is x.) Since 10 is greater than 9.8, the best answer is (B). It is important not to confuse this question with a comparison of 9.8 and x where x2 100. The latter comparison would yield (D) as the correct answer because x2 100 implies that either x 10 or x 10, and there would be no way to determine which value x would actually have.

Answer to Question 2

Since ( 6)4 is the product of four negative factors, and the product of an even number of negative numbers is positive, ( 6)4 is positive. Since the product of an odd number of negative numbers is negative, ( 6)5 is negative. Therefore, ( 6)4 is greater than ( 6)5 since any positive number is greater than any negative number. The best answer is (A). It is not necessary to calculate that

( -6)^4 = 1,296 and that (- 6)^5 = -7,776 in order to make the comparison.
Problem Solving – Discrete Quantitative Questions
Discrete quantitative questions measure
• basic mathematical knowledge
• your ability to read, understand, and solve a problem that involves either an actual or an abstract situation
Directions*
Each of the following questions has five answer choices. For each of these questions, select the best of the answer choices given.




Sample Question
When walking, a certain person takes 16 complete steps in 10 seconds. At this rate, how many complete steps does the person take in 72 seconds?
(A) 45
(B) 78
(C) 86
(D) 90
(E) 115
 Strategies for Answering 
• Determine what is given and what is being asked.
• Scan all answer choices before answering a question.
• When approximation is required, scan answer choices to determine the degree of approximation.
• Avoid long computations. Use reasoning instead, when possible.
Answer
72 seconds represents 7 ten-second intervals plus 2/10 of such an interval. Therefore, the person who takes 16 steps in 10 seconds will take (7.2)(16) steps in 72 seconds.

(7.2)(16)= (7)(16) + (0.2)(16)
= 112 + 3.2
= 115.2

Since the question asks for the number of complete steps, the best answer choice is (E).


Problem Solving – Data Interpretation Questions

Data interpretation questions measure your ability
• to synthesize information and select appropriate data for answering a question
• to determine that sufficient information for answering a question is not provided The data interpretation questions usually appear in sets and are based on data presented in tables, graphs, or other diagrams.
Directions*
Each of the following questions has five answer choices. For each of these questions, select the best of the answer choices given.
Sample Question

graduate student applicants increase the most from that of the previous year?

(A) 1985

(B) 1986

(C) 1988

(D) 1990

(E) 1991

Strategies for Answering

• Scan the set of data to see what it is about.

• Try to make visual comparisons and estimate products and quotients rather than perform computations.

• Answer questions only on the basis of data given.

Answer This question can be answered directly by visually comparing the heights of the bars in the graph. The greatest increase in height between two adjacent bars occurs for the years 1985 and 1986. The best answer is (B).

GRE(Review of the Verbal Section Overview)

The verbal section measures your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, to analyze relationships among component parts of sentences, to recognize relationships between words and concepts, and to reason with words in solving problems. There is a balance of passages across different subject matter areas: humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

The verbal section contains the following question types:

• Antonyms

• Analogies

• Sentence Completions

• Reading Comprehension Questions

How the Verbal Section is Scored

Scoring of the verbal section of the paper-based General Test is essentially a two-step process. First, a raw score is computed. The raw score is the number of questions for which the best answer choice was given. The raw score is then converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for differences in difficulty among the different test editions; thus, a given scaled score reflects approximately the same level of ability regardless of the edition of the test that was taken.

Antonyms

Antonyms measure your

• vocabulary

• ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite

Directions*

Each question below consists of a word printed in capital letters followed by five lettered words or phrases. Choose the lettered word or phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters. Since some of the questions require you to distinguish fine shades of meaning, be sure to consider all the choices before deciding which one is best.

Sample Question

DIFFUSE:

(A) concentrate

(B) contend

(C) imply

(D) pretend

(E) rebel

Strategies for Answering

• Remember that antonyms are generally confined to nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

• Look for the word that is most nearly opposite to the given word.

• Try to define words precisely.

• Make up a sentence using the given word to help establish its meaning.

• Look for possible second meanings before choosing an answer.

• Use your knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to help define words you don’t know.

Answer

The best answer is (A). Diffuse means to permit or cause to spread out; only (A) presents an idea that is in any way opposite to diffuse.

Analogies

Analogies measure your ability to recognize

• relationships among words and concepts they represent

• parallel relationships

Directions*

In each of the following questions, a related pair of words or phrases is followed by five lettered pairs of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.

Sample Question

COLOR : SPECTRUM :

(A) tone : scale

(B) sound : waves

(C) verse : poem

(D) dimension : space

(E) cell : organism

Strategies for Answering

• Establish a relationship between the given pair before reading the answer choices.

• Consider relationships of kind, size, spatial contiguity, or degree.

• Read all of the options. If more than one seems correct, try to state the relationship more precisely.

• Check to see that you haven’t overlooked a possible second meaning for one of the words.

• Never decide on the best answer without reading all of the answer choices.

Answer

The relationship between color and spectrum is not merely that of part to whole, in which case (E) or even (C) might be defended as correct. A spectrum is made up of a progressive, graduated series of colors, as a scale is of a progressive, graduated sequence of tones. Thus, (A) is the correct answer choice. In this instance, the best answer must be selected from a group of fairly close choices.

Sentence Completions

Sentence completions measure your ability to recognize words or phrases that both logically and stylistically complete the meaning of a sentence.

Directions*

Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are five lettered words or sets of words. Choose the word or set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Sample Question

Early ________ of hearing loss is ________ by the fact that the other senses are able to compensate for moderate amounts of loss, so that people frequently do not know that their hearing is imperfect.

(A) discovery . . indicated

(B) development . . prevented

(C) detection . . complicated

(D) treatment . . facilitated

(E) incidence . . corrected

Strategies for Answering

• Read the incomplete sentence carefully.

• Look for key words or phrases.

• Complete the blank(s) with your own words; see if any options are like yours.

• Pay attention to grammatical cues.

• If there are two blanks, be sure that both parts of your answer choice fit logically and stylistically into the sentence.

• After choosing an answer, read the sentence through again to see if it makes sense.

Answer

The statement that the other senses compensate for partial loss of hearing indicates that the hearing loss is not prevented or corrected; therefore, choices (B) and (E) can be eliminated. Furthermore, the ability to compensate for hearing loss certainly does not facilitate the early treatment (D) or the early discovery (A) of hearing loss. It is reasonable, however, that early detection of hearing loss is complicated by the ability to compensate for it. The best answer

is (C).

Reading Comprehension Questions

Reading comprehension questions measure your ability to • read with understanding, insight, and

discrimination

• analyze a written passage from several perspectives Passages are taken from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Directions*

The passage is followed by questions based on its content. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

Sample Question

Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer’s temperament, discovering itself through the camera’s cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world, and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all. These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in “taking” a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act.

The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed. An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography’s means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of these powers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton’s high-speed photographs of a bullet hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high-powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment.

These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera as an instrument of “fast seeing.” Cartier-Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast. This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over time with the wish to return to a purer past — when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographic

enterprise is currently widespread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth-century provincial photographers. Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness.

According to the passage, the two antithetical ideals of photography differ primarily in the

(A) value that each places on the beauty of the finished product

(B) emphasis that each places on the emotional impact of the finished product

(C) degree of technical knowledge that each requires of the photographer

(D) extent of the power that each requires of the photographer’s equipment

(E) way in which each defines the role of the photographer

Strategies for Answering

• Read the passage closely, then proceed to the questions.

or

Skim the passage, then reread the passage closely as you answer the questions. You may want to try it both ways with sample questions to see what works best for you.

• Answer questions based on the content of the passage.

• Separate main ideas from supporting ideas.

• Separate the author’s own ideas from information being presented.

• Ask yourself...

– What is this about?

– What are the key points?

– How does the main idea relate to other ideas in the passage?

– What words define relationships among ideas?

Answer

The best answer to this question is (E). Photography’s two ideals are presented in lines 7–11. The main emphasis in the description of these two ideals is on the relationship of the photographer to the enterprise of photography, with the photographer described in the one as a passive observer and in the other as an active questioner. (E) identifies this key feature in the description of the two ideals—the way in which each ideal conceives or defines the role of the photographer in photography. (A) through (D) present aspects of photography that are mentioned in the passage, but none of these choices represents a primary difference between the two ideals of photography.

GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS

                                        Purpose of the GRE

General Test The GRE General Test is designed to help graduate school admission committees and fellowship sponsors assess the qualifications of applicants to their programs. It measures verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing skills that you have acquired over a long period of time. Any accredited graduate or professional school, or any department or division within a school, may require or recommend that its applicants take the GRE General Test. The scores can be used by admissions or fellowship panels to supplement undergraduate records and other qualifications for graduate study. The scores provide common measures for comparing the qualifications of applicants and aid in the evaluation of grades and recommendations.


Structure of the GRE


General Test The paper-based GRE General Test contains five sections. In addition, one unidentified pretest section may be included and this section can appear in any position in the test after the analytical writing section. Questions in the pretest section are being pretested for possible use in future tests and answers will not count toward your scores. Total testing time is up to 33/4 hours. The directions at the beginning of each section specify the total number of questions in the section and the time allowed for the section. The analytical writing section will always be first. The verbal and quantitative sections may appear in any order, including an unidentified verbal or quantitative pretest section. Treat each section presented during your test as if it counts.

Typical Paper-Based GRE General Test Sections



Scores Reported

Three scores are reported on the General Test:

1. a verbal score reported on a 200–800 score scale, in 10-point increments,
2. a quantitative score reported on a 200–800 score scale, in 10-point increments, and
3. an analytical writing score reported on a 0–6 score scale, in half-point increments.

If you answer no questions at all in a section (verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing), that section will be reported as a No Score (NS). Descriptions of the analytical writing abilities characteristic of particular score levels are available in the interpretive leaflet enclosed with your score report, in the Guide to the Use of GRE Scores, and on the GRE Web site at www.gre.org.
                                                
Preparing for the GRE General Test

Preparation for the test will depend on the amount of time you have available and your personal preferences for how to prepare. At a minimum, before you take the GRE General Test, you should know what to expect from the test, including the administrative procedures, types of questions and directions, the approximate number of questions, and the amount of time for each section. The administrative procedures include registration, date, time, test center location, cost, scorereporting procedures, and availability of special testing arrangements. You can find out about the administrative procedures for the paper-based General Test online at www.gre.org, or by contacting Educational Testing Service (see the GRE Information and Registration Bulletin). Before taking the practice General Test, it is important to become familiar with the content of each of the sections of the test. You can become familiar with the verbal and quantitative sections by reading about the skills the sections measure, how the sections are scored, reviewing the strategies for each of the question types, and reviewing the sample questions with explanations. Determine which strategies work best for you. Remember—you can do very well on the test without answering every question in each section correctly. Everyone—even the most practiced and confident of writers—should spend some time preparing for the analytical writing section before arriving at the test center. It is important to review the skills measured, how the section is scored, scoring guides and score level descriptions, sample topics, scored sample essay responses, and reader commentary. To help you prepare for the analytical writing section of the General Test, the GRE Program has published the entire pool of topics from which your test topics will be selected. You might find it helpful to review the Issue and Argument pools. You can view the published pools on the Web at www.gre.org/pracmats.html or obtain a copy by writing to GRE Program, PO Box 6000, Princeton,
NJ 08541-6000.The topics in the analytical writing section relate to a broad range of subjects—from the fine arts and humanities to the social and physical sciences—but no topic requires specific content knowledge. In fact, each topic has been field-tested to ensure that it possesses several important characteristics, including the following:
                                                              
• GRE test takers, regardless of their field of study or special interests, understood the topic and could easily discuss it.
• The topic elicited the kinds of complex thinking and persuasive writing that university faculty consider important for success in graduate school.
• The responses were varied in content and in the way the writers developed their ideas.

Test-Taking Strategies

IMPORTANT NOTE: Test-taking strategies appropriate for the verbal and quantitative sections of the paper-based General Test are different from those that are appropriate for taking the verbal and quantitative sections of the computer-based General Test. Be sure to follow the appropriate strategies for the testing format in which you will be testing. Paper-based testing strategies should not be used if you take the computer-based test.

Verbal and Quantitative Sections


When taking a verbal or quantitative section of the paper-based General Test, you are free, within any section, to skip questions that you might have difficulty answering and to come back to them later during the time provided to work on that section. You may also change the answer to any question you recorded on the answer sheet by erasing it completely and filling in the oval corresponding to your desired answer for that question.


Each of your scores will be determined by the number of questions for which you select the best answer from the choices given. Questions for which you mark no answer or more than one answer are not counted in scoring. Nothing is subtracted from a score if you answer a question incorrectly. Therefore, to maximize your scores on the verbal and quantitative sections of the paper-based test, it is better for you to answer each and every question and not to leave any questions unanswered. Work as rapidly as you can without being careless.This includes checking frequently to make sure you are marking your answers in the appropriate rows on your answer sheet. Since no question carries greater weight than any other, do not waste time pondering individual questions you find extremely difficult or unfamiliar. You may want to work through a verbal or quantitative section of the General Test quite rapidly, first answering only the questions about which you feel confident, then going back and answering questions that require more thought, and concluding with the most difficult questions if there is time.


During the actual administration of the General Test, you may work only on the section the test center supervisor designates and only for the time allowed. You may not go back to an earlier section of the test after the supervisor announces, “Please stop work” for that section. The supervisor is authorized to dismiss you from the center for doing so. All answers must be recorded on your answer sheet. Answers recorded in your test booklet will not be counted. Given the time constraints, you should avoid waiting until the last five minutes of a test administration to record answers on your answer sheet. Some questions on the General Test have only four response options (A through D).

All GRE answer sheets for the paper-based test contain response positions for five responses (A through E). Therefore, if an E response is marked for a fouroption question, it will be ignored. An E response for a four-option question is treated the same as no response (omitted).
                                                         
Analytical Writing Section


In the paper-based General Test, the topics in the analytical writing section will be presented in the test book and you will handwrite your essay responses on the answer sheets provided. Make sure you use the correct answer sheet for each task. It is important to budget your time. Within the 45-minute time limit for the Issue task, you will need to allow sufficient time to choose one of the two topics, think about the issue you’ve chosen, plan a response, and compose your essay. Within the 30- minute time limit for the Argument task, you will need to allow sufficient time to analyze the argument, plan a critique, and compose your response. Although GRE readers understand the time constraints under which you write and will consider your response a


“first draft,” you still want it to be the best possible example of your writing that you can produce under the testing circumstances. Save a few minutes at the end of each timed task to check for obvious errors. Although an occasional spelling or grammatical error will not affect your score, severe and persistent errors will detract from the overall effectiveness of your writing and thus lower your score. During the actual administration of the General Test, you may work only on the particular writing task the test center supervisor designates and only for the time allowed. You may not go back to an earlier section of the test after the supervisor announces, “Please stop work,” for that task. The supervisor is authorized to dismiss you from the center for doing so. Following the analytical writing section, you will have the opportunity to take a 10-minute break.