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Scoring the GRE

With the GRE, you receive three separate scores: Verbal, Math, and AnalyticalWriting. Although you get your unofficial Verbal and Math scores immediatelyafter taking the test, you must wait 10 to 15 days to get your Analytical Writingscore in the mail. The following sections explain in more depth some importantscoring tidbits you may want to know.

Knowing How the Scoring Breaks Down

On the GRE, you can score a maximum of 340 points on the multiple choice and 6points on the essays. Heres the scoring range for each of the three sections:

* Verbal: The Verbal score ranges from 130 to 170 in 1-point increments. Youget 130 points for just showing up, which accounts for about 80 percent of ajob well done. It doesnt help much, though: You need to score as well as orbetter than most of the other people who took the test. Refer to the chapters inPart II of the book for the lowdown on the Verbal sections.

* Math: The Math score also ranges from 130 to 170 in 1-point increments.Head to the chapters in Part III of the book for more on the Math sections.

* Analytical Writing: You get 1 to 6 points per essay, with 6 being the highest.Two essay evaluators grade each essay, and your score per essay is the averageof the two. If the two evaluators score your essay very differently (more thanone point apart), then another grader steps in, and your essay score is theaverage of the three. Finally, the scores for the two essays are averaged foryour Analytical Writing score of 1 to 6. Essay responses that are blank or filledwith typed nonsense receive a score of 0.

So in essence, if you perfectly ace the Verbal and Math sections, you get 170 pointsfor each, or a total of 340. If youre perfect on the two essays, you can get an essayscore of 6. The three scores are separate. You get a Math score and a Verbal score,each from 130 to 170 in 1-point increments, and an essay score of 0 to 6, in half-point increments.

On the multiple-choice questions, you earn points only for completely correctanswers. Answer incorrectly, and you dont get the points, but you dont lose anypoints, so guessing behooves you. If the question requires two or more answers, youhave to get all the answers correct: There is no partial credit for a partially-correctly

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answered question. See Playing the Guessing Game, later in this document, formore on this.

Giving Your Essay a One-Digit ScoreThe highest score you can receive on the Analytical Writing portion of the GRE is a6; 0 is the lowest score, but I know youll do much better than that. Following arethe descriptions that evaluators associate with each essay score as they grade youressays:

* Outstanding (6): The essay demonstrates the ability to develop a position onan issue, identify strengths and weakness of an argument, support personalviews and insights, and write with clarity and focus.

* Strong (5): The essay demonstrates a generally thoughtful analysis of the issue

or argument and presents a clear and convincing analysis of the argument orpresentation of the issue. Presentation is logical and main points are wellsupported. The essay may have minor errors in grammar and spelling butdemonstrates control of the language, good diction (word choice), and varietyof sentence structure.

* Adequate (4): The essay demonstrates overall competence in adequatelyanalyzing the argument or presenting the issue, organizing and supporting thethoughts, and expressing them clearly. It may not flow smoothly due to lack ofeffective transitions, and it may contain some errors, but it demonstratessufficient control of the language.

* Limited (3): Competent but flawed, the essay misses the main point or ideas in

the argument or presents the issue poorly, lacks order, offers little or nosupport for the ideas presented, and contains occasional glaring errors or lotsof minor errors in grammar, diction, and mechanics.

* Seriously flawed (2): The essay completely misses the point, presents theauthors point of view with no or irrelevant support, is poorly organized, and isriddled with errors in grammar, diction, mechanics, and sentence construction.

* Fundamentally deficient (1): The essay demonstrates little or no evidence ofthe ability to understand the issue, analyze the argument, or develop a well-organized presentation of ideas. In addition, the essay contains extensive errorsin grammar, diction, mechanics, and sentence structure.

* No essay (0): This one is self-explanatory: If no essay is submitted, the score

is a 0.

Your goal is to score a perfect 6 on each essay, especially if your test score or GPAis borderline.

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Calculating Your Math and Verbal Scores

Each question in each section counts exactly the same toward your score, regardlessof the difficulty of the question. Because you can move back and forth within each

section, a good strategy is to skip around and answer all the easy questions first;then go back and work the hard questions. Also, the more questions you get right,the higher your score not the case with the old, adaptive-style GRE, where eachsections score was mostly determined by the first 15 questions.

When you take a practice test, you can easily approximate your Math and Verbalscores. For the Math score, count up the math questions that you answeredcorrectly. Add 130 to that number, and youll have yourMath score. Because theGRE has 40 math questions (two sections with 20 questions each), this method willgive you a score from 130 to 170. You can find your Verbal score the exact sameway, because the GRE also has 40 verbal questions.

The way that the actual GRE calculates your scores is slightly more complicated. Ittakes into account the difficulty levels of the second Math and Verbal sections,weighing the scores accordingly. A more difficult section results in a higher score,which is important. For example, if you do very well on the first Math section, thesecond Math section will be more difficult. Regardless of the sections difficultylevel, each question within that section counts exactly the same toward your score.Short of this fine detail, however, you can closely approximate your practice-GREscores using this scoring method.

Knowing How Your Scores Measure UpIf you score a perfect 340 or something close to it, you know you did well. If youscore a 260, you know you bombed. But what if you score something in between?Did you pass? Did you fail? What do you make of your score? Well, you cantreally tell much about your score out of context. Theres no pass or fail; no A, B, C,D, F; and no percentile ranking just yet. Because Im writing this in the first year ofthe new-and-improved GRE, I dont have median scores from the previous yearscores that half the people taking the test scored above and half scored below.

How well you did is relative to how well the other people taking the test performedand the requirements of the graduate program youre applying to.Whats mostimportant is that you score high enough to get accepted into the program you haveyour heart set on.

Your GRE score is only one part of the total application package. If you have agood undergraduate GPA, a strong resume, and relevant work experience, you may

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not need as high of a GRE score. On the other hand, if the converse is true, then astellar GRE score can compensate for your weak areas.

Playing the Guessing GameThe GRE doesnt penalize you extra for guessing. Sure, if you guess wrong, youdont get the points you wouldve gotten for answering correctly, but the GREdoesnt deduct extra po ints for incorrect answers, so

* Ifyou dont know the answer, rule out as many obviously incorrect choices aspossible and then guess from the remaining choices.

* Finish the section, even if you must take wild guesses near the end. Wronganswers count the same as not answering a question, so you may as well guess.