The Graduate Record Exam or what is popularly known as GRE is a systematized test conducted by the Educational Testing Service or the ETS. The test is a must for any aspirants working towards their master’s degree or a specialized master’s course, MBA, MEM, MS, or even a doctoral degree has to go through the GRE tests first. The GRE test score is calculated on the basis of the student’s performance in 3 basic areas, which are:
· Verbal reasoning which has a 130-170 score scale with a 1 point increment
· Quantitative reasoning which has a 130-170 score scale with a 1 point increment
· Analytical writing which has a 0-6 score level with a ½ point increment.
If a student fails to answer any of the questions it is reported as a No Score.
The following explanation will show you how to calculate and understand GRE scores:
The GRE tests are general based as well as subject based. Let us separately have a look how the GRE test score are calculated for each of them.
Predict GRE scores for GRE general test:
The GRE general test can be attempted by students in two ways:
· Computer-delivered
· Paper delivered
Here’s how to calculate and understand GRE scores that are computer delivered and paper delivered for Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning:
We will first see how to predict GRE scores for the Verbal reasoning and Quantitative reasoning sections. The GRE test score for these two sections are based on the number of questions attempted as well as the correct answers delivered within the stipulated time. For the students who are attempting this test through the computer the second section questions are based on the performance of the first section. It can be noted that all the questions have uniform marks allotted to them. From each of the two sections a raw score is calculated which will be the number of questions attempted by you. Then with the help of process known as equating the raw score is transformed into scaled scores.
Let us now see the GRE test scores are calculated for computer delivered Analytical Writing section. Every essay attempted by the student in the Analytical writing section is rated by a trained rater on the score of 0-6 on the basis of the quality of the essay with respect to the assigned topic or task. Then the same essay is rated with the help of a computerized program which is known as the e-rater which looks for the writing proficiency of the student by going through the essay. Both the scores are compared and the average of the two scores is allotted to the essay.
We will now see how to calculate and understand GRE scores that are paper delivered for the Analytical Writing section:
Each essay in a paper delivered test is evaluated by two professionally trained readers and raters after which the scores of the both are compared. In case the scores allotted by both of them are marginally same then the average of the both is given away to the student. If there is a huge difference in the scores allotted then a third reader is called in to gain the average score.
How to predict GRE scores for GRE subject tests:
To calculate and understand GRE scores let us first understand the scale for the GRE subject tests:
For the GRE subject tests the total score is ranged from 200-990 with a 10 point increment with an addition in scores with the help of subfields. The GRE subject tests are only paper delivered and are usually conducted three times a year. There are basically two steps involved for its scoring:
· The first step being obtaining the raw scores which is done by decreasing the number of questions attempted correctly by 1/4th. This is a formula score usually put into practice to eliminate guesswork.
· The raw score thus obtained is then transformed into a scaled score with the help of the above mentioned equating process.
The GRE test scores are usually valid for 5 years from the date on which your GRE test was administered.
