Understanding Your GRE General Test Scores

How the test is scored

Learn about how each of the measures on the GRE General Test is scored.

For the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures of the GRE General Test, the reported scores are based on the number of correct responses to all the questions included in the operational sections of the measure.

The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures are section-level adaptive. This means the computer selects the second operational section of a measure based on your performance on the first section. Within each section, all questions contribute equally to the final score.

For each of the two measures, a raw score is computed. The raw score is the number of questions you answered correctly.

The raw score is converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for minor variations in difficulty among the different test editions as well as the differences in difficulty introduced by the section-level adaptation. Thus, a given scaled score for a particular measure reflects the same level of performance regardless of which second section was selected and when the test was taken.

For the Analytical Writing section, each essay receives a score from at least one trained rater, using a 6-point holistic scale. In holistic scoring, raters are trained to assign scores on the basis of the overall quality of an essay in response to the assigned task. The essay is then scored by the e-rater^® scoring engine, a computerized program developed by ETS that is capable of identifying essay features related to writing proficiency. If the human and the e-rater engine scores closely agree, the average of the two scores is used as the final score. If they disagree, a second human score is obtained, and the final score is the average of the two human scores.

The final scores on the two essays are then averaged and rounded to the nearest half-point interval on the 0–6 score scale. A single score is reported for the Analytical Writing measure. The primary emphasis in scoring the Analytical Writing section is on your critical thinking and analytical writing skills rather than on grammar and mechanics. Read the "Issue" and "Argument" scoring guides and the Analytical Writing Score Level Descriptions.

During the scoring process, your essay responses on the Analytical Writing section will be reviewed by trained analysts using ETS essay-similarity-detection software and by experienced essay raters. For more information, see the section on Cancellation of Scores by ETS in the GRE^® Information Bulletin (PDF).

Score interpretation resources

The following resources will help you gain a better understanding of what your scores mean and how we advise institutions to use them.

Interpreting Your GRE^® Scores (PDF) — Includes information to assist you in interpreting your GRE scores.
GRE^® General Test Interpretive Data (PDF)— Provides summary statistics and percentile rank information for the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing measures.
GRE^® Guide to the Use of Scores (PDF)— Provides information for institutions about the appropriate use of GRE scores and interpretive data.
General Test Percentage Distribution of Scores Within Intended Broad Graduate Major Field (PDF)— Contains Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing data for seniors and non-enrolled college graduates who stated that they intended to do graduate work in one of approximately 300 major fields. The score data are summarized into 51 broad graduate major field categories so that applicants can be compared to others likely to be most similar to them in educational goals.
General Test Percentage Distribution of Scores Within Intended Graduate Major Field (PDF)— Contains Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing data for seniors and non-enrolled college graduates who stated that they intended to do graduate work in one of approximately 300 major fields. The score data are summarized into 300 graduate major field categories so that applicants can be compared to others likely to be most similar to them in educational goals.