GRE Exam Syllabus: What Topics Are on the GRE?

If you’re considering taking the GRE for graduate school, you’re likely wondering what subjects are on the GRE. In this post, I’ll outline the GRE exam syllabus, including the GRE Quant syllabus, Verbal syllabus, and Analytical Writing section topics. By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear understanding of the entire GRE curriculum, including the major GRE test topics and many subtopics. So, you’ll know exactly what to expect on the test and be in a position to prepare effectively.

Here are the topics we’ll cover:

• The GRE Exam Pattern
  • How Is the GRE Exam Scored?
• What Is in the GRE Analytical Writing Section?
• What Is on the GRE Math Syllabus?
  • Arithmetic
  • Algebra
  • Geometry
  • Data Analysis
• What Is on the GRE Verbal Syllabus?
  • Text Completion
  • Sentence Equivalence
  • Reading Comprehension
    • Standard Reading Comprehension Questions
    • Critical Reasoning Questions
• The GRE General Test Syllabus: Key Takeaways
• What’s Next?

Let’s begin by reviewing the GRE exam pattern.

The GRE Exam Pattern

The GRE tests quantitative, verbal, and analytical writing skills using 3 section types:

• the Analytical Writing section
• the Verbal Reasoning section
• the Quantitative Reasoning section

The Analytical Writing section is always the first section of the test. The Verbal and Quant sections are each broken into 2 parts and alternate after the Analytical Writing section, beginning with either Verbal or Quant.

So, you’ll see a total of 5 sections on your exam.

Here is how the sections break down:

GRE Exam Pattern

So, as you can see, the first Verbal or Quant section presented is slightly shorter than the second section of that type.

KEY FACT:

The GRE Verbal and Quant sections alternate and can appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section.

Now that we know the basic GRE exam pattern, let’s review how the exam is scored.

How Is the GRE Exam Scored?

GRE General Test score range is 260-340 for the total GRE score (the sum of the Verbal and Quant section scores).

The Verbal and Quant sections are each scored on a scale of 130 to 170 in 1-point increments.

The Analytical Writing section is scored separately on a scale of 0 to 6 in half-point increments.

KEY FACT:

The GRE Verbal and Quant sections are each scored on a scale of 130 to 170 in 1-point increments.

You can learn more about how the GRE is scored in this article.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the GRE format and scoring, let’s explore the GRE subjects, starting with Analytical Writing.

What Is in the GRE Analytical Writing Section?

As we saw earlier, the GRE Analytical Writing section is made up of a single essay question that you have 30 minutes to respond to. This essay question is known as the Analyze an Issue task.

The Analyze an Issue task requires you to respond to a given opinion on an issue. This GRE portion tests your ability to analyze an argument and construct a coherent, well-organized, and convincing response to it.

The good news is that you do not need to have any specialized subject knowledge or experience in a certain field in order to be able to respond to a GRE essay prompt. All the information you need to craft an effective essay will appear in the prompt or be common knowledge.

The topics covered in GRE essay prompts fall into the following 5 broad categories:

• government and politics
• society and culture
• education and research
• technology
• human nature

You can learn more about the GRE Analytical Writing section here.

KEY FACT:

You do not need to have any specialized subject knowledge to be able to respond effectively to a GRE essay prompt.

Now, let’s discuss the GRE math syllabus.

What Is on the GRE Math Syllabus?

The GRE Quant section includes 5 different types of question formats:

• standard multiple-choice questions
• multiple-choice questions which can have more than one correct answer
• Quantitative Comparison questions, which are multiple-choice and involve determining whether given information is sufficient for establishing which of two values is larger
• Data Interpretation questions, which are multiple-choice questions about data presented in graphs or tables
• Numeric Entry questions, which require you to enter a value you have calculated rather than select from provided answer choices.

The GRE Quantitative Reasoning syllabus includes 4 major topic areas:

• arithmetic
• algebra
• geometry
• data analysis

Of course, there are numerous GRE Quantitative Reasoning subjects that you’ll need to master within each of those topic areas. The good news is that all of those GRE math subjects are ones you likely encountered in your high school math classes.

KEY FACT:

The math subjects in GRE exams are ones you likely encountered in high school math classes.

Let’s take a look at the subtopics that the mathematics syllabus includes in each of the 4 topic areas.

Arithmetic

• decimals
• estimation
• interest (simple and compound)
• minimizing and maximizing
• multiples, least common multiples, and greatest common divisors
• the number line
• number properties, including divisibility, factorization, remainders, properties of prime numbers, and properties of odd and even integers
• PEMDAS/BODMAS
• percentages
• proportions
• ratios
• revenue, profits, and costs
• roots and exponents
• sequences and series
• unit conversion

Algebra

• absolute value
• algebraic translation for word problems
• algebraic manipulation
• difference of squares
• factoring and simplifying algebraic expressions
• functions
• linear and quadratic equations and inequalities
• mixtures
• operations with exponents
• rates and work
• simultaneous equations and inequalities

Geometry

• angles
• area
• circles
• coordinate geometry, including graphs of functions, equations and inequalities, slopes, and intercepts
• congruent and similar figures
• other polygons
• parallel and perpendicular lines
• perimeter
• quadrilaterals
• right triangles and the Pythagorean theorem
• surface area
• 3-dimensional figures
• triangles
• volume

Note that GRE geometry questions do not involve geometric proofs.

Data Analysis

• analysis of information in tables
• combinations and permutations
• frequency distributions
• interpretation of graphs, such as line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, boxplots, and scatterplots
• interquartile range
• mean
• median
• mode
• overlapping sets and Venn diagrams
• percentiles
• probability
• conditional probability
• probabilities of compound events
• probabilities of independent events
• quartiles
• random variables and probability distributions, including normal distributions
• range
• standard deviation

Let’s now discuss the GRE Verbal syllabus.

What Is on the GRE Verbal Syllabus?

The verbal-aptitude portion of GRE exams tests skill in the following:

• analyzing and interpreting written material
• synthesizing information in sentences and passages
• understanding relationships between sentences, parts of sentences, ideas, and words
• vocabulary knowledge

The GRE Verbal Reasoning section tests these skills using 4 question types:

• Text Completion
• Sentence Equivalence
• Reading Comprehension
• Critical Reasoning

Roughly half of the Verbal questions on the GRE are Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence. The other half are Reading Comprehension, which includes a small number of Critical Reasoning questions.

KEY FACT:

Roughly half of GRE Verbal is Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence. The other half is Reading Comprehension, including a small number of Critical Reasoning questions.

Let’s discuss each of these question types in further detail.

Text Completion

GRE Text Completion questions present sentences that are missing words or phrases. Your job is to select the appropriate words or phrases from among the answer choices in order to logically complete the sentences.

These questions come in 3 formats:

• One-blank: One-blank Text Completion questions are composed of a single sentence containing 1 blank. Each question presents 5 possible answer choices, from which you must select 1.
• Two-blank and three-blank: Two- and three-blank Text Completion questions are composed of 1 or more sentences containing 2 or 3 blanks. For each of the blanks, there are 3 answer choices from which you must select 1.

KEY FACT:

Text Completion questions ask you to logically fill the blanks in incomplete sentences.

Sentence Equivalence

Sentence Equivalence questions are like one-blank Text Completion questions in that they ask you to logically fill a blank in a sentence with a missing word.

However, Sentence Equivalence presents an added twist: there are 2 correct answers. (You’re given 6 to choose from.) Both correct answers must accomplish 2 tasks: first, they must each logically fill the blank. Second, they must produce sentence versions that convey essentially the same meaning.

KEY FACT:

Sentence Equivalence questions require you to identify two words that logically fill the blank in a sentence and produce two sentence versions with equivalent meanings.

Reading Comprehension

GRE Reading Comprehension questions present a passage that is typically 1 or 2 paragraphs long but can be up to a few paragraphs long and questions about the passage. The passage is followed by anywhere from 1 to a few questions about the passage that are presented one at a time.

Questions come in a few different formats. Some are standard multiple-choice. Others have only 3 answer choices, and 1, 2, or all of those choices could be correct. Finally, Select-the-Sentence questions do not have answer choices. To answer these questions, you select a sentence in the passage.

Reading Comprehension passages are similar to material found in academic books, newspapers, and magazines. The subject matter of these passages encompasses the following broad topics:

• physical and biological sciences
• social sciences
• arts and humanities

You do not need to have any specialized knowledge of these subjects in order to answer Reading Comprehension questions. All of the information you need will be within the passages.

KEY FACT:

Reading Comprehension questions present mostly short to medium-length passages about which you must answer questions.

Now, let’s discuss the 2 main types of GRE Reading Comprehension questions: standard Reading Comprehension questions and Critical Reasoning questions.

Standard Reading Comprehension Questions

Standard Reading Comprehension questions come in the following types:

• Main Idea/Primary Purpose: These questions ask you to identify the main idea or main purpose of a passage.
• Passage Organization: These questions ask you to analyze how a passage or paragraph is structured.
• Author’s Tone: These questions ask you to identify the author’s tone in the passage or attitude toward the passage’s subject matter.
• Function: These questions ask you to determine the purpose of a particular sentence or other passage element.
• Vocabulary: These questions ask you to determine the meaning in context of a word in a passage.
• Info-Based: These questions ask about details of a passage or require you to draw inferences based on what a passage says.
• Extended Reasoning: These questions ask you to apply information from the passage to a scenario outside the subject matter of the passage.

Critical Reasoning Questions

GRE Critical Reasoning questions are always 1 short paragraph with only 1 associated question. The paragraph will present an argument or scenario that the associated question will ask you to analyze in some way.

Critical Reasoning questions come in the following types:

• Assumption: To answer these questions, you must identify an assumption upon which a given argument depends.
• Weaken the Argument: The correct answer to a Weaken question casts doubt on the conclusion of a given argument.
• Strengthen the Argument: These questions ask you to identify information that provides support for the conclusion of a given argument.
• Resolve the Paradox: The correct answer to a Paradox question explains how seemingly incompatible facts can both be true.
• Inference: These questions ask you to determine what can be inferred from the facts presented in an argument.
• Complete the Passage: To correctly answer a Complete the Passage question, you must identify the statement that most logically completes the passage.

The GRE General Test Syllabus: Key Takeaways

• The GRE exam subjects include Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning.
• The Analytical Writing section includes 1 essay prompt that asks you to analyze a given issue.
• The exam’s Quantitative syllabus covers 4 major topic areas: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis.
• Each of the topics on the Quant syllabus includes numerous subtopics covering concepts from high school math.
• The exam’s Verbal syllabus mainly tests reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and vocabulary skills.

What’s Next?

Try your hand at some GRE Verbal Reasoning practice questions and some Quantitative Reasoning practice questions.

Also, check out these 5 steps for success when starting your GRE test preparation.

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