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Last Updated on March 13, 2024
A very popular question among students considering whether to take the GRE or starting their GRE prep is, “How is the GRE scored?”
In fact, how the GRE is scored is often a source of worry and anxiety for test-takers, particularly since some aspects of the GRE scoring algorithm are kept under wraps by the test-makers.
In this article, I’ll answer the most common questions about how the GRE General Test is scored and give you a few tips for using the GRE scoring methodology to your advantage. GRE scoring may seem somewhat confusing and mysterious now, but understanding how the GRE is scored will hopefully put any worries you have to rest, and allow you to focus on the important business of mastering GRE content.
The question of how the GRE is scored is often a source of worry and anxiety for test-takers.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
To start, let’s go over the basics of what your GRE score will look like.
- The GRE Score Scale
- How Much is Each GRE Question Worth?
- What Does “Section-Adaptive” Mean?
- Accuracy vs. Question Type
- How Important Are the First Quant and Verbal Sections?
- How is the Analytical Writing Section Scored?
- Does it Matter How the GRE is Scored?
- Key Takeaways
- What’s Next
To start, let’s go over the basics of what your GRE score will look like.
The GRE Score Scale
On the GRE, the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections, which are scored in one-point increments, have a score range of 130 to 170. The sum of your Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning scores makes up your total GRE score.
The Analytical Writing section, which is scored in half-point increments, has a score range of 0 to 6 (6.0, 5.5, 5.0, etc.). The Writing section is not factored into your total score.
Additionally, all section scores have a percentile ranking associated with them. For instance, according to ETS’s latest GRE General Test performance statistics, which are based on the scores of all GRE test-takers from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022, a perfect score of 170 on the Verbal section would mean that you scored better than 99% of test-takers, while a score of 170 on the Quant section would mean that you scored better than 94% of test-takers. (For more on GRE percentile rankings, check out this guide.)
So, your GRE score will consist of your total score as well as section scores and percentile rankings for Quant, Verbal, and Writing. For instance, a score of 168 in Quant (87th percentile), 166 in Verbal (96th percentile), and 5.0 in Writing (91st percentile) will give you an impressive GRE score of 334.
KEY FACT:
The GRE Quant and Verbal sections are scored in one-point increments from 130 to 170, and those two scores are added together to form your overall GRE score.
Now that we know what the GRE score scale is, let’s explore exactly how your Quant and Verbal scores are calculated.
How Much is Each GRE Question Worth?
Since there are a total of 27 questions each in Quant and Verbal on the GRE (12 in the first section and 15 in the second section of each type), it’s easy to assume that, starting from the lowest possible section score of 130, you simply add a point and a half for each question you answer correctly. In that case, answering 24 out of 27 Quant questions correctly would earn you a Quant score of 166, right?
Well, you may not be surprised to learn that GRE scoring isn’t quite that straightforward.
The GRE scoring algorithm does in fact start with a raw score — the number of questions you answered correctly, with each question worth one and a half points. However, because the GRE is a section-adaptive test, your raw scores in Quant and Verbal are not the scores you’ll receive.
Instead, the GRE algorithm uses a process called “equating.” Equating takes into account the section-adaptive nature of the test, which affects the difficulty of the questions you see, as well as small variations in the difficulty of the GRE over the years, as old questions have been retired and new ones introduced.
So, while no single question within a section is “worth more points” than any other question in that section, ultimately, the difficulty levels of the sections play into the final (scaled) scores you receive.
KEY FACT:
No single question within a section is “worth more points” than any other question in that section; however, the difficulty levels of the sections factor into your final section scores.
In order to better understand how equating is used to calculate your GRE scores, we first need to understand the section-adaptive nature of the GRE. Let’s take a closer look.
What Does “Section-Adaptive” Mean?
The GRE is a section-adaptive test, meaning that your performance on the first Quant section you see determines the difficulty of the second Quant section, and likewise for the first and second Verbal sections. Importantly, there is no “cross-pollination” in GRE section adaptivity; your performance on a Verbal section does not affect the difficulty of a Quant section, or vice versa.
Since a test-taker’s performance on the first Quant or Verbal section determines the difficulty of the second Quant or Verbal section, everyone starts with medium-level questions in the first Quant and first Verbal sections they see.
This ensures an even playing field for all test-takers. The number of those medium-level Quant or Verbal questions you answer correctly determines whether the questions in the second Quant or Verbal section you see are mostly easier, mostly harder, or generally about the same level of difficulty as the questions in the first section.
For instance, let’s say that on the first Verbal section you see, you answer 11 out of 12 questions correctly. Given your high accuracy rate on the first Verbal section, the 15 questions in the second Verbal section you see will be more difficult than the questions you saw in the first section and fairly advanced in general.
Furthermore, they will be more difficult than the questions someone who had a lower accuracy rate on their first section will see. Conversely, if you answer only 7 out of the 12 questions in the first Verbal section correctly, your second Verbal section will be another medium-level section, probably containing a mix of easy and medium-level questions.
Keep in mind that “more difficult” does not necessarily mean hard-level questions exclusively, or the hardest GRE questions out there; it simply means more difficult, in general, than what you saw in the first section.
The same goes for “easier,” which does not necessarily mean “easy.” It’s better to think of GRE difficulty on a continuum; your accuracy in answering questions will determine how much harder or easier the questions in the next corresponding section will be.
KEY FACT:
To ensure an even playing field for all test-takers, everyone is presented with medium-level questions in the first Quant and first Verbal sections they see on the GRE.
With all that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the importance of accuracy on a section-adaptive test such as the GRE.
Accuracy vs. Question Type
It’s essential to reiterate that the GRE is adaptive only on a section level, not on a question-by-question basis. In other words, getting Quant question #3 incorrect will not affect the difficulty of Quant question #4 within the same section. Your total number of correct answers in a section determines the difficulty of the questions in the second section of that type.
In the same vein, getting a certain type of question right or wrong in a first section does not mean that you will see only hard or easy questions of that type in the corresponding second section. Remember, the GRE takes a holistic view of your performance in a section, so your overall accuracy determines the overall difficulty of the questions in the next corresponding section.
For instance, let’s say that you see two ratio questions in the first Quant section and get both of them wrong. Does that mean that any ratio questions you see in the second Quant section will be easy? Not at all. The GRE doesn’t care what types of questions you got wrong; it only cares that you got that number of questions wrong.
The test-taker sitting next to you could get two questions on inscribed shapes wrong in the first Quant section, but provided you both got 10 out of 12 questions correct on the first Quant section, your second Quant sections would be considered equal to each other in difficulty, despite the fact that one of you missed ratio questions and the other missed questions on inscribed shapes.
In short, the topics tested in the questions you get right or wrong do not matter as far as calculating your GRE score. To use our example above, incorrectly answering two ratio questions in the first Quant section will not raise or lower your final score any more than incorrectly answering two questions on inscribed shapes will. The point is, you got two questions wrong, so the second Quant section will be, in general, a little easier than it would’ve been had you incorrectly answered no questions, or just one question.
What does this mean for your GRE preparation strategy? First, accuracy should be your primary goal. You want to answer as many questions as possible correctly in each GRE section because each of the questions in a single section will contribute equally to your final score.
Second, you must strive to be as well-versed in GRE content as possible, across the board. Since the scoring algorithm does not consider certain GRE topics more important than others — you won’t score higher because you’re better at problems involving probabilities than you are at those involving standard deviation — you need to master all GRE topics in order to drive your accuracy level up.
TTP PRO TIP:
Since the scoring algorithm does not consider certain GRE topics more important than others, you need to master all GRE topics in order to drive your accuracy level up.
Of course, while no topic is weighted more heavily than another, the difficulty of how those topics are tested certainly will affect your score. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the impact of GRE section adaptivity on your final scores.
How Important Are the First Quant and Verbal Sections?
As you may have already figured out, the upshot of the GRE’s section-adaptive testing method is that your performance on the first Quant and Verbal sections you see can, in essence, make or break your GRE score. Now, this doesn’t mean that as long as you ace the first section in each category, you can “relax” in the second sections and still earn a great GRE score.
The importance of the first Quant and Verbal sections is not that performing well on them guarantees a high GRE score but that performing well on them gives you the opportunity to earn a top score. If you want to earn an impressive GRE score, you should put your full effort into every single GRE question you see, in every section.
The importance of the first Quant and Verbal sections is not that performing well on them guarantees a high GRE score but that performing well on them gives you the opportunity to earn a top score.
Say you don’t perform as well as you’d hoped to on the first Verbal section and answer only 8 out of 12 questions correctly. Maybe you’re underprepared, or everything went wrong that morning, or your anxiety about taking the GRE is getting the best of you.
Consequently, in the second Verbal section, you won’t have the opportunity to answer questions that are generally more difficult than the ones you’ve already seen, or questions that are considered very difficult, and difficulty matters on the GRE score scale. So, even if you correctly answer 15 out of 15 questions in the second Verbal section, since those questions were probably quite a bit easier than the questions in the first section, rather than harder, the heights your score can reach as a result of your perfect accuracy in the second section will be somewhat limited.
In fact, a test-taker in the opposite predicament, correctly answering all 12 questions in the first Verbal section and only 10 out of 15 in the second Verbal section, would likely end up with a higher Verbal score than you would, since her perfect accuracy in the first section would result in her seeing significantly more difficult questions in the second section than you saw.
Can we say exactly how much higher her score would be? Unfortunately not. What we can say is that, despite your both answering 23 out of 27 Verbal questions correctly on the GRE, if the overall difficulty of your Verbal questions is lower, your Verbal score will be lower as well.
This is where the process of equating that I mentioned earlier factors in: Essentially, equating takes your raw score (the number of questions you got correct) and “calibrates” it according to the level of difficulty of those questions. The difference may end up being only a point or two, and the exact standard for adjusting raw scores is known only to the GRE test-makers at ETS (who, no doubt, are sworn to secrecy).
So, achieving high rates of accuracy in the first Quant section and first Verbal section you see on your exam will put you on the road to a 330+ GRE score, but you’ll still need to steer around every blind corner, avoid potholes, and keep your foot on the gas in order to reach a top score.
Yes, the first Quant and Verbal sections are a little more important than the second ones are, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that the second sections can’t have a significant impact on your score.
TTP PRO TIP:
The first Quant and Verbal sections on the GRE are a little more important than the second ones are, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that the second sections can’t have a significant impact on your score.
Now that we know how the GRE is scored for the Quant and Verbal sections, let’s take a look at how the Analytical Writing section is scored.
How is the Analytical Writing Section Scored?
The Analytical Writing Section is scored separately from the rest of your GRE because it is the only section that involves human scorers. Your essay is first scored by a trained essay reader, using the scale of 0-6 I mentioned earlier, and then scored by a computer program called “e-rater.”
According to ETS, which designed the computer program, e-rater identifies “essay features related to writing proficiency,” a rather mysterious description. In general, both the human and computerized scorers place more of an emphasis on how well your essay positions are organized and articulated than on grammar and spelling.
Furthermore, if the e-rater’s scores diverge widely from the human scorers’, ETS enlists a second human scorer to review your essays, and those scores take the place of the e-rater’s. Ultimately, an average is taken of either a human score and an e-rater score or two human scores in order to form your score for each essay, and then those two essay scores are averaged and rounded to the nearest half to form your Analytical Writing score.
As I mentioned earlier, the Analytical Writing score is not factored into your total GRE score, although depending on the graduate program to which you’re applying, your Writing score may still be an important part of how admissions committees view your GRE.
So, you now know how the various sections of the GRE are scored. You may be wondering, How can I use this information to maximize my GRE score?
Does it Matter How the GRE is Scored?
While it’s useful to have a general understanding of how the GRE is scored, it’s important not to get too caught up in the details of the scoring process. The fact is, if you are not thoroughly prepared and ready to kick some butt on test day, knowing the ins and outs of how the GRE is scored isn’t going to get you to your score goal.
Use your newfound knowledge of how the GRE is scored as a reminder to aim for mastery of GRE topics across the board and high accuracy when answering all types of practice questions (and on practice tests). Don’t use the quirks of the GRE scoring algorithm as an excuse to focus on only certain portions of the test. If you want to earn a top GRE score, you have to give your best effort on every question you’re presented with during your exam. There are no shortcuts to success!
Key Takeaways
To sum up, here are the key points to know about how the GRE is scored.
- Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning scores range from 130 to 170, and the sum of these scores makes up your total GRE score. The Analytical Writing section scores range from 0 to 6 in half-point increments and do not affect your total score.
- Each Quant and Verbal question is worth a certain number of points, but your final score in each section is determined through a process called “equating”.
- The GRE is section-adaptive: your performance on the first Quant and Verbal sections determine the difficulty of the second section of each type.
- The topics of the questions you answer correctly or incorrectly do not affect your GRE score. Accuracy across all GRE topics should be your primary goal.
- The first Quant and Verbal sections are a little more important than the second ones, but don’t think you can relax in the second sections and still earn a great GRE score.
- Your Analytical Writing essay receives two grades, one from a human scorer and one from a computerized scorer.
- Knowing how the GRE is scored will not get you to your goal score. Aim for mastery across the range of GRE topics and high accuracy across all types of practice questions.
What’s Next?
To learn more about GRE scores, check out this article on what graduate schools consider a good GRE score vs. an average GRE score and this article on score reporting to graduate schools, both from test centers and from home.
TTP PRO TIP:
Use your knowledge of how the GRE is scored as a reminder to aim for mastery of GRE topics across the board and for high accuracy when answering all types of practice questions.
