How GRE Scores are Calculated?

How are GRE Scores Calculated?

Before knowing how to calculate GRE scores, candidates can first, have a glance at the GRE exam pattern. To calculate the GRE score, this scoring pattern is best for reference.

GRE General Test - GRE Scoring Pattern

How to Calculate GRE Score for Each Section?

Here are the section-wise GRE score calculations. Let us first check with the verbal and quant reasoning scores of the GRE.

Verbal & Quantitative Section Scoring

The scoring for the verbal and quant sections is done by considering two factors one is the correctness and the second is the difficulty level. While considering correctness, every question is allotted the same score within a section. These are called the raw scores of the section.

Later these raw scores are converted into scaled scores (i.e., 130 -170) by a process called equating. In the equating, the raw score conversion is done by considering the section difficulty level and test difficulty level.

Here, the section difficulty is due to the section-level adaptive testing followed in the GRE. Not every computer-based GRE test has the same questions, so the test difficulty can vary at the very minute levels, this is the GRE test difficulty mentioned above. Both the independent verbal and quant reasoning scores are summed to calculate GRE score (overall). Hope the given information helps the candidates to know about how are GRE scores calculated.

Analytical Writing Section Scoring

The scoring of the analytical writing task is based on the quality of the essay written by the candidate. The quality of the essay is measured in terms of critical thinking, analytical writing, grammar, etc. These essays are reviewed by both content experts and trained analysts. Once reviewed the essay is given a score in the range of 0 to 6 points. Hope the candidates have understood how to calculate GRE score for the analytical writing task.

Explore:

How Does The Section Level Adaption Affect GRE Scores?

The verbal and quant sections of the GRE are section-level adaptive. Each section of verbal and quant has two sub-sections (section 1 and section 2). Section 1 of verbal reasoning has questions that are a mix of hard, easy, and difficult questions. Based on the performance of each question in section 1, the difficulty level of the sub-section 2 is dependent.

For example, In verbal reasoning, if a candidate answers correctly to the first question in section 1, then the second question in section 2 will be of higher difficulty. Here the number of correct answers and the difficulty level of section 2 are considered in the total score of verbal reasoning. The same applies to the quantitative reasoning section.

So, candidates who have got correct answers for the highly difficult questions, are given higher scores. Even if the candidate performs well in section 1 and gets wrong the difficult question in section 2, the ETS will understand the toughness of the questions and penalize less for the wrongly answered questions in section 2.

How are GRE Scores Calculated for Subject Tests?

Candidates can have a glance at the GRE subject test scoring pattern before knowing how to calculate their GRE score.

GRE Subjects Test Scoring Pattern

How Are GRE Scores Calculated For Each Subject Test?

Each correctly answered question in a respective subject test is given an equal score. These are called raw scores. These raw scores are converted into scaled scores of 220 to 800. The content area scores of each subject test displayed in the GRE score report in a range of 0 -100 percent. Each content area's scores indicate the number of correctly answered questions among the total content questions in terms of percentage.

What Is a Good GRE Score?

Once after know the GRE scores, the next step is to confirm whether it is a good score or not. Well, this answer depends on the qualifying score set required for GRE-participating institutes preferred by the candidate. This GRE score requirement varies for every institute or college. The top universities require high GRE scores to seek admission. In general, a good GRE score allows the candidate to apply to many universities.

A good GRE score ranges from

• GRE Verbal: 152-158

• GRE Quantitative: 153-158

• GRE Writing: 4.0

Know more about GRE scores:

• How To Send GRE Scores To Universities

• GRE Scores For Engineering Management

• Top Business Schools Accepting GRE Scores