S2S MBA Guide
  • Welcome to Service to School!
  • First Steps
    • Narrowing your School/Program Search
    • Five MBA Myths
    • The Biggest Mistakes Veterans Make
    • Example Transition Timeline
  • Beating the Test
    • GMAT
    • GRE
    • EA
    • Test Prep Services
  • Working with our Ambassadors
  • Resume
  • Essay Preparation
  • Letters of Recommendation
  • Preparing your Application
  • LinkedIn
  • Interviewing
  • Thank you Emails
  • Navigating the Waitlist
  • The Admission Officers perspective
    • Darden School of Business
    • Haas School of Business
    • McDonough School of Business
    • Owen Graduate School of Management
    • Ross School of Business
    • Stern School of Business
  • Financing the MBA
    • List of Veteran specific scholarships
  • Executive MBA considerations
  • Part time MBA considerations
  • Online MBA considerations
  • Post MBA Careers
  • Success Stories
    • Alec Emmert: The Wharton School (Class of 2020)
    • Fernado Hernani: Anderson School of Business EMBA (Class of 2021)
    • David Lee: Stanford Graduate School of Business (Class of 2019)
    • G. Graham Van Hook: Kellogg School of Management (Class of 2016)
  • Resources
    • List of Veteran club websites
    • MBA Conferences
    • Breaking Business School: The Savvy Veteran's 10-Step Guide to MBA Success
    • Bunker Labs
    • 2021 Vets at M7 B School Admissions Event
    • 2022 Women Veterans @ M7 B-Schools webinar
    • HBS Armed Forces Alumni Association 10 Tips for applying to an MBA program
    • Wharton Veteran Webinar Series
    • MIT Sloan Veterans Association- Admissions Webinar
    • Stanford GSB Military Veteran Panels
    • Operation MBA
  • Contributions
  • Suggestions for improvement
  • Privacy
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  • Analytical Writing (AW)
  • Quantitative
  • Verbal
  • Useful Links

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  1. Beating the Test

GRE

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Last updated 4 years ago

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The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book:

The GRE is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and you can register for it on the website www.ets.org for a fee of $205 that can be reimbursed one-time for active-duty military personnel. The test can be taken once every 21 days, up to five times within any continuous rolling 12-month period even if scores were canceled.

The test consists of six sections. The first section is always the Analytical Writing section consisting of two separate essays. The next five sections consist of two Verbal sections, two Quantitative sections, and an experimental section. The experimental section does not count towards the final score but is not distinguished from the scored sections. The five sections may occur in any order. Unlike the GMAT, individual questions are not computer adaptive, but, rather, your performance on the first verbal or quantitative section will determine the difficulty of the subsequent one. Also, unlike the GMAT, you are able to flag questions in a particular section and return to them. The sections are scored separately in single-point increments with Verbal and Quantitative scores between 130 and 170, and Analytical Writing on a six-point scale. Based on the performance of two-million people who took the test between 2015 and 2018, the mean and standard deviation of the verbal section were 150.24 and 8.44. Whereas, the mean and standard deviation for the quantitative section were 153.07 and 9.24. Analytical writing had a mean of 3.55 with a standard deviation of 0.86. At the end of the test, you will be given the option to report (view) or cancel your scores. Once you view your scores, you cannot cancel them. You cannot cancel your score for one section of the test and have the scores for the remaining sections reported.

Analytical Writing (AW)

The analytical writing section consists of two different essays, an "issue task" and an "argument task". The writing section is graded on a scale of 0–6, in half-point increments. The essays are written on a computer using a word processing program specifically designed by ETS. Each essay is scored by at least two readers on a six-point holistic scale. If the two scores are within one point, the average of the scores is taken. If the two scores differ by more than a point, a third reader examines the response. The issue task is an essay on a particular topic, while the argument task analyzes the logic of a particular argument. A test-taker has 30 minutes for each essay.

Quantitative

Each quantitative section consists of approximately 8 quantitative comparisons, 9 problem-solving items, and 3 data interpretation questions covering basic high school level mathematical knowledge and reasoning skills. A test-taker has 30 minutes for each quantitative section.

Verbal

Each verbal section consists of about 6 text completion, 4 sentence equivalence, and 10 critical reading questions that cover reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and vocabulary usage. A test-taker has 30 minutes to complete each verbal section.

Useful Links

Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success
LogoGRE General Test Strategies and Tips (For Test Takers)
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/the-official-gre-can-now-be-taken-from-home/www.manhattanprep.com