GRE Scores

Updated March 04, 2010

Are you taking the GRE soon? If so, you might be wondering something… what GRE Score should you aim to get?

Hopefully I can answer your question, but first, let’s take a look at:

How is the GRE Scored?

A GRE Score is made of 3 sections; the verbal section, the quantitative section, and the analytical writing section.

The Verbal and Quantitative Sections are both scored on a 10-point scale between 200 and 800. These 2 scores are considered in the ‘official’ GRE score. The Writing Section, however, is scored separately, on a half-point scale between 0-6.

When you get your score, you’ll also be given a Percentile. This piece of information will tell you where you stand compared to others who have taken the test, and is a more accurate indication of your abilities than the actual score, since the score is based on questions, but a percentile puts you in a comparable situation with all test-takers from around the world and at different points of time.

Average Scores?

If your goal is getting into a decent college or university, your aim for the first-time you take the GRE might be to just get a score that’s above average. The average scores on the GRE are as follow:

Verbal Section: 460
Quantitative Section: 590
Writing Section: 4.0
Total: 1040

If you score above these in all categories, your GRE score will be considered ‘above average’ and you will become a competitive candidate for admissions into certain graduate programs in schools all over the US and the world.

Great Scores for Top Schools

Looking to get into a top school? You’ll need a higher GRE score! For example, the average GRE score of an admitted student into Harvard is about 560 on Verbal and 790 on the Qauntitative Section. You can see that this is well above average.

Other top schools have similar requirements. Yale asks for 520 in Verbal and 740 on Quantitative, while UCLA might ask you for 530 and 760 on those sections, respectively. Similar top schools will ask for scores ranging from 520-580 on verbal and 750-780 on quantitative.

Now remember, it’s very hard to get these scores. It’s still possible to get admitted into these top school with slightly lower scores if your other admission requirements make you a good candidate (for example, if you did exceptionally in your undergraduate degree or have great working experience). If you’re looking to get a score in those ranges, you might have to take the GRE a few times.

Improve your score!

There are a few ways and things you could do to try and improve your score. The most important one is to get to know the GRE- visit our GRE Guide page for more information. You should get as much practice as possible, this is important.

To improve your writing abilities, just practice writing as many practice essays as you can. Don’t forget to read sample essays to know what markers are looking for in a good essay.

Need to improve your Quantitative score? Practice more questions, especially in those areas that are confusing you. Some people find Quantitative Comparison and Data Interpretation somewhat difficult, so practice those areas in particular.

Having trouble with a low verbal score? The answer is simply vocabulary. Memorize words using a good dictionary and GRE Word lists you can find online or in prep books. Knowing more words will help you on almost all Verbal questions, especially analogies and antonyms.

Practice here!

We have a few Free Online GRE Tests that can help you improve your GRE score!

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