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Seeing Whats on the GREAcronyms for standardized tests tend to convey a sense of gloom and doom. Tellingsomeone you have to take the SAT, ACT, or GRE usually elicits the same facial expressionas saying that you need to have your wisdom teeth pulled. However, breaking the GREdown into its component parts makes it much more manageable and much less threatening.

Table 1-1 provides a quick overview ofwhats on the GRE. The essays are always first, butthe four multiple-choice sections may be in any order.

Table 1-1 GRE Breakdown by Section

Section Number of Questions Time Allotted

Analyze an Issue 1 essay 30 minutes

Analyze an Argument 1 essay 30 minutes

Verbal Section 20 questions 30 minutes

Math Section 20 questions 35 minutes

Verbal Section 20 questions 30 minutes

Math Section 20 questions 35 minutes

Unscored Hidden Math or VerbalResearch Section

20 questions 30 or 35 minutes

At close to four hours long, the GRE challenges your stamina as much as your ability toanswer the questions. No matter how solid your math and verbal skills are, you mustmaintain a high level of concentration for the duration of the test. You can achieve thisthrough practicing in four-hour stretches and taking several practice tests.

The GRE includes an unscored Math or Verbal research section. You actually have threeMath or three Verbal sections, meaning one section isnt scored. Unfortunately, you wontknow which one it is. Note:The practice exams on the CD dont include an unscored Mathor Verbal section (youre welcome!).

Unlike other computer-based tests (such as the GMAT and TOEFL), the GRE allows you toskip questions and return to them later, as long as youre still in the section. When you reachthe end of each section, the GRE displays a review screen that indicates any unansweredquestions. If you have time remaining in the section, return to these questions and answerthem as well as you can. This feature is nice, because you can knock out all the easyquestions before spending time on the hard ones.

Within a section, each question is worth the same number of points, and the questions dontbecome more or less difficult based on your performance. Combined with the ability to go

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back to earlier questions, the format of the GRE is more l ike that of a paper-based test thansome other computer-based tests, such as the adaptive GMAT. However, your performanceon the first Math or Verbal section determines the overall difficulty level of the nextMathor Verbal section. For example, if you do extremely well on the first Math section, the GREwill place you in high esteem and make the second Math section harder. Even if you dontget as many questions right in the second Math section as you did in the first, the GRE

considers that the questions are harder and will give you a higher score.

So exactly what types of questions and how many of each type can you expect to run into onthe GRE? Check out Table 1-2 for the answers.

Table 1-2 GRE Breakdown by Question Type

Type of Question Approximate Number of Questions

Per Math Section (20 questions each)

Multiple choice with exactly one correct answer 6

Multiple choice with two or more correct answers 2

Fill in the blank with the correct answer 2

Data Interpretation (based on graphs) 3

Quantitative Comparisons 7

Per Verbal Section (20 questions each)

Text Completion 6

Sentence Equivalence 4

Argument Analysis 2

Reading Comprehension 8

These question types are mixed throughout their respective sections, so you may encounterthem in any order. Sometimes the software groups like questions at the beginning or theend. For example, if youre halfway through a Verbal section and havent seen a TextCompletion question, you soon will.