5 GRE Sample Questions & Answers to Help You Study

5 GRE Sample Questions and Answers to Help You Study.jpg

There are many tips and tricks for doing well on the GRE (some are below), but the best way to prepare is to practice sample questions. Below are some sample questions (answers are at the bottom of the page!) as well as links to other sources of practice questions.

Set yourself up for success by diving into GRE test prep today!

Section 1: Analytical Writing

This section of the GRE tests your ability to do critical thinking and writing.

You will be given two writing tasks. The first presents you with an opinion on a general topic or issue and requires to you argue your own opinion on that topic. The other asks you to evaluate someone else’s argument on a topic.

Sample: Issue Analysis

Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

Unlike the other two sections of the GRE, the test makers do not use tricks in this section. The tasks may involve any topic, but you are not required to have any special knowledge of the topic. And the position you take is not as important as how you argue it. You are simply being tested on your ability to formulate, articulate, and defend or critique an argument.

The best way to prepare for this portion of the exam is to do practice and work at finishing your writing within the allotted time.

Analytical Writing Tip: The GRE Program has released the entire pool of issue and argument topics from which they select the questions for this section. You can access the pools as well as some additional tips here. Make sure that you read the instructions carefully, as they may not be the same for each task.

Scoring (0.0-6.0):

5.0-6.0 places you in the top 10 percent

4.5-4.9 places you in the top 25 percent

<4.0 puts you in the bottom half

If you are applying for a program that requires critical thinking and verbal skills, you should aim for at least a 4.5.

Section 2: Verbal Reasoning

This section contains reading comprehension, text completion, and sentence equivalence questions. (Examples are below with the answers are at the bottom of the page.)

Sample: Sentence Completion

Sentence completion questions can contain 2-3 blanks for you to fill in. This sample contains two. Note that these are not word pairs. You are choosing one word from the first column to complete Blank 1 and one word from the second column to complete Blank 2.

Vain and prone to violence, Caravaggio could not handle success: the more his (1)__________ as an artist increased, the more (2)__________ his life became.

Blank (1) Options	Blank (2) Options
A. Temperance	D. tumultuous
B. Notoriety	E. providential
C. Eminence	F. dispassionate

Sample: Sentence Equivalence

Sentence equivalence questions look like sentence completion questions, except that they contain one blank, which you fill with two out of the six possible answers. The two words must give the sentence the same overall meaning, and there is no partial credit. You must get both words right to get the point for the question.

Although it does contain some pioneering ideas, one would hardly characterize the work as __________.

orthodox
eccentric
original
trifling
conventional
innovative

Verbal Tip #1: Practice careful reading. The test creators specialize in making up really attractive wrong answers, but each question contains clues to the answer. Careful reading will help you make the best choice.

Verbal Tip #2: Remember that this is a timed test. Make the most of your time by getting the easy questions out of the way first, reserving more time for the ones you are less certain of.

Verbal Tip #3: If you need to guess, make educated guesses by eliminating the obvious wrong answers first.

Scoring (130-170):

163-170 places you in top 10 percent

158-162 places you in the top 25 percent

<152 places you in the lower 50 percent

If the program you are applying for requires strong verbal skills, you will want to aim for at least 158, although any competitive program – even one not primarily requiring verbal skills – will want to see a score of at least 152.

Section 3: Quantitative

This third section of the GRE tests your ability to compare two quantities (A and B). Note that in each question, you will be given the exact same four answer choices, so get to know the choices well.

Quantitative Sample 1:

Quantity A	Quantity B
54% of 360	150

(A) Quantity A is greater.

(B) Quantity B is greater.

(D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Quantitative Sample 2:

Quantity A

PS

Quantity B

SR

(A) Quantity A is greater.

(B) Quantity B is greater.

(D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Quantitative Tip #1: Don’t do unnecessary math. If it is not an algebraic question, see if you can get to the answer by estimating or by transforming or simplifying the question. In sample #1, for example, you reach the right answer without actually calculating 54 percent of 360.

Quantitative Tip #2: If you need to determine a variable, plug in simple or round numbers to make calculations easier.

Quantitative Tip #3: Don’t choose D if you know that you can determine the real value of the quantities by plugging in numbers. That isn’t possible in sample #2, so D may be a valid choice.

Scoring (130-170):

165-170 places you in the top 10 percent

159-164 places you in the top 25 percent

<153 places you in the bottom 50 percent

If you are applying to a program that requires heavy quantitative or computational skills, then you should aim for at least 159. Otherwise, aim for at least 153 to stay in the upper half of test takers.

Practice!

Practice really is the best preparation, so do as many sample questions as you can. Below are some other sources for sample questions. The best sources are the ones that provide explanations for the answers and contain tips for specific types of questions. Also, when you are ready, take a few practice tests from start to finish.

The ETS website contains a number of free tips, tricks, and sample questions for each section. They also have an entire practice test for when you’re ready to practice taking the whole test at one time.

Kaplan also provides free practice questions and tests, as does McGraw-Hill.

If you are searching the internet for other free sample questions, make sure that the sites you are using have been updated relatively recently. The GRE test makers revise the test periodically, so an older site may have outdated information on the types of questions you will encounter.

Best of luck to all GRE test takers out there!