GRE Score Range Calculator

Do you want to know how much you can score in GRE, even before taking GRE Exam?

I have written about steps to improve GRE Score. But, having idea on how GRE Exam is scored will help students prepare in much better way.  One of the blog reader scored 800 in GRE Math after getting some 11 questions wrong in ETS Powerprep practice test.

GRE – Time and Strategy

GRE Exam is all about strategy and timing. I have meet and spoke to so many students who took GRE and I was able to find a pattern, that will allow to estimate how much you can score in actual GRE Test. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the score range even before you take GRE test?

When Can I know GRE Score Range

You can find out how much you can score in GRE only 3 to 5 days before your actual GRE Test date. But, having an idea will help you to decide on which 4 universities to forward gre scores. That will save more than $100 during graduate school application GRE score forwarding.

GRE Score Calculator

• I have suggested to take ETS Powerprep exam only 1 week to 5 days before actual GRE exam. That’s the only source where the tests are scored using the same patten asgre exam is evaluated.
• You can take powerprep practice tesst many times. Only few questions will be repeated.
• With 2 gre practice test in ETS Powerprep, you can take more than 5 to 8 times. Make a note of scores you get in powerprep.
• Don’t take powerprep exam as yet another practice test. Make every attempt to take it seriously and put your 100% effort to score more.
• For instance, you can score 400 in gre verbal section first test and score 500 in second gre practice test. So, if you take 8 powerprep gre practice test, then make a note of the score and save it in ascending order.

Test 1 – GRE Verbal 400

Test 2 – Verbal 410

Test 3 – Verbal  400

Test 8 – Verbal  450

Interpret GRE Score Table

• If all the scores for example are within the range of 400 to 450, then its very much lokely your GRE Score in actual test will not go more than 500.
• Lowest score you can expect is 350 to 380.
• Which implies, you can score anywhere from 380 to 430 in actual GRE exam. This applies to both GRE Verbal and Quantitative sections in actual exam.

How True is the above Said GRE Scores?

I have seen so many students who take powerprep and when they say the scores to me, I can very well say, how much they can expect to score in actual GRE CAT. Here are some examples of my formula to estimate your GRE scores.

• Jones - Friend of mine from work, took GRE Exam yesterday. His score range in powerprep was 400 to 600 in Verbal, but majority of scores around 480. GRE quantitative, he was scoring around 740 to 780. In actual GRE Exam, he scored 490 in Verbal and 750 in quantitative section.
• Raghuram – Yes, that’s me. I was getting around 400 to 450 in Verbal, 750 to 780 in Maths and ended up getting within the above range.
• More Examples : I’m collecting details from more students who recently took GRE.

I scored more than Practice Test Range

Is that possible? To score more than  that maximum score in Verbal and Quanititaive section. Yes, if you scoring 750 in Math section, you can score 800, but if you are getting 700 to 750 in GRE Practice test, it will be tough sk to score 800 out of 800. But, for Verbal I really doubt, you can increase the score overnight from 450 to 650+.

How GRE Test Is Scored?

How GRE Test Is Scored?

Preparing for GRE Test takes dedicated effort and time, but staying informed on how GRE Exam is scored will definitely give an edge for GRE Test taker. I have seen many students preparing for GRE find it bit tough to understand the GRE Test scoring concept. Here’s a question I came across

Question on GRE Scoring :
I just finished giving the first test in the ETS PowerPrep software, and was pleasantly surprised to have a score of 750. But when I was reviewing my mistakes, I was shocked to see that I made 11 mistakes! And the mistakes were pretty evenly spread out through out the section. The mistakes were in Questions: 3,5,9,14,16,18,20,21,24,27,28. We know it is a CAT exam, despite that fact, how did I end up with such a high score

That made me wonder whether PowerPrep is reliable? I have heard people getting 780/790 with 4 mistakes, but still 750 with 11 mistakes looks like a bit too much. But if this is actually the normal scenario, I am more than happy . By the way, my math percentile rank was 84, if it helps by any way. I am hoping that I the reason for this score can be partly explained by the fact that I got 11 of the first 15 correct. Anyone knows how the math is scored in the real exam? I have heard though PowerPrep is a pretty good indicator of the real exam.

GRE Exam – First Few Questions

GRE Test is adaptive and first few questions will have more weight/points

Questions that appear in later part of the GRE Exam has less value.

All the questions that appear in the exam should have been previously appeared in exam under Experimental Section and based on how students answer that question, points/difficulty level will be assigned

GRE questions determined in such way will appear during first few questions and getting few answers wrong will bring down the score for sure.

GRE Score Range – Big Range

• In the GRE Exam first few questions will help the system determine which score range the student fit in. For example, if test take get first 6 to 8 questions right, then GRE Test system will assign the range of 700 to 800. So, test takers score will be only above 700.
• Next few questions tries to determine the scores within 700 to 800 range. If GRE test taker gets 2 or 3 questions wrong in first 6 to 8 questions, then the score range of say 650 to 750 will be assigned and following questions will help the system determine the score within 650 to 750.
• It’s my understanding that first question will have value around 700 and getting it right will have next question of 730 in value. If student gets second question then next question will have 720 value. So, first 6 to 8 question will help determine the Big Range in GRE Exam.

Final GRE Score – Within Big Range

One the outer GRE Score range is determined, then rest of question will help determine the sub range of that. For example,if the Outer Range is 700 to 800, then next few questions will have value within 700 to 800. If the GRE test taker gets all the questions right, then next range will be set between 750 to 800. 

Providing incorrect answers for one or 2 questions will reduce the range from 700 to 780 or so. But the hard part is to identify what is the value of each question. Best thing GRE test take can do is try to get all the questions right.

In the pattern Final GRE score will be determined. To answert the above students question, he should have got all the high value/weight questions right even though 11 answers were incorrect.

Good GRE Scores

GRE tests three things:

1. Your basic intelligence (in Quanti and Reading Comprehension)

2. Your speed of responding (that's why the time limit is kept...and so, many of you who are practicing for the GRE must be finding difficult)

3. How well you perform under pressure? And also I used Barrons and Kaplan tests and bigbook. All these material are no longer useful as ets had tremendously increased the difficulty level of questions especially the quans and the reading comprehension questions.

If you are pretty clear in the above things then a good GRE score is not that difficult.

First and foremost suggestion:

Don't get tensed up. Remain cool and calm. Sometimes the only difference between a good score and a bad score is your mental strength. Just chill. No worries, no tension. Talk to yourself. Tell yourself that you can do it. If you win over your tension, then GRE is a piece of cake leading to a good GRE score.

Second thing:

 Practice is the key to success. Give as many practice tests as possible. Grebible and Powerprep are a must. You can also try out Arco.

Practice tests and the CAT tests in grebible are excellent. The difficulty level is very very high in grebible. That's the reason why I was able to score much in the verbal and in the quans.

If you go without giving practice tests, that too practice tests with difficulty high level of questions. Your chances of good GRE Scores are negligible. You will end up with a average GRE score

The main advantage for me was that I got 4 analogies and 2 sentence completion questions straight from grebible practice tests. These questions were within my fist 10 questions. That boosted my gre score. Thank god else I would have been sitting with computers and doing silly things in my office.

Softwares used:

• Powerprep
• Grebible
• Barrons
• Arco

PowerPrep gives you the exact GRE Score which you will be your GRE Score plus or minus 10 - 20. Your Gre scores from power prep will be an exact replica of your actual GRE score.

I had no time to study for gre as my work is very hard. I used to come home only at 11 or 12 or even 2 in the night. But it was a passion for me to study MS. Initially it was very tough for me to find time for me to prepare for gre. I prepared very slowly for gre. Started with Barron's wordlist. After completing them when I took a diagnostic test, I was shocked at the results. Then one of my friend suggested Gre Vocabulary Bible from grebible. The software was cool.

Some General Tips:

1. Complete the math review in barron's with the exercises and also the one given by ETS.

2. Do math exercises in grebible. I found grebible math to be toughest of all.

3. On the day of test, free yourself from driving to the test center.

Take an auto or better still ask someone to drop you.

GRE scores on practice tests in the order I took, if it helps anyone:

PowerPrep1 GRE Score - Q - 740, V - 680

Princeton 1 GRE Score - Q - 780, V - 460

GreBible1 GRE Score - Q - 710, V-600

Princeton 2 GRE Score - Q - 770,

GreBible2 GRE Score - Q - 620, V-580

GreBible3 GRE Score - Q - 740, V-580

GreBible4 GRE Score - Q - 710, V-630

GreBible5 GRE Score - Q - 770, V-700

GreBible6 GRE Score - Q - 800, V-610

GreBible7 GRE Score - Q - 800, V-660

GreBible8 GRE Score - Q - 740, V-700

GreBible9 GRE Score - Q - 770, V-680

GreBible10 GRE Score - Q - 740, V-720

PowerPrep2 GRE Score - Q - 740, V - 680

As you guys can clearly see. Powerprep GRE score exactly reflects the actual gre scores.

GRE Testing Strategies

GRE Test Taking Tips

Some pople belive that preparing for standardized tests is a waste of time. Others feel that preparation is the key to scoring well. The fact is that even if you are unable to increase your I.Q. anytime in the near future, preparing to take standardized tests is very helpful. At the very least, you will gain valuable test-taking time by familiarizing yourself with the test format and the types of questions you will be asked. Here are some suggestions on how to prepare for specific standardized tests.

For the GRE General Test, the first place you should turn is the testing center itself, ETS. Contact the address above or call their publication phone number 1-800-537-3160 and order their booklet of past GRE General Tests (cost $15.00, 1994. You can also use the one sample test included in their registration package free of charge). Only ETS can give you actual tests used in the past. If you are interested in predicting how you will score on the GRE General Test, it is advisable to use one of these previous tests rather than register and take the current GRE as a "trial run." First of all, this method of testing yourself is less expensive. Secondly, once you take the GRE, your score is kept on file for five years and if you request that your results be sent to a graduate program, all scores from the past five years will be sent. (You can ask that only a GRE General Test Score be sent without a GRE Subject Tests score.) You don't want a poor score on your record  if it can be avoided. If you are interested in published guides, there are many available in local book stores. One of the most popular is How tp Prepare  for the Graduate Record Exam, published by Baron's Educational Series, Inc. If you are considering a prep-course, contact both of the programs below and ask them to send you more information about what they can do for you. Ask where the nearest training location is to you. Read their brochures carefully and then decide if they offer a significant advantage over your own personal preparation strategy. Sometimes the programs offer a free orientation session to show you exactly what they do. Ask about such sessions and attend them for both courses if possible. Prep courses are generally expensive (approx. $800, 1994) but if you feel that they can help you to increase your score, they might be worth the money.