Everything You Need to Know about Graduate Record Examinations


If you’re thinking about applying to graduate school in the future, you’re going to want to learn about the GRE, or Graduate Record Examinations. It’s a standardized test that is required as part of the application to many graduate programs. While the fields of medicine, law, and business have their own entrance exams, (law schools and business schools will occasionally accept the GRE in place of the LSAT or GMAT), students hoping to pursue other fields will likely be required to submit their GRE scores.

You can think of the GRE as the SAT or ACT for graduate school. It’s not testing your knowledge on any particular subject (with the exception of math), but rather your ability to comprehend, analyze, argue, and interpret. Questions on the computer-administered version of the test are adaptive, meaning that the questions you must answer vary in difficulty based on your answers to the previous questions; if you answer early questions correctly, the following questions will get harder, and vice versa.

Text and design by: Anna Palmer

Start preparing for the GRE well in advance of your test date. You can find free preparation materials online or purchase a book if you prefer to put pencil to paper. No matter your method, spending time learning the way that questions are phrased and the best approach to the different sections is your key to scoring well.

Good luck!


About Anna Palmer

Anna grew up loving everything that involved art and creativity. She received a scholarship to attend Memphis College of Art where she studied graphic design. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Anna worked as a graphic designer until she decided to expand her skill set by studying advertising and marketing. She thought knowing how consumers think would help maximize her design skills. She then attended Portland State University where she earned her second degree, a BS in advertising management.

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