Before you plan your course of study for the GRE General Test, you need to know what to expect on test day. In this article, you’ll get a detailed breakdown of the format of the GRE computer-based test and the different question types you’ll encounter on the exam.

To start, let’s review the GRE test format by focusing on the sections of the GRE and some important features for navigating them.


“The three Rs,” reading, writing, and arithmetic, make up the foundational topics covered on the GRE General Test. Specifically, the Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning sections test those skills in students needing to take the test for graduate school admission.

Let’s take a look at the basic structure of the GRE.

As you can see in the chart above, a total of six sections are presented on the GRE. The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections are both scored on a scale of 130-170 and are combined to make up your total score. Analytical Writing is scored separately on a scale of 1-6.

Aside from the writing section, each section contains the same number of questions, although you have slightly more time to complete the Quantitative Reasoning questions than you do for verbal questions.

Before we delve into each of the scored sections of the exam further, let’s talk about the unscored (experimental) or research section, which is the only section of the GRE that is not scored.


Each GRE has either an unscored (experimental) section or a research section. The unscored section may appear at any point during the exam after the Analytical Writing task. It is not identified as an unscored section. If instead you are presented with a research section (as opposed to an unscored section), it will always be the final section of the exam, and it will be identified as such. The research section also is not scored.

The unscored/research section may be either a Verbal section or a Quantitative section. So, let’s say there is an unscored quantitative section on your exam. Since the unscored section is not identified as such, if you are presented with 3 Quantitative sections during the exam, you will not know which of the 3 sections is the unscored one. So, you must treat each section as one that will contribute to your score. Do your absolute best!

Alternatively, let’s say there is a research section on your exam, and it is a Verbal section. Although the research section is marked as such, since it always appears as the final section of your exam (and you will not be told beforehand whether you’ll see an unscored or research section), you still will not know when you’re completing the previous Verbal sections whether they are scored or not. So, you still must treat all of the preceding sections as though they are being scored.

We’ll talk about each of the scored sections in detail shortly. For now, let’s take a look at some of the important features of the exam to be aware of as you’re completing each section.


Regardless of the section, or whether you take the test at home or at a test center, there are certain key features with which you need to be familiar. Let’s look at five features to be aware of as you navigate through the GRE.


Within each Quant and Verbal section, you can skip a question and go back to it as long as your time for the section has not run out. However, once you move on to the next section, you can’t go back to questions you skipped in previous sections.

For example, if you skip a question in the first Verbal section and want to return to it later, you must do so before the time allotted for that section runs out. Once you move on to the next section, you are not able to go back to any question in the prior section.

Additionally, there is a mark-and-review feature that allows you to mark any questions you may want to return to later. This feature could come in handy not only for questions you’ve skipped, but also for questions you’ve answered that you’re not 100% sure about.