Scoring of GRE
The GRE revised General Test has three subject sections: Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning.
Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning are both graded by machine. The machine counts up the total number of correct questions to get a raw score and then adjusts the score for difficulty level through a process called equating. The final equated score is reported on a scale from 130 to 170, with 170 being perfect.
Analytical Writing
The Analytical Writing test consists of two essays, so it can't be graded by a machine. For each of the two essays, one human reads it and gives it a score from 0 to 6 in half-point increments. Then, the essay gets plugged into a computer program called an e-rater.
The e-rater is a program that double-checks the human score for your essay. It scores the essay and compares its score to the human score. If they're basically the same, then the first human score is your final score. If they disagree, then a second human reads the essay and your score is the average of the two human-given scores.
Your final score for the entire section is the average of the scores for both essays.
Score Reporting
That's how the actual scoring works, but once you get your scores, you still have to worry about sending them to your schools.
The GRE has a score reporting process called ScoreSelect, which lets you manage your GRE scores and score reporting in detail. To break it down, here's a timeline of what options you have and when.
Immediately after you take the test, you'll be given two options:
- Cancel your scores without seeing them and go home with no record that you ever took the test.
- Accept your scores and see your unofficial Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning score.
If you choose to cancel, then there's nothing more to say. You won't see your scores and they won't be recorded anywhere, and they won't be sent to anyone. You'll just carry on your life as if you'd never taken a test at all. If you choose to accept your scores, here are your options:
- View your scores and go home without designating any recipients. They'll be on your permanent record, and you can send them later if you like.
- Designate up to four recipients and choose whether you want to send them just your most recent scores or all the scores from every GRE you've ever taken.
The four score reports that you can send on test day are included in the fee for your test, so you won't have to pay anything extra for them. This is the only opportunity you'll have to send any GRE scores without paying an extra fee. So, if you have schools you're sure about, take advantage of it.
Receiving Score
Official scores take 10-15 days to arrive and once they're up, you'll be able to see them online on the GRE website. If you've designated any schools as score recipients on test day, your scores will automatically be sent to those schools at that point; you don't have to do anything more.
But the score reporting saga doesn't end there! At any point after the test, you can also pay to send Additional Score Reports, score reports to schools other than the ones you chose on test day. For each Additional Score Report, you can send just your most recent scores, any combination of your past scores, or all the scores from every GRE you've ever taken.
What you can't do is mix and match. You can't send a Verbal Reasoning from one day with a Quantitative Reasoning from another. That would be nice but unfortunately, it's not an option.