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Key strategies that will help you ace GRE Verbal Reasoning section

Key strategies that will help you ace GRE Verbal Reasoning section

Test takers of GRE in India have increased from 56,782 to 114,64 in India from 2012-2013 to 2021-2022 as per the data provided by ETS. This is a 63 per cent increase from the year before, i.e., 70,136 in 2020-21. The GRE test is an objective assessment of skills. A holistic picture of the applicant’s strengths and weaknesses can be assessed through this test by the admissions committee. It provides information about the reasoning, analytical, critical thinking and writing skills of the test taker.

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is a standardized test which has been created more than 70 years ago and it is administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). In order for the selection of applicants for admission to graduate and business programs, the scores of GRE are used as one of the crucial factors. For graduate and professional schools, the GRE is the most popular admission test in the world. It can be seen that each year, more than 700,000 people take the test.

Test takers of GRE in India have increased from 56,782 to 114,64 in India from 2012-2013 to 2021-2022 as per the data provided by ETS. This is a 63 per cent increase from the year before, i.e., 70,136 in 2020-21. The GRE test is an objective assessment of skills. A holistic picture of the applicant’s strengths and weaknesses can be assessed through this test by the admissions committee. It provides information about the reasoning, analytical, critical thinking and writing skills of the test taker. The test structure of the GRE exam consists of:

  • Analytical Reasoning,
  • Verbal Reasoning,
  • Quantitative Reasoning, and
  • Research Section.

The Verbal Reasoning Section – A gist

Through the verbal reasoning section of the test, the capacity of the student to analyze interlinkages between sentence components, synthesize information, evaluate written content, and identify linkages between words and concepts are tested. Three types of questions comprise this section which include text completion, reading comprehension, and sentence equivalence.

There are a total of 40 questions in the Verbal Reasoning section. The entire section must be answered within 60 minutes of time. 20 questions are present in each segment which must be solved in 30 minutes each. Nearly 10–13 questions are posed to the candidates that are relevant to each of the 5-7 reading passages of varying length given in the examination. Below is a detailed scrutiny of the GRE Verbal Reasoning syllabus.

Verbal Reasoning Syllabus of GRE

The Verbal Reasoning Syllabus of the GRE comprises three questions:

Reading Comprehension

In order to assess the abilities of the individual to read and comprehend the different kinds of prose that appear in graduate school, the reading comprehension questions are formulated. The various skills that are assessed through this section include your capacity to comprehend the meaning of each sentence and word, understand the meaning of longer texts and paragraphs, recognize and separate the main themes from the supporting details given in the passage, etc.

Therefore, the reading comprehension component does not only focus on merely understanding texts and words passively but also demands that the student go beyond that and encourages active participation. Active participation refers to asking questions as well as reflecting on the relationship between a give text to other texts and information.

The following types of questions are mainly comprised in the reading comprehension section:       

  • Multiple choice questions that have five options under which only one answer is correct.
  • Multiple choice questions that have three options under which one must select all the correct answers.
  • Choosing the correct sentence given within the passage that matches the description given.
  • Identifying the connection between the given options and the highlighted sentence.
Text Completion

An adept reader generally goes beyond the skill of mere absorption of information. They tend to focus constantly on interpretation and evaluation. They also reason the given information provided in order to create a picture whole picture. This ability of the test taker is assessed through the text completion segment of the verbal reasoning section.

The text completion segment omits crucial words from short texts deliberately. Moreover, it demands that the test taker employs the information that is available in the text as a basis for selecting short phrases or words in order to fill in the blanks. By filling in the blanks, a coherent and meaningful content is created.

In this section, three types of questions are asked:

  • Questions with single blank containing five answer choices.
  • Questions with double blank containing three answer choices.
  • Questions with triple blank containing three answer choices.
Sentence Equivalence

Just like the text completion section, the sentence equivalence section also tests the ability of the individual to determine how a passage should be completed based on the given partial information. However, the focus of the sentence equivalence section is largely on the meaning of the given completed passage.

Questions in this section consist of a single sentence that is presented with just one blank. The test taker will have to select two of the answer choices out of the given six that result in a coherent and complete sentence. Moreover, the two sentences must mean the same thing. The candidate must never forget that he/ she will not be given any credit for answers that are partially correct.

Important points that must be remembered

  • One must never undermine the cruciality of developing the habit of reading newspapers and publications in the English language. They must also engage in paraphrasing exercises.
  • When one brings the important words into daily use, they will be able to memorize vocabulary easily.
  • Every day, new words and phrases must be learnt by the aspirants. Moreover, it is necessary to learn synonyms for every new word that one reads.
  • One must never forget that time management is the key. In order to do so, one must solve easy and known questions first and then move to the harder ones.
  • Do not skip any part of the passage and read them thoroughly. However, reading the passage again and again will confuse you and it is not advisable.
  • Remember to mark all possible answers if one or more answers are correct in a question. As there are no negative marking, it is not advisable to leave any question blank.
  • Review your mistakes and work on them after solving official GRE verbal reasoning practice questions.

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