John is a young student, and has a firm desire to complete his higher education from a renowned university in the United States. He is aware that he needs a good GRE score to turn his dreams into reality. He has even joined an online class for good preparations of the exam. However, what is the scale on which GRE scores are measured, and what should his target be in order to get admission to his favorite university? Like John, many young students, keen to pursue higher studies in the United States, have many questions regarding the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Since this is a very important examination, which can affect the entire career of a student, having thorough knowledge of the scale of GRE scores is a must. Understanding the GRE Scoring Scale The two most important sections of GRE are the quantitative reasoning and verbal reasoning. The scores in these two forms of reasoning are determined on a sale of 200 to 800 points, with an increase of ten points. Both the GRE verbal score range and GRE quantitative score range are between 200 and 800. If you are giving a computerized GRE, there will be fifty eight questions, and with each question, you will get a few options to choose the right answer. Solving multiple-choice questions is not just guess work, but requires in-depth knowledge and the ability to think fast You should be aware of the fact that analytical writing is reported on the scale of 0 to 6 in GRE. In the computer-based test, quantitative scores depend on the number of questions which are attempted. GRE is an extremely competitive examination The average score for the verbal section is 460, while that for the quantitative section is 590. The writing section has an average score of 4.0. Under the revised system, the GRE verbal score range is between 130 and 170, with a single point increment. On the other hand, quantitative reasoning scoring is also between 130 and 170, with single point increments again. However, the analytical writing score does not change in the revised structure, and is between 0 and 6, with half point increments. The total score for GRE can range from 400 to 1600. For the analytical writing section, if the scores are 5.5 or 6, then it is an indicator that the student has understood all his concepts well, and has good a intelligence quotient and the ability to apply the knowledge he has learned. However, if the same score is 2.5 or 3, then it can be concluded that the candidate is lacking developmental skills, and needs to improve a lot. If you wish to graduate in life sciences, then a score of 568 in Mathematics and 464 in verbal section can be acceptable. As we discussed above, the scaled score is in the range of 200 and 800. However, there is another concept known as percentile, which is between 0 and 99%. The use of percentile is to understand how you have performed in the test as compared to other candidates. For example, if your scaled score is 800, then your percentile would be 99, and if the scaled score is 780, then the percentile would be 98. The percentile would be 0 for a score of 200, and for a score of 300, the percentile would be 8. One thing you should remember is that percentile rankings are not sent to the schools for the admission process.