GRE VERBAL WORKSHOP

August 2018

Amna Mahmood
Outline

▪ Introduction
▪ Brief introduction of GRE
▪ Analytical Writing
– Issue essay
– Argument essay

▪ Verbal Reasoning
– Text Completion
– Sentence Equivalence
– Reading Comprehensions
▪ General tips on studying for Verbal

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1. Introduction

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2. Brief Introduction of GRE

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What is GRE General Test?

▪ It is a standardized test accepted by thousands of graduate and

business schools worldwide
▪ GRE scores are used by university admissions to supplement your
undergraduate grades, recommendation letters and other
qualifications for graduate-level study
▪ It tests skills that you would need to succeed in today’s demanding
graduate and business school programs

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What is on the GRE?

▪ Analytical Writing
– Issue essay
– Argument essay

▪ Quantitative Reasoning
– Two Sections

▪ Verbal Reasoning
– Two Sections

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What is the structure of GRE

GRE (3 hrs 45 mins)

AW Verbal Quant
(60 mins) (60 mins) (70 mins)
- Two sections 30 each - Two sections 35 each
- Issue (30)
- 20 questions per - 20 questions per
- Argumentative (30)
section section

▪ An unidentified unscored or identified research section (30 or 35 minutes)

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How is GRE graded?

▪ The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures are

section-level adaptive
▪ The score accounts for minor variations in difficulty among the
different test editions as well as the differences in difficulty
introduced by the section-level adaptation
▪ For the Analytical Writing section, each essay receives a score from at
least one trained reader and a trained reader, the average of the two
scores is used as the final score
▪ There is no negative grading!

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What is a good GRE score?

▪ There is no good score!

▪ Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores are on the 130-
170 scale and corresponding percentile ranks
▪ Analytical Writing scores are on the 0-6 scale and corresponding
percentile ranks
▪ Scores are valid for five years
▪ Gives you the option to send your best scores

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Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning
Interpretive Data used on Score Reports

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How much does GRE cost?

▪ It’s expensive!
▪ So practice, practice, practice before you decide to take it

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3. Analytical Writing

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What does Analytical Writing assess?

▪ measure tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills

▪ assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas,
construct and evaluate arguments, and sustain a focused and
coherent discussion
▪ does not assess specific content knowledge.

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What does Analytical Writing assess?

▪ a 30- minute “Analyze an Issue” task

▪ A 30- minute “Analyze and Argument” task

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What does Analytical Writing assess?

▪ a 30- minute “Analyze an Issue” task

▪ A 30- minute “Analyze and Argument” task

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Issue Essay

Example:
As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the
ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and
explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and
supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the
statement might or might not hold true and explain how these
considerations shape your position.

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Argument Essay

Example:
In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating and
fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Mason River flowing
through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park
department devotes little of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational
facilities. For years there have been complaints from residents about the
quality of the river's water and the river's smell. In response, the state has
recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water
sports is therefore sure to increase. The city government should for that
reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational
facilities.
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions
of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on the
assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove
unwarranted.
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4. Verbal Reasoning

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What does Verbal Reasoning assess?

▪ assesses your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and

synthesize information obtained from it
▪ analyze relationships among component parts of sentences and
recognize relationships among words and concepts

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Question type

▪ Quantitative Reasoning measure has three types of questions:

1) Text Completion
2) Sentence Equivalence
3) Reading Comprehension

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Text Completion

▪ Passage composed of one to five sentences

▪ One to three blanks
▪ Three answer choices per blank (five answer choices in the case of a
single blank)
▪ Single correct answer, consisting of one choice for each blank; no
credit for partially correct answers

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Text Completion

1. In parts of the Arctic, the land grades into the landfast ice
so _______ that you can walk off the coast and not know you are over
the hidden sea.

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Text Completion

2. Vain and prone to violence, Caravaggio could not handle

success: the more his (i)__________ as an artist increased, the
more (ii)__________ his life became.

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Text Completion
3. It is refreshing to read a book about our planet by an author who
does not allow facts to be (i)__________ by politics: well aware of the
political disputes about the effects of human activities on climate and
biodiversity, this author does not permit them to (ii)__________ his
comprehensive description of what we know about our biosphere. He
emphasizes the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of
our observations, and the (iii)__________, calling attention to the many
aspects of planetary evolution that must be better understood before
we can accurately diagnose the condition of our planet.

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Sentence Equivalence
▪ Consists of:
– a single sentence
– one blank
– six answer choices

▪ Requires you to select two of the answer choices; no credit for

partially correct answers.

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Sentence Equivalence
1. Although it does contain some pioneering ideas, one would
hardly characterize the work as __________.
A) orthodox
B) eccentric
C) original
D) trifling
E) conventional
F) innovative

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Sentence Equivalence
2. It was her view that the country's problems had
been _______ by foreign technocrats, so that to ask for such assistance
again would be counterproductive.
A) ameliorated
B) ascertained
C) diagnosed
D) exacerbated
E) overlooked
F) worsened

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Reading Comprehension – Question Types
▪ Multiple-choice — Select One Answer Choice
These are traditional multiple-choice questions with five answer choices,
of which you must select one.
▪ Multiple-choice — Select One or More Answer Choices
These questions provide three answer choices and ask you to select all
that are correct; one, two or all three of the answer choices may be
correct. To gain credit for these questions, you must select all the correct
answers, there is no credit for partially correct answers.
▪ Select-in-Passage
These questions ask you to click on the sentence in the passage that
meets a certain description.

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Reading Comprehension – Example
▪ Questions 1 to 3 are based on this passage.
Reviving the practice of using elements of popular music in classical
composition, an approach that had been in hibernation in the United
States during the 1960s, composer Philip Glass (born 1937) embraced
the ethos of popular music in his compositions. Glass based two
symphonies on music by rock musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno,
but the symphonies' sound is distinctively his. Popular elements do not
appear out of place in Glass's classical music, which from its early days
has shared certain harmonies and rhythms with rock music. Yet this use
of popular elements has not made Glass a composer of popular music.
His music is not a version of popular music packaged to attract classical
listeners; it is high art for listeners steeped in rock rather than
the classics.

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Reading Comprehension – Example
1. Select only one answer choice.
▪ The passage addresses which of the following issues related to
Glass's use of popular elements in his classical compositions?
A) How it is regarded by listeners who prefer rock to the classics
B) How it has affected the commercial success of Glass's music
C) Whether it has contributed to a revival of interest among other composers in
using popular elements in their compositions
D) Whether it has had a detrimental effect on Glass's reputation as a composer of
classical music
E) Whether it has caused certain of Glass's works to be derivative in quality

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Reading Comprehension – Example
2. Consider each of the three choices separately and select all
that apply.
▪ The passage suggests that Glass's work displays which of the
following qualities?
A) A return to the use of popular music in classical compositions
B) An attempt to elevate rock music to an artistic status more closely
approximating that of classical music
C) A long-standing tendency to incorporate elements from two apparently
disparate musical styles

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Reading Comprehension – Example
3. Select the sentence that distinguishes two ways of integrating
rock and classical music.

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5. General tips on studying
for Verbal

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Thank you!

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