GRE : Verbal Reasoning

The Verbal Reasoning section of the GRE General Test will challenge your knowledge of English Grammar, Reading Comprehension and most importantly Vocabulary. The main challenge would be to understand and analyze these concepts in context rather than in isolation. 

So, let’s start by understanding the basics of the section.

The three types of questions that you will encounter on the Verbal Reasoning section are:

• Text Completion

• Sentence Equivalence

• Reading Comprehension

Text Completion

Text Completion questions consist of short sections of text with one or more blanks. You have to choose the best word that fits the blank/s from the options provided. Here, you will have to understand the context of the whole text and then accordingly fill the blanks. 

There are approx. 6 questions of Text Completion in each Verbal section and it takes about 1-1.5 minutes for each question, depending on the number of blanks (1-3). In questions containing a single blank, you will have 5 choices and those with two or three blanks will have 3 answer choices.

Remember you will not get any partial credit for getting some blanks correct. You have to answer all the blanks correctly and then only you will score a point for that question. So be sure to read the question carefully.

Sentence Equivalence

Each Verbal section will have approx. 4 questions of Sentence Equivalence. It takes around 1 minute to answer each question. 

This question type will have a sentence with one word missing and you must identify two correct words to complete the sentence. The correct answer choices are such that they when they are used in the sentence, they both result in the same meaning for the sentence. So, you will have to use the meaning of the entire sentence so as to complete it.

As in the Text Completion question, here also you will not get any partial credit for only one correct answer. Both answer choices that you select need to be correct in order for you to score a point. 

Both the Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions will be a check of your vocabulary. It is important to know the meaning of the words so that you can associate them with the context of the sentence before choosing your answer. 

Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension tests your core skill to understand, analyze and interpret densely written material. You will have to work on recognizing vocabulary and grammatical elements within each text and thus use them to derive the meaning of the whole text. The GRE majorly takes its topics from disciplines of social sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences and the arts and humanities. The texts may be derived from academic or non-academic journals or periodicals. 

There are roughly 10 reading passages with 20 questions spread between the two Verbal Reasoning sections of the GRE. The length of these passages vary and you can encounter 1-6 questions that will test you around the following skills:

• ascertain the purpose and scope of the passage

• what inferences can be drawn from the statements in a            passage

• understand the meaning of the words and their function in     the passage

• analyze the assumptions inherent in the passage

• understand the details provided in the text.

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