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Considering returning to college for your master’s degree? Depending on your course of study and the university in which you are applying, you will likely have to take one of the following standardized tests; the graduate record exam, or GRE, or the graduate management admission test, or GMAT.
Here are a few facts on the two tests:
The GRE exam is generally required by most universities for entrance into their master’s degree programs, with the exception of the school’s business and law school programs, which generally require that students take the GMAT. However, some schools are accepting one or the other.
While the GRE is mainly focused on assessing the test taker’s vocabulary and reading skills, via its three sections, the essay part, the verbal reasoning part and the quantitative reasoning part, there are also math questions on the test. The essay portion is scored based on a scale of zero to six, and the reasoning parts are scored on a scale of 200 to 800.
The GMAT is more focused on the test taker’s analytical skills and is more math-based though there are ample portions devoted to reasoning and vocabulary. Test scores are broken down into the following categories:
- Verbal
- Quantitative
- Total scaled score
- Analytical writing assessment
The verbal and quantitative scores are on a scale of zero to 60, while the total scaled score is from 200 to 800, and the writing assessment is scored on a scale of zero to six.
