Understanding Your Scores

Your official GRE® score report contains your:

• Contact information (name, phone number and email)
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Intended graduate major
• Test date(s)
• GRE test score(s) and the associated percentile ranks
• Authorized score recipients or fellowship sponsors and the scores reported to those institutions
• Cumulative record of scores reported within the last five years

Official score reports sent to the institutions you designate include your:

• Contact information (name, address, phone number, email)
• Intended graduate major
• GRE test score(s) and the associated percentile ranks

Score reports sent to institutions will not include any information concerning the other score recipients you have chosen. Additionally, institution score reports include only the scores that you selected to send to them using the ScoreSelect® option. There will be no special indication if you have taken additional GRE tests. See a sample institution score report.

In late 2014, ETS will make test-taker photos and essay responses on the Analytical Writing section of the revised General Test available to designated score recipients as part of an institutional portal that we are launching. Photos and Analytical Writing essay responses of all individuals who report their scores to institutions on or after July 1, 2014, will be included in the portal when it is launched. In the portal, the photo and essay responses from each General Test administration you select from your five-year reportable history will be made available as part of your score record to the institutions you designated to receive your scores on or after July 1, 2014.

GRE® revised General Test Interpretative Data
(for tests taken on or after August 1, 2011)

The following resources will help you gain a better understanding of what your scores mean and how we advise institutions to use them.

• 2014–2015 Interpreting Your GRE® Scores — Includes information to assist you in interpreting your GRE scores. This publication is also included with your mailed score report.
• Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning Interpretive Data Used on Score Reports — Includes Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores on the 130–170 scale in 1-point increments and the corresponding percentile ranks.
• Analytical Writing Interpretative Data Used on Score Reports — Includes Analytical Writing scores on the 0–6 scale in half-point increments and the corresponding percentile ranks.
• GRE Guide to the Use of Scores — Provides information about the appropriate use of GRE scores and interpretive data.
• General Test Percentage Distribution of Scores Within Intended Broad Graduate Major Field — Contains Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing data for seniors and nonenrolled college graduates (reported that they earned their college degrees up to two years prior to their test date) who stated that they intended to do graduate work in one of approximately 300 major fields. The score data are summarized by broad graduate major field categories so that applicants can be compared to others likely to be most similar to them in educational goals.

GRE® General Test Interpretative Data
(for tests taken before August 1, 2011)

The following resources will help you gain a better understanding of what your scores mean and how we advise institutions to use them.

Score reports include Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores on the prior 200–800 scale, in 10-point increments, as well as estimated Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores on the current 130–170 score scale, in one-point increments. See a sample score report.

• Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning Concordance Information — Contains two concordance tables: one for the Verbal Reasoning measure and one for the Quantitative Reasoning measure. The table for each measure provides scores on the prior 200–800 score scales, the corresponding estimated scores on the current 130–170 score scales and the corresponding percentile ranks.

Score Reporting

GRE scores are part of your reportable history for five years after the testing year in which you tested (July 1 to June 30). Currently, scores earned from July 1, 2009, to the present are available. With the ScoreSelect option, you can decide which scores to send to the institutions you designate. See Sending Your Scores.

Note: Scores from individuals who tested between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009, were purged from the GRE database in mid-June 2014. Scores from individuals who tested between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, will be purged from the GRE database in mid-June 2015.

Percentile Rank

Each GRE test score is reported with a corresponding percentile rank. A percentile rank for a score indicates the percentage of examinees who took that test and received a lower score. Regardless of when the reported scores were earned, the percentile ranks for General Test and Subject Test scores are based on the scores of all examinees who tested within a recent time period.

See also:

• Understanding your GRE Subject Test Scores
• GRE Comparison Tool for Business Schools