GRE Sections Verbal Reasoning Question Types

Verbal Reasoning sections make up two of the five sections on the GRE and consist of three categories of question: Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, and Sentence Equivalence. Reading Comprehension features several questions related to the analysis of a passage of text. Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence are self-contained questions that present a section of text with words missing, which test-takers must complete from a list of vocabulary words or phrases. About half of the questions on the Verbal Reasoning section will be Reading Comprehension questions, and the other half will be a mixture of Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions.

Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension questions feature a passage of text that varies in length from one paragraph to four or five paragraphs. Passages are drawn from everyday topics including arts, humanities, social sciences, as well as physical and biological sciences. The passages are based on material found in academic and nonacademic books and periodicals, and because of this, they are likely to be very uninteresting compared to what you usually read for entertainment.

Reading Comprehension questions are presented in one of three question formats: Multiple Choice (select one answer), Multiple Choice (select one or more answers), and Select-in-passage. Select-in-passage questions ask students to select one sentence in the passage that meets the description posed in the question (clicking anywhere on a sentence will highlight it).

When you are taking the test, it is important to distinguish between the two different types of multiple choice questions and ensure that you answer each type appropriately. One way to remember what type of question you are answering is to pay attention to the formatting of the test: single-answer multiple choice questions use “bubble” formatting for the answers (so you can only select one answer at a time), whereas multiple-answer multiple choice questions use “box-selection” formatting for the answers (so that you can select one or multiple answers, as appropriate).

For multiple-answer multiple choice, make sure that you select every correct answer! This can initially be challenging for test-takers used to a certain test format, but if you are going to maximize your score, this is a habit you must form while taking practice tests. If you fail to select every correct answer on a multiple-answer multiple choice question, you will not receive credit for the question and it will be graded as incorrect, losing valuable points as the result of an oversight that could have been avoided with proper focus.

Sentence Equivalence

Sentence Equivalence questions consist of a single sentence, one blank, and six answer choices. These questions require test-takers to select two correct answers that are equivalent and complete the sentence in the same way. If you choose one correct answer and one incorrect answer, you will not receive any credit for the question, as both answers must be correct in order to receive points. To select the correct answer, students must select the two words that complete the sentence, fit its meaning, and produce completed sentences that are similar in meaning.

It may be tempting to try to “cheat” at Sentence Equivalence questions by looking first at the vocabulary list to find pairs of similar words. Resist this temptation! The correct answers may not be synonymous, since all that matters for each question is the meaning of the two completed sentences. In addition, because test makers realize the temptation to rush through these problelms or only partially solve them, the provided vocabulary lists are very likely to include synonyms or other pairs of similar words that cannot be used to complete the sentence correctly but will trick you into selecting them.

Text Completion

Text Completion questions include a passage of 1-5 sentences with 1-3 blanks in it. There are three answers per blank, or five answers if there is only a single blank. There is a single correct answer, consisting of one choice for each blank, and similar to other questions, partially correct answers receive zero credit.

While the structure of Text Completion questions is the easiest type of question to understand, the presence of multiple blanks can be challenging on test day because it requires you to consider the cohesive meaning of the entire passage, and how your word choices play into that. Do not assume that you must fill the blanks in order—it may be easier to fill the last blank first, or to work outward from the middle. Regardless of your work order, make sure that each word selection contributes to the overall meaning of the passage.

Section Adaptation

The GRE General Test is adaptive at the section level. The first section is an average difficulty, with a mix of easy and difficult questions. After you complete your first Verbal Reasoning section, the computer will evaluate your performance and present an appropriately difficult second Verbal Reasoning section. Students who perform well on the first section can “level up” to a second section with more difficult questions. While test-takers may be tempted to perform poorly on the first section in order to be asked easier questions in the second second, test prep experts caution against doing this, as the difficulty level of a section is tied to your final score.

The effects of section adaptation are taken into account when the final “scaled score” is calculated. More difficult tests receive higher scaled scores in a process known as “equating”. The ETS website provides additional details about the testing methodology and scoring system of the GRE, including the latest research on exam design and validation as well as the information that is shared with institutions of higher learning. For students concerned about the methodology of the exam or use of section adaptation, ETS is the best available resource for learning more about the GRE and how it assesses what it purports to measure.