GRE English Syllabus & Course
GRE Verbal Reasoning & Analytical Writing — complete syllabus and prep.
About GRE Verbal Reasoning
GRE Verbal is famously vocabulary-driven: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence reward a deep, precise vocabulary, while Reading Comprehension tests careful analysis of dense academic prose. The Analytical Writing task measures how clearly and logically you can build an argument.
Good to know
GRE Verbal leans more on advanced vocabulary than any other exam here — Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence are essentially vocabulary-in-context puzzles. Building word power gives the fastest score gains.
Exam format at a glance
| Structure | Two Verbal Reasoning sections (section-level adaptive), plus one Analytical Writing task. |
|---|---|
| Questions | 27 Verbal questions across two sections + 1 essay |
| Time | 41 minutes Verbal (about 18 + 23 min) + 30 minutes Analytical Writing |
| Section note | Verbal mixes reading comprehension with vocabulary-in-context questions; an on-screen word processor is used for the essay. |
| Question types | Reading Comprehension · Text Completion (fill 1–3 blanks) · Sentence Equivalence (two answers, same meaning) · Analyze an Issue (essay) |
| Scoring | Verbal Reasoning 130–170; Analytical Writing 0–6 in half-point steps. |
Full syllabus
Analysing and evaluating academic passages.
- Identifying main ideas, author's purpose and tone
- Drawing inferences and conclusions
- Understanding sentence and passage structure
- Select-in-passage and multiple-answer questions
- Distinguishing supported from unsupported claims
Filling one to three blanks to make a coherent passage.
- Vocabulary in context
- Logical relationships within a sentence/paragraph
- Reasoning from contrast, cause and continuation cues
Choosing two words that complete a sentence with the same meaning.
- Synonyms and near-synonyms in context
- Reading sentence logic to constrain meaning
One "Analyze an Issue" essay (separate, scored 0–6).
- Developing and supporting a position
- Organising ideas logically
- Control of standard written English
How to prepare
- Make vocabulary your top priority — it powers two of the three Verbal question types.
- Read dense non-fiction (science, humanities) to get comfortable with GRE-style passages.
- For Text Completion, predict the blank before reading the options.
- Practise the Issue essay with a clear thesis, structured body paragraphs and concrete examples.
Study material & tests
Exam-aligned practice and mocks for GRE are in development — this page is the syllabus and study roadmap.