Are you ready for the GRE? Try these sample GRE test questions as part of your preparation to see where you need to focus your study time. Answers are provided at the end of all the questions.
For more comprehensive preparation, check out Peterson’s full-length GRE practice test.
Antonyms
1. PALATABLE:
(A) culinary
(B) odorous
(C) unappetizing
(D) unflavored
(E) bland
Analogies
1. IMPREGNABLE : ASSAULT ::
(A) invincible : control
(B) independent : conquest
(C) inimitable : modification
(D) immutable : alteration
(E) intractable : destruction
Sentence Completions
1. The remarkable fact that many inventions had their birth as toys suggests that people philosophize more freely when they know that their —- leads to no —- results.
(A) cogitation … trivial
(B) persistence … satisfactory
(C) speculation … weighty
(D) creativity … measurable
(E) conjecture … inconsequential
Reading Comprehension
With the ascendance of Toni Morrison’s literary star, it has become commonplace for critics to de-racialize her by saying that Morrison is not just a “Black woman writer,” that she has moved beyond the limiting confines of race and gender to larger “universal” issues. Yet Morrison, a Nobel laureate with six highly acclaimed novels, bristles at having to choose between being a writer or a Black woman writer, and willingly accepts critical classification as the latter.
To call her simply a writer denies the key roles that Morrison’s African-American roots and her Black female perspective have played in her work. For instance, many of Morrison’s characters treat their dreams as “real,” are nonplussed by visitations from dead ancestors, and generally experience intimate connections with beings whose existence isn’t empirically verifiable. While critics might see Morrison’s use of the supernatural as purely a literary device, Morrison herself explains, “That’s simply the way the world was for me and the Black people I knew.”
Just as her work has given voice to this little-remarked facet of African-American culture, it has affirmed the unique vantage point of the Black woman. “I really feel the range of emotion and perception I have had access to as a Black person and a female person are greater than that of people who are neither,” says Morrison. “My world did not shrink because I was a Black female writer. It just got bigger.”
1. The author of the passage is chiefly concerned with:
(A) explaining Morrison’s own viewpoint on the role of her race and gender in her novels.
(B) assessing the significance of the Black female perspective in the modern American novel.
(C) acknowledging Morrison’s success in giving voice to unknown aspects of the African-American experience.
(D) presenting an argument in favor of “de-racializing” Morrison.
(E) explaining why being a writer and being a Black female writer are distinct critical classifications.
2. Morrison’s use of the supernatural in her novels is mentioned by the author in order to explain:
(A) why some critics categorize her as a “writer” but not a “Black woman writer.”
(B) the distinction between drawing from one’s personal experience and using a literary device.
(C) the enormous critical acclaim Morrison’s novels have received.
(D) one way in which Morrison’s novels are rooted in her experience as an African-American woman.
(E) one of the universal themes that is woven throughout Morrison’s novels.
Math Multiple-Choice
1. Which of the following is a common factor of both x2 – 4x – 5 and x2 – 6x – 7?
(A) x – 5
(B) x – 7
(C) x – 1
(D) x + 5
(E) x + 1
Quantitative Comparisons
1. If the quantity in Column A is greater, select choice (A). If the quantity in Column B is greater, select choice (B). If the two columns are equal, select choice (C). If the relationship cannot be determined from the information given, select choice (D).
xy = 21
x < 3
Column A: 7
Column B: y
(A) Quantity in Column A is greater.
(B) Quantity in Column B is greater.
(C) Two columns are equal.
(D) Relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
Analytical Writing Assessment (sample only)
Present your perspective on the issue below, using relevant reasons and/or examples to support your views.
“Schools should be responsible only for teaching academic skills and not for teaching ethical and social values.”
GRE Answers
Antonyms
1. The correct answer is (C). Literally, palatable means “acceptable to the taste” or “agreeable in flavor.” The word unappetizing means “not appetizing”, or “not palatable.”
Analogies
1. The correct answer is (D). To be impregnable is to be able to withstand almost any kind of assault; to be immutable is to be unchangeable and therefore able to turn away virtually any kind of alteration.
Sentence Completions
1. The correct answer is (C). To fit the idea of inventions originating as toys, we want the second bank to suggest “results” that are not serious or important — the opposite of what we think about toys. Hence, “weighty.”
Reading Comprehension
1. The correct answer is (A). Notice that the first paragraph says that Morrison “bristles” at how her work is sometimes described, and that the second and third paragraphs quote her own comments. Clearly, the passage is mainly concerned with presenting Morrison’s own viewpoint about her writing.
2. The correct answer is (D). See the first sentence of the second paragraph, which makes clear the underlying point being made by the author in citing the use of the supernatural in Morrison’s writing.
Math Multiple-Choice
1. The correct answer is (E). x2 – 4x – 5 = (x – 5)(x + 1), and x2 – 6x – 7 = (x – 7)(x + 1). The common factor is x + 1, choice (E).
Quantitative Comparisons
1. The correct answer is (D). Take two examples. If x = 1, then y = 21, and Column B is greater. On the other hand, take x = –1, then y = –21, and Column A is greater. Therefore, (D) is correct.
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