The GRE: How do Countries Stack Up?

By Malcolm Aquino on December 3, 2013

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test preparation for over 90 standardized tests including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT and MCAT. To learn more about Kaplan’s Test Prep offerings, click here.

The GRE, or Graduate Record Examination, is the standardized test that universities use as part of their application process for graduate school.  The test is made up of six sections covering verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing.  Students from all over the world take the GRE in hopes of getting accepted to graduate programs at English speaking universities.  The Educational Testing Service (ETS) recently published the average scores for each section of the thirteen countries that have the most test takers.  Looking at the different scores helps determine how each demographic is doing in each section.  Each country has its strong points and low points.  So let’s look at the numbers.

Photo by Hanumann on flickr.com

For the verbal reasoning section of the test, all of the native English speaking countries (Canada, Australia, Britain, and the United States) scored the highest out of all of the other countries on the list.  Australia tops the Anglophonic score chart with an average score of 158.4.  American students rank at the bottom of the group, with an average score of 152.9, only 0.6 points higher than German students.  The reason that these countries score higher on this section is the familiarity of language.  The test is written in English, and students from these four countries don’t have to worry about learning a new language to take the test, so there is more time to focus on the questions of the GRE.

Quantitative reasoning is another story however.  The top four scores in this section of the test are China, Hong Kong (still not quite part of China), Turkey, and South Korea, averaging a score of 159.8.  The four Anglophonic countries scored an average of 152.9.  The United States scored the lowest of the bunch, with a score of 149.5.  In the verbal section however, the four Asian countries had some of the lowest scores in the verbal reasoning section with an average score of 146.3.  Asian languages are so different from English that it takes Asian students longer to learn how to read and write in English, explaining the lower scores in verbal reasoning and writing.  An interesting story to point out is the rampant cheating that has spread throughout China.  Students have begun memorizing questions from their test and posted the questions and answers on various sites on the Internet.  China is the only country that has an average score, on any section, in the 160 range.  This story does not mean that all Chinese students are cheaters, as many have proven not to be, but it is an interesting insight into how things are in other countries.

The final section, analytical writing, fairs much like verbal reasoning, with Australia leading the pack once again.  The top four verbal reasoning countries are once again at the top of the list for analytical writing.  The United States is tied with Germany, with an average score of 3.9.  The lowest score is Saudi Arabia with an average of 2.2.  Saudi Arabia also has the lowest verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning scores as well.

Through this data, it seems like American students are doing well, but not well enough to be anywhere above fourth place.  It should be noted that there are almost ten times as many American students taking the GRE as the next biggest test taking country, India.  Over 300,000 students from the United States take the GRE every year.  There are many more scores that average into the equation, so the numbers may not be as high as other places.

The GRE is a test that is taken all over the world in many different countries.  Students from all over are trying to make it to graduate school.  The ETS does a good job of tracking scores from different countries to give us a picture of how students are doing.  The results are not that surprising, with Anglophonic countries leading the way in the verbal and writing sections, and Asian countries leading the way in quantitative reasoning.  The United States is in the middle of the pack for every section, but American students are far from the lowest.  It will be interesting to see how scores in the coming years will change.

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