Interpreting Your GRE Percentile Score and Creating College List

So if you’re going for the top programs in the country and you’re in the 85th GRE percentile, you almost certainly need to boost your score. By contrast, an 85th percentile school could be a very strong score for a less selective program.

However, students scoring a 164 on the Revised GRE are equated to students scoring a 790 on the old GRE, and both are given a 90th percentile rank….Revised GRE scores v. Old GRE scores (including percentile ranks)

If your programs’ averages are around 330, this will be a good score for you as it’s likely to make you a competitive applicant. But if your programs’ averages are more than 330, you’ll need to aim higher to give yourself a better chance of admission.

Since the GRE is not typically scored on a total scale of 260-340, you won’t find percentiles for the test as a whole but rather for each section….What Is a Good GRE Score, Generally Speaking?

In actuality, though, your GRE score does matter, even if it doesn’t always matter to the same extent for every program. A really low score can pretty thoroughly gut your chances even at programs where the score is less important than other factors.

However, most people spend about one to three months studying a few hours a week for the GRE. This means the amount of studying for the GRE could range roughly from eight hours (studying two hours a week for four weeks) to 120 hours (studying ten hours a week for 12 weeks).