GRE Verbal Reasoning case studies
GRE Verbal Reasoning · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Verbal Reasoning measure is one of the scored components of the GRE General Test, which ETS describes as one test for graduate, business and law school. It is intended for applicants to graduate, business and law programs who must demonstrate that they can handle the kind of dense prose encountered in graduate study. The GRE Verbal Reasoning case studies are 5 cases and about 1,396 words.
1Cooling Canopy, Misplaced Objection
A city council cites a study of 40 neighborhoods: blocks with at least 30% tree canopy averaged 2.1°C cooler on summer afternoons than blocks with under 10% canopy. The study’s authors caution that the correlation did not isolate canopy from proximity to parks and building density.
301 words, about 2 min2The 'Although' That Flips a Recommendation
A test-taker is working on a two-blank Text Completion: 'Although the committee’s report was ostensibly about budget transparency, its recommendations were so that even members who favored the new accounting system found them .' Blank (i) options: (A) modest (B) sweeping (C) ambiguous. Blank (ii) options: (D) easy to defend (E) hard to accept (F) irrelevant.
275 words, about 1 min3Two Right Words, One Equivalent Pair
A Sentence Equivalence item reads: 'Despite the author’s reputation for , her latest essay is so densely argued that even sympathetic readers may need to consult a glossary.' The six choices are (A) clarity (B) opacity (C) brevity (D) lucidity (E) verbosity (F) austerity. A test-taker immediately eliminates B and E as negative, then hesitates between A/D and A/C.
248 words, about 1 min4Anecdote, System, and the Redefinition Move
Historian Lena Ortiz argues that the 1887 Dawes Act’s effects on Native American land tenure cannot be measured solely by acres lost. She notes that some allotments were leased rather than sold, and that oral histories record continued use of ceded lands for gathering.
309 words, about 2 min5Far From Consistent: A Two-Blank Trap
A two-blank Text Completion reads: 'Far from being , the new policy’s exceptions were applied so that even its architects could not predict which firms would qualify.' Blank (i): (A) consistent (B) arbitrary (C) transparent. Blank (ii): (D) uniformly (E) erratically (F) predictably.
263 words, about 1 min