The GRE Subject Test score is determined by the number of questions answered correctly. Importantly, the difficulty level of the questions asked in the test is a critical factor in ascertaining the score. This means that two students who answer the same number of questions may not necessarily get the same score. While calculating the final GRE scores in the scorecard, the number of questions answered is taken into consideration.
Through the course of this article, we’ll explain the process of calculating the GRE Subject test score, the list of subject tests that ETS offer, and the score range for the GRE subject test.
GRE Subject Test List
Unlike the GRE General test, Subject tests are subject-specific. These tests measure your knowledge in a specific field of study. A good GRE Subject exam score indicates your expertise in that specific field of study. The tests are available for four subjects:
- Chemistry
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Psychology
Scoring of the Subject Tests is a Two-Step Method:
- Before calculating a total score for the GRE Subject Test, a raw score is calculated. Questions answered incorrectly or those that have not been answered or have multiple answers marked are considered incorrect. However, no deductions are made from the GRE score if a question is answered incorrectly.
- Next, the raw score is adapted into a scaled score using a method known as ‘score equating’. The differences in the complexity of questions among the editions of the subject test are relatively small. By applying the equating process, the variations in the difficulty of the questions in the test are negated or balanced.
As a result, a given scaled score considers approximately the same level of ability no matter whichever edition of the test that was taken; the same number of correct answers on different test forms will not surely result in a similar scaled score.
Subject Test Score Scales
The GRE Subject test score range falls between 200-990, with 10-point increments. Psychology scores are calculated on a 20-99 score scale, with point-one increment. It is important to note that every individual test subscore scale holds only a measure of the 20 to 99 score range.
We hope this article helps. Taking a subject test is not mandatory. However, this may vary from university to university. Hence, make sure you connect with the universities you wish to apply to before applying.
Good luck!