GRE Verbal Reasoning: three question types, 27 questions
GRE Verbal Reasoning is 27 questions across two sections in 41 minutes, scored 130 to 170. Only three question types appear, and roughly half the questions are Reading Comprehension — so a candidate who spends all their preparation on vocabulary lists is preparing for the smaller half of the section.
The two sections, and why the first one matters more
| Section | Questions | Time | Per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal 1 | 12 | 18 minutes | 1 min 30 sec |
| Verbal 2 | 15 | 23 minutes | 1 min 32 sec |
The GRE is section-level adaptive: how you do on the first Verbal section decides the difficulty of the second, and a harder second section carries a higher scoring ceiling. The first twelve questions therefore matter more than their count suggests.
Within a section you can move freely — skip, come back, change answers. That is not true across sections: once a section is submitted it is closed.
The three question types
| Type | Roughly how many | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | About half the section | Understanding argument and inference in dense prose |
| Text Completion | About a quarter | Vocabulary plus the logic of a sentence |
| Sentence Equivalence | About a quarter | Vocabulary, plus finding two answers that mean the same |
All three are answered from the text in front of you. The GRE does not test outside knowledge, and on Reading Comprehension in particular, bringing your own expertise to a passage is a reliable way to choose a wrong answer.
There is no penalty for a wrong answer
Nothing is deducted for an incorrect response, so an unanswered question is the only guaranteed zero. With roughly 90 seconds per question, the right move on a question you cannot place is to mark it, answer something, and come back — not to spend four minutes and lose two other questions.
Every Verbal question type
GRE Verbal — FAQs
3 questions
41 minutes in total — an 18-minute section of 12 questions and a 23-minute section of 15.
No. It adapts between sections: your performance on the first Verbal section sets the difficulty of the second.
Within the section you are in, yes. Once a section is submitted, no.
Verbal on the other exams
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.