Testing GRE Physics Score Calculation Explained

[Silviu]

Hello! Can someone please explain to me how the GRE Physics score is calculated. I just know there are 100 questions, and for each wrong question you lose 1/4 of the value of the question. But I understand that there is a way to normalize the score to previous editions and I don't really understand. Can someone explain to me all the details of these please! Thank you!

 

[Vanadium 50]

The thing that matters is your percentile - for example, if you finish in the 75% percentile, you did better than 75% of the people who took the test.

 

[Dishsoap]

I'm not sure that there is an exact formula for normalizing across previous exam editions. The only purpose of this is to account for the difficulty of some of the practice exams; the 1980(?) one, if I recall correctly, is generally considered to be more difficult than the other previous exams provided, so performing a few points lower on that one shouldn't scare you. That's the only purpose of this "normalization".

However, as V50 said, this "normalization" is accounted for in your percentile. When grading a practice test, your raw score will be converted into a percentile.

To know scoring details, just look in a practice test, available online. I think each correct answer is +1, and each incorrect answer is -1/4.