Take practice exams of the GRE prior to taking the GRE. In addition to helping to prepare you for the type of testing you will face, practice exams give you a realistic expectation for your range of potential scores on the test.
Calculate your grade point average, GPA, for your entire undergraduate career, as described in Section 2.
Compare your GPA and GRE results with the expectations of the schools you wish to apply to. Knowing your scores helps you to make informed decisions about where to apply and saves you the time and financial cost of applying to schools that may not be realistic based on your scores.
Apply to at least one school for which you are highly confident your scores are high enough for admission. This ensures you will have at least one option for graduate school.
List all of the classes you took while in college, along with your letter grade and credit hours for each class.
Convert the grade of each course into a point scale. An A is worth 4, a B is worth 3, a C is worth 2 and a D is worth 1. Add 0.33 for a plus, or subtract it for a minus.
Multiply each grade point value by the number of course hours for the course.
Add up all of the multiplication results to find the total number of grade points earned.
Add up the total course hours.
Divide the total number of points by the total number of hours to find your GPA.