GRE Chemistry Subject Test 2024: How to Prepare for GRE Chemistry?

A master's or PhD degree in Chemistry can help you to prepare for leadership positions. Admission to a master's degree in Chemistry requires you to take the GRE Chemistry subject test along with qualifying for entrance exams. The GRE Chemistry test has been designed to assess your knowledge and abilities effectively for graduate admissions at reputed universities abroad.

The first step towards scoring high in GRE Chemistry is to go through the exam syllabus and paper well. It will help to plan your preparation strategy well and reach the university of your dreams. Further, the GRE Chemistry has been categorised into four different fields. What are they? 

You will find all the information relating to the GRE Chemistry subject test in this blog. Here we have discussed the syllabus and exam pattern of the GRE subject Chemistry, including some important preparation tips.

Overview of GRE Chemistry Subject Test

• The GRE Chemistry Subject test is mostly opted for by students willing to pursue a master's degree program in Chemistry at the top universities abroad. 
• The Chemistry paper of the GRE has approximately 130 multiple-choice questions that are expected to be solved within 2 hours and 50 minutes.

• The questions are based on the chemistry curriculum of your undergraduate coursework. 
• The GRE Chemistry subject test syllabus is structured into four parameters i.e. Analytical Chemistry (15%), Inorganic Chemistry (25%), Organic Chemistry (30%), and Physical Chemistry (30%).

• A periodic table is always provided in the question booklet with the physical constants and the conversion factors. 
• The questions in the chemistry test do not require using calculators and the algorithms table to answer the given questions. 

Suggested: GRE Syllabus 2024

Now that we know about the GRE Chemistry exam. Let us now have a close look at the GRE Chemistry syllabus:

GRE Chemistry Syllabus

The GRE Chemistry in Chemistry Test section consists of multiple-choice questions. Every question has five response options from which you have to pick the right one. The average score of the GRE Chemistry test ranges from 200 to 990 with a 10-point increment. 

As per ETS, the detailed GRE Chemistry Test Syllabus is discussed below:

Analytical Chemistry (15%)

• Data Acquisition and Use of Statistics: Errors and statistical considerations.
• Radiochemical Methods: Detectors and their applications.
• Solutions and Standardizations: Primary Standards and Terms of Concentration.
• Homogeneous Equilibrium: Acid-base, oxidation and reduction, complexometry.
• Heterogeneous Equilibrium: Gravimetric analysis, precipitation titrations, chemical separations and solubility.
• Environmental Applications.
• Instrumental Methods: Spectroscopic Methods, Chromatographic Methods, Electrochemical Methods, Thermal Methods, and calibration of instruments. 

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Inorganic Chemistry (25%)

• Metals and semiconductors: Chemical and the physical consequences of band theory, band theory, and structure.
• Ionic substances: Radius/ratio effects, lattice geometries, ionic radii, lattice energies.
• Concepts of Acids and Bases: Solvent system approaches, Brønsted and Lowry approach, Lewis theory.
• Covalent Molecular substances: Bond energies, molecular point groups, VSEPR concept, intermolecular forces, molecular orbital description, Lewis diagrams, covalent and van der Waals radii of the elements, valence bond description and hybridisation.
• Chemistry of the Transition Elements: Physical and chemical properties of elements and their compounds, coordination compounds, occurrences and recovery, and electronic structures. 
• Chemistry of main group elements: Physical and chemical properties of elements and their compounds, occurrences and recovery, and electronic structures.
• Special topics: Applied solid-state chemistry, catalysis, environmental chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, and organometallic chemistry.
• General Chemistry: Nuclear chemistry, periodic trends, and oxidation states. 

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Organic Chemistry (30%)

• Functional groups: Interconversions of aldehydes, alkyl halides, ketones, alcohols, aromatic compounds, dienes, epoxides, alkenes, thiols, alkanes, sulfides, ethers, alkynes, amines, interconversion of carboxylic acids and their derivatives, preparations, and reactions. 
• Reactive intermediates: Free radicals, carbon ions, carbenes, benzynes, chemistry and enols, nature of carbocations, and enols. 
• Organometallics: Transition metal reagents and catalysts, preparation and reaction of organolithium reagents, preparation and reaction of Grignard, lithium organocuprates, and other modern main groups.
• Reaction mechanisms: Electrophilic aromatic substitutions, eliminations, nucleophilic aromatic substitution, electrophilic additions, nucleophilic displacements and addition, Diels Alder, and other cycloadditions.

• Structure, bonding, nomenclature: Conformational analysis, Lewis structures, systematic IUPAC nomenclature, orbital hybridisation, spectroscopy (IR and 1H and 13C NMR), configuration and stereochemical notation.
• Special topics: Asymmetric synthesis, amino acids, acid-base theory, antiaromaticity, carbohydrates, lipids, macromolecules, nucleic acids, orbital symmetry, peptides, aromaticity, carbon acidity, catalysis, molecular orbital theory, polymers, resonance, and terpenes.

Physical Chemistry (30%)

• Quantum Chemistry: principles of quantum mechanics, atomic and molecular structure, and classical experiments.
• Applications to Spectroscopy: Molecular Spectroscopy. 
• Thermodynamics: statistical thermodynamics, colligative properties, ideal and real gases and solutions, phase equilibria, chemical equilibria, Gibbs and Helmholtz energy, first, second and third laws, and chemical potential.
• Dynamics: photochemistry, solution dynamics, experimental and theoretical chemical kinetics, and liquid dynamics. 

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How to Prepare for the GRE Chemistry Subject Test?

Preparing for the GRE Chemistry is one of the crucial parts of excelling in the exam. The paper has been designed to test your knowledge of chemistry in your undergraduate coursework. This is unlikely that studying from scratch for two or three months will give you a desirable score. Some other tips that you must keep in mind during your preparation are:

• Go through the number of GRE Chemistry prep books that will help you in preparing for this part.
• Review the question asked in previous Chemistry papers. This shows you the types of questions generally asked in the exam and the exam pattern.
• Revise the Chemistry textbooks and notes of your college courses, this will give you a better study outline.
• Solve some GRE Chemistry test practice books to analyse your performance.
• Solving various types of GRE chemistry practice questions is also another way of preparation.
• Make sure to cover every important topic, as no one knows where the questions are going to frame.
• Enrol on different online GRE chemistry subject tests to get acquainted with the exam environment. Avail of the latest GRE questions and mock tests through Yocket’s GRE Prep!

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Best Preparation Books for GRE Chemistry Test

The following is the list of the few best GRE chemistry prep book which will help you in facing the GRE Chemistry test: 

With the best GRE Chemistry books, hard work, proper schedule, and consistency, you will surely score well in the GRE Chemistry Subject Test. It is recommended to start your preparation for the Chemistry subject test in advance to avoid any last-minute confusion and score high on GRE.

Prepare for GRE with Yocket Prep 

Another way to perform well in your GRE chemistry exam is to make use of a tool such as Yocket GRE Prep. This free tool lets you conduct GRE mock tests under any section, such as verbal, etc. Upon completion, it retrieves a score sheet where you can analyse your performance. The tool also offers multiple unique ways to enhance your learning on this platform.

While this basic tool is great to get started, investing in our premium tool, Yocket GRE Prep+, is suggested for a more meaningful learning environment. The top features of this premium tool include a timed test with a question-based adaptive algorithm, a personalised report analysing strengths and weaknesses, etc. 

To summarise, here is how both of our tools work: 

And well, with Yocket Prep you can also get your hands on GRE classes with GRE experts having years of experience! A dream come true, right?! 

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