How Good is a 332 on the GRE?

A 332 clears every field average by a wide margin. The question worth asking is what the Verbal-Quant split says about which programmes you fit.

A 332 is the kind of score that makes the rest of the file matter more, not less. It clears every published field average comfortably, so nothing about it will hold you back — and nothing about it will carry a thin research record either.

The short answer

Yes, decisively. A 332 is above the reported average in all 8 graduate fields ETS publishes data for, and there is little room left above it.

Move the split, keep the total
Every setting below adds up to 332. Watch what happens to the percentiles.
Verbal
166 · 96th
Quant
166 · 71st
Total
332
Shape
balanced

A 332 against your field

A 332 against average scores by field
Physical Sciences314 · 153V/161QEngineering313 · 150V/163QComputer Science313 · 150V/163QSocial Sciences307 · 155V/152QArts & Humanities307 · 157V/150QBiological Sciences306 · 153V/153QBusiness306 · 151V/155QEducation301 · 152V/149Qyour 332
Each dot is the average total (Verbal + Quant) reported for that graduate field; the dashed line is a 332. Field averages are ETS interpretive data, also published on what counts as a good GRE score.

Whatever you are applying to, the field average is below you. The top of the table is Physical Sciences at 314; a 332 clears it with room.

Do not treat any of these as a cut-off. A field average is a description of who applied, not a rule about who gets in, and every discipline admits well below its own mean.

A 332 is not one score

The same 332, built five ways
162V / 170Qquant-heavy8991164V / 168Qbalanced9381166V / 166Qbalanced9671168V / 164Qbalanced9963170V / 162Qverbal-heavy9957Verbal percentileQuant percentile
Each row is a Verbal/Quant split that adds up to 332, with the percentile ETS publishes for each half. The totals are identical; the applications are not. Percentiles come from the tables behind our GRE percentile calculator.

A 332 is a sum, and admissions committees do not read sums. They read a Verbal score with its own percentile and a Quant score with its own, which is why two applicants with identical totals can look nothing alike.

At this end the split matters less, simply because there is not much room to be lopsided. A 332 lands between roughly the 57th and 99th percentile whichever way you build it.

Balanced, a 332 is 166 Verbal and 166 Quant — the 96th and 71th percentile. Notice they are not close. Quant is compressed at the top because so many test takers do well on it, so an identical scaled score is worth far less in percentile terms there.

Why the two sections are not comparable

Why 166 Verbal and 166 Quant are not the same achievement
0255075100130140150160170Verbal percentileQuant percentile
The two sections use the same 130–170 scale but completely different distributions. A 166 on Verbal is the 96th percentile; a 166 on Quant is the 71th. That gap is the single most misread thing about GRE scores.

Should you retake?

Probably not. A 332 is above every published field average, and ETS shows programmes your full score history under ScoreSelect unless you choose otherwise. Retaking to move a number that is already doing its job is a poor trade.

Check for one thing before deciding: a weak section in the discipline you are applying to. That is the only version of this that justifies another sitting.

Check your split, not your total

Five minutes of due diligence: put each half of your 332 through the GRE percentile calculator and check the weaker one against your discipline's average rather than against the other section.

Check your section percentiles

What to do next

Put the remaining effort into the research fit section of each application. That is where a strong file separates from another strong file.

Frequently asked questions

What Verbal and Quant scores make up a 332?

Anything summing to 332, from 162V/170Q at one extreme to 170V/162Q at the other. Evenly, that is 166 and 166.

Do I need to sit the GRE again with a 332?

Only for a lopsided split. If the half your discipline cares about lags its field average, retake that section's preparation rather than the whole test.

Is a 332 enough for an engineering master's?

The reported engineering average is 313, so a 332 is above it — but those programmes read Quant closely, so check that half against the 163 field average.

Do programmes look at the total GRE score?

The total is mostly an administrative convenience. What varies — and what gets read — is the section score, which at a 332 can sit anywhere from the 57th to the 99th percentile.

Nearby scores