How Good is a 336 on the GRE?

A 336 is above the reported average in every graduate field ETS tracks. From here the score stops being the thing your application has to argue.

A 336 is close enough to the ceiling that the interesting question is no longer whether it is good. It is whether anything else in your application is doing as much work, because the score has stopped being the constraint.

The short answer

Yes, decisively. A 336 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 336. Watch what happens to the percentiles.
Verbal
168 · 99th
Quant
168 · 81st
Total
336
Shape
balanced

A 336 against your field

A 336 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 336
Each dot is the average total (Verbal + Quant) reported for that graduate field; the dashed line is a 336. 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 336 clears it with room.

The averages tell you where the middle of a discipline sits, which is useful right up to the point you pick specific departments. After that, only their published numbers matter.

A 336 is not one score

The same 336, built five ways
166V / 170Qbalanced9691167V / 169Qbalanced9886168V / 168Qbalanced9981169V / 167Qbalanced9976170V / 166Qbalanced9971Verbal percentileQuant percentile
Each row is a Verbal/Quant split that adds up to 336, 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.

Nobody at a graduate department opens your report and looks for 336. They look for the section their programme cares about, and that number is not visible from the total.

At this end the split matters less, simply because there is not much room to be lopsided. A 336 lands between roughly the 71th and 99th percentile whichever way you build it.

Balanced, a 336 is 168 Verbal and 168 Quant — the 99th and 81th 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 168 Verbal and 168 Quant are not the same achievement
0255075100130140150160170Verbal percentileQuant percentile
The two sections use the same 130–170 scale but completely different distributions. A 168 on Verbal is the 99th percentile; a 168 on Quant is the 81th. That gap is the single most misread thing about GRE scores.

Should you retake?

Probably not. A 336 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.

The one exception is a lopsided split. If the section your field actually reads sits well below its average, targeted work on that half can be worth it — the whole test does not need repeating.

Check your split, not your total

Five minutes of due diligence: put each half of your 336 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

Stop preparing and start writing. Nothing you do to this score changes an admission decision, and the statement of purpose still can.

Frequently asked questions

What percentile rank does a 336 correspond to?

There isn't one for the total — ETS percentiles each section and never the sum. Built as 168 Verbal and 168 Quant, the published figures are the 99th and 81th.

Is a 336 competitive for graduate programmes?

Yes — it is above the reported average in all 8 fields ETS tracks, so no discipline reads it as weak.

What Verbal and Quant scores make up a 336?

Anything summing to 336, from 166V/170Q at one extreme to 170V/166Q at the other. Evenly, that is 168 and 168.

Do I need to sit the GRE again with a 336?

Rarely worth it. The total already clears every field average, and a few more points would not change how a committee reads the file.

Nearby scores