Is 640 verbal on the GRE a good score?

Answer 1

It depends. First, the percentile score will tell you how you did in comparison to others.

Second, it matters whether you are applying to a science or a social sciences or a humanities program. Some science programs would see it as good, while some humanities programs would see it as marginal.

Third, it matters whether English is your first language.

Fourth, the graduate program's ranking matters. Some programs would see it as fine, others would see it as low.

Answer 2

Yes that is a good score. I got a 600 and that was top 15% so you are probably in the top 10%. Of course, exactly how good of a score it is depends on what kind of grad school you are going into. For English it is slightly less stellar than for the sciences.

Answer 3

Yes -- pretty good. Not good enough to get into an Ivy League school -- but if your grades are good and your other SAT scores are good, then it is good enough to get into a lot of top tier universities.