The GRE physics test is an examination administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The test attempts to determine the extent of the examinees' understanding of fundamental principles of physics and their ability to apply them to problem solving. Many graduate schools require applicants to take the exam and base admission decisions in part on the results. The scope of the test is largely that of the first three years of a standard United States undergraduate physics curriculum, since many students who plan to continue to graduate school apply during the first half of the fourth year. It consists of 100 five-option multiple-choice questions covering subject areas including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, wave phenomena and optics, thermal physics, relativity, atomic and nuclear physics, quantum mechanics, laboratory techniques, and mathematical methods. The table below indicates the relative weights, as asserted by ETS, and detailed contents of the major topics.

Major content topics

1. Classical mechanics (20%)

kinematics Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the Motion (physics), motion of points, Physical object, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause ...

* Newton's laws of motion * work and energy * rotational motion about a fixed axis * dynamics of systems of particles * central forces and celestial mechanics * three-dimensional particle dynamics *

Lagrangian Lagrangian may refer to: Mathematics * Lagrangian function, used to solve constrained minimization problems in optimization theory; see Lagrange multiplier ** Lagrangian relaxation, the method of approximating a difficult constrained problem with ...

and Hamiltonian formalism *

noninertial reference frames A non-inertial reference frame is a frame of reference that undergoes acceleration with respect to an inertial frame. An accelerometer at rest in a non-inertial frame will, in general, detect a non-zero acceleration. While the laws of motion are ...

* elementary topics in fluid mechanics

2. Electromagnetism (18%)

electrostatics Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest (static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for amber ...

* currents and DC circuits *

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

s in free space *

Lorentz force In physics (specifically in electromagnetism) the Lorentz force (or electromagnetic force) is the combination of electric and magnetic force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. A particle of charge moving with a velocity in an elect ...

* Induction * Maxwell's equations and their applications *

electromagnetic waves In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy. It includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visible) lig ...

( electromagnetic radiation) * AC circuits * magnetic and electric fields in matter

3. Optics and wave phenomena (9%)

* wave properties * superposition * interference *

diffraction Diffraction is defined as the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a s ...

* geometrical optics * light polarization *

Doppler effect The Doppler effect or Doppler shift (or simply Doppler, when in context) is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It is named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who d ...

4. Thermodynamics and
statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...
(10%)

* laws of thermodynamics * thermodynamic processes *

equations of state In physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics, an equation of state is a thermodynamic equation relating state variables, which describe the state of matter under a given set of physical conditions, such as pressure, volume, temperature, or intern ...

* ideal gases *

Kinetic theory of gases Kinetic (Ancient Greek: κίνησις “kinesis”, movement or to move) may refer to: * Kinetic theory, describing a gas as particles in random motion * Kinetic energy, the energy of an object that it possesses due to its motion Art and enter ...

* ensembles * statistical concepts and calculation of thermodynamic quantities * thermal expansion and heat transfer

5. Quantum mechanics (12%)

* fundamental concepts * solutions of the Schrödinger wave equation *

square well In quantum mechanics, the particle in a box model (also known as the infinite potential well or the infinite square well) describes a particle free to move in a small space surrounded by impenetrable barriers. The model is mainly used as a hyp ...

s ( Particle in a box) * harmonic oscillators * hydrogenic atoms *

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

* angular momentum * wave function symmetry * elementary perturbation theory

6.
Atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...
(10%)

* properties of electrons * Bohr model * energy quantization * atomic structure * atomic spectra * selection rules *

black-body radiation Black-body radiation is the thermal electromagnetic radiation within, or surrounding, a body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, emitted by a black body (an idealized opaque, non-reflective body). It has a specific, continuous spect ...

* x-rays * atoms in electric and

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...

fields

7. Special relativity (6%)

* introductory concepts of special relativity * time dilation * length contraction *

simultaneity Simultaneity may refer to: * Relativity of simultaneity, a concept in special relativity. * Simultaneity (music), more than one complete musical texture occurring at the same time, rather than in succession * Simultaneity, a concept in Endogeneit ...

* energy and momentum * four-vectors and Lorentz transformation *

8. Laboratory methods (6%)

* data and error analysis * electronics * instrumentation * radiation detection * counting statistics * interaction of charged particles with matter * laser and optical interferometers * dimensional analysis * fundamental applications of probability and statistics

9. Specialized topics (9%)

* particle and nuclear physics ** nuclear properties **

radioactive decay Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...

fission Fission, a splitting of something into two or more parts, may refer to: * Fission (biology), the division of a single entity into two or more parts and the regeneration of those parts into separate entities resembling the original * Nuclear fissio ...

and fusion ** reactions ** fundamental properties of elementary particles * condensed matter ** crystal structure **

x-ray diffraction X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

** thermal properties **

electron theory of metals The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particle ...

** semiconductors ** superconductors * mathematical methods ** single and multivariate calculus **

coordinate system In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

s (rectangular, cylindrical, spherical) ** vector algebra and vector differential operators **

Fourier series A Fourier series () is a summation of harmonically related sinusoidal functions, also known as components or harmonics. The result of the summation is a periodic function whose functional form is determined by the choices of cycle length (or ''p ...

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...

s **

boundary value problem In mathematics, in the field of differential equations, a boundary value problem is a differential equation together with a set of additional constraints, called the boundary conditions. A solution to a boundary value problem is a solution to t ...

s ** matrices and determinants ** functions of complex variables * miscellaneous **

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

** computer applications

References

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External links

Official Description of the GRE Physics Test

Detailed Solutions to ETS released tests
- The Missing Solutions Manual, free online, and User Comments and discussions on individual problems
More solutions to the released tests
- Includes solutions to the recently released 2008 exam
GRE Prep Course at Ohio State University
- Preparation course, with links to all 4 publicly released Physics GRE tests, as well as links to other Physics GRE resources
GR0877 Solutions
- Solutions to 2008 exam

- Physics GRE Review at Troy University GRE standardized tests Physics education Standardized tests