Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is one of the most common assessment tests for graduates, masters and doctorate programme admissions in more than 1200 universities across the world. Every year around 500,000 appear for GRE from across 160 countries in the world.
There are two types of GRE tests – GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test. GRE General is for students seeking admission to MS courses in the US and other countries around the world. The GRE Subject Test focuses on evaluating the students’ ability on a particular subject like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Literature and Psychology.
TEST MODES
GRE is conducted in Online as well as Paper format. Students can appear for the Online exam throughout the year, however Paper exams are conducted up to three times (September, October and April) in a year. Students have the flexibility to choose an exam date based on their convenience. It is advisable to appear for GRE at least two months prior to the admission deadline. GRE General test can also be taken at home now rather than a test centre.
Students can attempt for GRE once every 21 days, up to five times within any continuous rolling 12-month period (i.e 365 days).
TEST DESIGN
GRE tests are designed to test a candidates Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning
| GRE Sections | Paper-based | Computer-based | ||
| No. of Sections | Duration | No. of Sections | Duration | |
| Analytical Writing | 2 sections – 2 tasks | 60 questions | 1 section – 2 tasks | 60 questions |
| Verbal Reasoning | 2 sections – 50 questions | 70 questions | 2 sections – 40 questions | 60 questions |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 2 sections – 50 questions | 80 questions | 2 sections – 40 questions | 70 questions |
| Unscored | NA | NA | Varies | Varies |
| Research | NA | NA | Varies | Varies |
An unidentified unscored section includes questions in the Analytical Writing section that do not count towards the overall score. These questions are being tried out for future tests and also to ensure that the existing scores remain comparable to the scores on new editions.
An identified research section may appear at the end of the test, however it is not counted towards the overall score. Questions in this section are included for ETS research purposes.
TEST SCORES AND VALIDITY
Verbal Reasoning section is scored on a 130–170 score scale, in 1-point increments, Quantitative Reasoning score is on a 130–170 score scale, in 1-point increments and Analytical Writing score is reported on a 0–6 score scale, in half-point increments. The official score is made available in your ETS account approximately 10–15 days after your test date. The test scores will be forwarded to the institutions that you designated on test day after1 0–15 days of the test.