GRE Exam Test 2025 – You can take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) if you plan to apply to graduate law or business school programs. It is a standardised exam to explore your future options for post-graduation. Here are some key points regarding eligibility to appear for the GRE –

• The GRE is open to candidates from all educational backgrounds, irrespective of the field of study or specialization.
• The GRE is for candidates who are in the final year of their undergraduate degree or the ones who have completed their undergraduate studies and are planning to pursue their master’s or doctoral studies, especially in the field of business studies.
• A vast number of institutions accept GRE scores to intake students for various Graduate level programs like engineering, natural science, social science, business, Law, arts and humanities.
• The candidates can take the exam from test centres or at home. This exam is open to all candidates across the world. However, the at-home testing is possible only if they fulfil the requirements as stated by the Educational Testing Service (ETS)

GRE Exam Test Registration Process, Fees, Accommodation

Though the GRE is a standardized exam for many graduate programs, it is up to the discretion of individual institutions whether to accept GRE scores or not. Hence, do a thorough check on the institution’s requirements that you intend to apply to. If you have not yet decided on the institutions you want to apply to, you can take the GRE and have the score handy.

The GRE has two categories of examinations –

1. General Test – It tests the candidate’s verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing ability.
2. Subject Test- It tests the candidate’s ability in Physics, Mathematics or Psychology

You will require an ETS account to register for the tests. Using an ETS account, you can perform the following activities

• Sign up for the free GRE Search Service
• Apply for a test
• View, change or cancel your test registration
• Purchase test preparation materials
• View and apply for approved testing accommodations
• View scores and scoring reports
• Access free GRE diagnostic service
• Choose to get important notifications on text message

Create an ETS Account

An Educational Testing Service (ETS) account is required to apply for examinations like GRE and TOEFL.

To create an ETS account, ensure that you have a valid I.D. proof with your name, photograph and signature and follow the steps as mentioned below:

1. Open to the Login page > click on Create an account.
2. Enter your Full name exactly as mentioned in your I.D., including the space between your first and last names, as this will appear on your exam and scorecard. Any difference in the name will nullify your test and the scorecard.
3. Continue with your date of birth, email, gender, address and phone number.
4. Choose whether to receive important notifications or not > Create a username and password.
5. Select a security question > Provide an answer for it.
6. Check the box to acknowledge all the terms and conditions > Next > Submit.

Note that your name, gender and date of birth cannot be easily changed later; review the details at every step and then move to the next step.

Once you have completed all these steps, you will receive a confirmation email from the ETS and voila! Your ETS account has been created!

Register for a GRE Exam Test

As stated above, there are two categories of exams. The registration process for both categories is similar, with just one extra step for the subject test. Stepwise, we shall discuss this below:

1. 1. Enter the ETS user I.D. and password > Sign in
   2. Click register> Choose GRE general test / GRE subject test.
   3. If you register for a subject test, the additional step is choosing the subject and whether you want to attend it at the test centre or at home.
   4. If you are registering for a general test, choose a convenient test centre or home, wherever you want to take your test.
      1. From Home testing- Verify your Email address> Choose the 2-month period when you wish to take the exam > Click Continue > Select test appointment> Confirm time zone > Select an available test date > Select time> Register for the test.
      2. From the test centre- Enter your preferred location> Choose the 2-month period when you wish to take the exam> Continue> Select date and location> Click ‘show test times’ for that location> Select and Register.
   5. Review all the details for registration in ‘testing policies’> check the check box> Click Next.
   6. You can now add free official test preparation kits to your cart and shop for additional kits if needed.
   7. Proceed to checkout > Enter promo code/vouchers (if any) >Click Pay Now.
   8. Select payment method> Provide payment details.
   9. Once the payment is verified, you will get a confirmation mail with test information.
   10. You’ll get the link to launch your exam if you choose to test from home. Hence, keep this mail safe.

Accommodation for GRE Exam Test Candidates With Disabilities / Health-related Needs

ETS tries to provide equal opportunities for test takers with disabilities/ health-related needs by providing reasonable accommodations that will help them participate in examinations with ease If you have a disability/ health-related need and require testing accommodations, you must get your accommodations approved before scheduling your exam.

The available accommodations for general tests are as follows –

1. Use of JAWS software with or without Braille devices for candidates with vision imparity.
2. Extended testing time of 25%, 50% or 100% based on the requirement and approval.
3. The availability of extra breaks, such as the break time used for medication, snacks, trips to the restroom, etc., is not included in the testing time.
4. Availability of ergonomic keyboard, keyboard with touchpad screen, magnification, selectable background and foreground colours, trackball and IntelliKeys keyboard
5. Assistance of a human reader or human scribe
6. Assistance of oral interpreter or sign language interpreter for spoken directions alone for deaf or hard of hearing candidates.
7. Assistance of Braille slate and stylus, Perkins brailler for note taking for blind or low vision candidates
8. Braille, large-print test, books, recorded, audio recorded audio with Tectile figure supplement, recorded audio with large print figure supplement as alternate test formats for blind or low vision candidates.

How Do You Apply for GRE Exam General Test Accommodations?

The approval for general test accommodations must be taken well before scheduling your test since the process of taking approval may take 6 to 12 weeks.

There are two ways of getting GRE General test accommodations for candidates with disabilities or health-related needs –

Off-line Mode

Fill out the test authorisation request voucher form; submit it with the test accommodations request form and appropriate documentation as mentioned in the bulletin supplement.

You can submit this application by mail, email or courier service to the following addresses –

Email – disability.reg@ets.org

Mail – ETS Disability Services; P.O. Box 6054; Princeton, NJ 08541-6054 USA

Courier – ETS Disability Services; 1425 Lower Ferry Road; Ewing, NJ 08618-1414 USA

Online Mode –

The simplest and most convenient way to apply for recommendations is through your online ETS account.

1. Login to your ETS account > choose test takers with disabilities or health-related needs on the homepage> click ‘GRE accommodation status/new request.’
2. Follow the instructions as stated > submit all the completed forms with documentation.

GRE Exam Test Fees

The ETS announced the revised Fees for each exam and service effective from July 1, 2023

GRE is an examination taken by students who wish to pursue their graduation- majorly in business or Law. Several institutions prefer GRE scores, while there are many institutions that prefer other examinations like GMAT and TOEFL as well.

Do thorough research on the requirements specified by the institutions you plan to apply for and take up the required assessments. This might mean a lot of work, but you can make it easier with the help of our college counsellor.

Reach out to us for a complete assistantship, from shortlisting your college to getting your offer letter. Subscribe to our membership program to get exceptional services and exclusive scholarships, too.

The GRE tests a candidate’s ability to pursue Graduate, master and Doctoral studies in various fields like business management, engineering, law etc., Many colleges and universities worldwide, especially in the USA, The UK, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Hongkong, etc.,  accept GRE scores along with your GPA, letters of recommendation, and other qualifications as common grounds for admission.

The GRE general test assesses your analytical, verbal, quantitative, and writing skills, while the GRE subject test assesses your in-depth knowledge of each subject. GRE general test is a commonly taken test, however, you can choose to register to take the test to assess and prove your knowledge of your chosen topic.

The GRE (General Test Syllabus) and Paper Pattern

GRE General Test Syllabus

GRE general paper measures your skills that have been developing over a long period of time but are not tied to any specified course of study they are your quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, critical thinking skills and analytical writing skills. Let’s understand gre exam paper pattern in detail.

GRE exma syllabus has general test consists of 3 categories

• Verbal Reasoning -the section assesses your ability to
  • Understand the sentence’s meaning beyond the words
  • Distinguish the relevant/ irrelevant and major/ minor important points
  • Analyse, reason and conclude
• Quantitative reasoning- this section assesses your ability to
  • Analyse, interpret and derive conclusions from quantitative data
  • Apply basic mathematical principles
  • Use mathematical tools to solve problems.
• Analytical writing – This section assesses your ability to
  • Articulate complex ideas and arguments effectively
  • Propose ideas and quote examples to support them
  • Communicate effectively using standard written English

GRE Exam General Test Pattern

This is a new pattern in use after 22 September 2023.

Duration of the test is 1 hour 58 minutes, excluding the breaks

• You get a 1-minute break after each section and a 10-minute break after the Analytical Writing (AW) section
• The first section is always AW. Each of the 4 sections of Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Quantitative Reasoning (QR) will appear alternatively. For example, if the second section is VR, the third section will be QR and go on alternatively.
• Sometimes, there are chances that an extra section of either VR or QR with additional time to answer it may appear. For example, the sections might be as follows:
  • Section2: VR
  • Section3: QR
  • Section4: VR
  • Section5: QR
  • Section6: VR
  • Since you’ll be attempting 3 Sections of VR, one will be considered an unscoring section, and its score will not be considered for your overall score.

• You cannot identify the unscoring section, so you must attend all the sections.

Difficulty level of the sections.

The difficulty level of VR and QR is section-level adaptive, which means the difficulty level of the first section of each topic(VR and QR) is the average difficulty, and the difficulty level of the second section of each topic increases considering the total number of right answers given and its difficulty level in the previous section.

To ace the exam, it is very important to understand the gre exam paper pattern.

GRE Exam Test Paper Pattern and Syllabus

The GRE Subject test has no separate sections like the General test case. Hence, the duration of each test is fixed for the entire test without any scheduled breaks.

Mathematics

• The GRE mathematics test has approximately 66 multiple-choice questions predominantly from undergraduate-level courses.
• Almost half of the questions will be taken from calculus, as it is considered common for all the majors in mathematics
• The duration of this test is 2 hours 50 minutes, which is approximately 2.5 minutes per question

Physics

• The GRE Physics test consists of approximately 70 5-choice questions to be answered based on diagrams, charts, data tables or such other materials
• The purpose of this test is to assess your knowledge of fundamental concepts in physics that you study in the first three years of your undergraduate degree.
• Knowing a few mathematical concepts and their applications in physics is essential if you wish to take this exam.
• The duration of the test is 2 hours, which is approximately 1.7 minutes per question
• The questions in the paper mostly have a diversification of topics in the following percentage

Psychology

• This test contains around 144 five-choice questions
• Some questions may be based on the excerpts, charts or descriptions of experiments that serve as stimulus materials
• The questions are taken from the core topics of psychology taught in undergraduate-level courses.
• The duration of this test is 2 hours, which is approximately 1.2 minutes per question.

GRE Exam Test Preparation Tips

Practice Using Official Preparation Tools

The ETS has its own official preparation materials in different formats to help the candidates with or without disabilities and health-related requirements for each of the categories and subjects. Using the right books you can understand the Gre exam syllabus and get good grades. It also provides practice tests with sample questions and answers with explanations, free of cost (Paid practice tests are also available). Make the best use of these and, to the maximum extent possible, try to mimic the real exam scenario so that it’s easier to concentrate during the actual exam.

Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses in Subjects

It is smart to know the area that you are strong in over the other. When you run short on time, you can choose the questions on topics you are strong in and attempt them instead of losing time on questions you are not very confident in. Are different weightage given to different topics in each subject or category; strategically use it in practising topics with a higher number of questions drawn from.

Be Familiar With the Test Pattern and Duration

Knowing the test pattern and gre exam syllabus is like mapping your timetable and to-do list. This helps you to plan and prepare in advance. Allocate the right amount of time per question or compensate for the extra time spent on one question by spending less on an easier one.

No individual question weighs higher than another, so don’t waste time trying harder for the questions you find very difficult. Remember that you only have approximately 1.5 minutes to answer each question.

Try to Attempt Every Question

This point might sound counterintuitive to the previous one, but it isn’t. The scoring pattern of the GRE does not include negative marking hence, there is no harm in just choosing an option that seems right, at least remotely. Never leave a question unanswered.

Use the Mark-and-review Feature

The computer-based GRE test allows you to skip a difficult question for now and return to it later using this mark-and-review feature. here is what you can use this testing software for

• Mark the questions that need to be revisited later.
• View the entire list of questions to see a summary of the number of questions answered and the ones to be reviewed.
• Review the questions you have already answered, and change the answers if necessary at the end of the test if time permits.

Take Only the Scheduled Breaks

It might be tempting to take unscheduled breaks in between if you have not taken your practice test, mimicking the actual test environment. You get a scheduled break of one minute after each section and an optional break of ten minutes after the third section. However, you cannot leave your seat during this break. You can not take unscheduled breaks as the time does not stop if you take any other breaks during the test, so you lose the limited time to interruptions.

Cracking an entrance test is the first step to studying abroad. While there are a few colleges that accept students without a GRE score, there are a huge number of colleges that consider a GRE score. Never miss out on the opportunity by skipping the test. Prepare well in advance, practice, and give your best effort to score the maximum score. All the best!

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