GRE: GRE General Test Guide: Fee, Format, Dates and Minimum Scores

The GRE General Test measures three things: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing. In its current shortened format the test runs about 1 hour and 58 minutes across five sections in a fixed pattern. It opens with one Analytical Writing task, Analyze an Issue, in 30 minutes. Then come two Verbal Reasoning sections, 12 questions in 18 minutes followed by 15 questions in 23 minutes, and two Quantitative Reasoning sections, 12 questions in 21 minutes followed by 15 questions in 26 minutes. The second section of each measure adapts in difficulty based on performance in the first, a design ETS calls section level adaptation. ETS notes that some administrations may add a short unidentified unscored section or an identified research section; when this happens the appointment runs longer, but it does not add to the reported score.

The GRE General Test can be taken at an authorised test centre or at home with online proctoring, and registration is open every day of the year. The fee is US$249 in most parts of the world, with a lower rate published for China; ETS states fees are subject to change without notice, so a test taker should check the current figure for their own country when registering.

Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning are each scored from 130 to 170 in one point steps; there is no single combined score covering both measures. Analytical Writing is scored separately from 0 to 6 in half point steps by trained readers. Official scores appear in the test taker's ETS account 8 to 10 days after the test date, with an email notification when they are ready, and ETS sends an Institution Score Report directly to the recipients chosen on test day at the same time. Scores can be reported to institutions for five years after the test date.

A test taker can sit the GRE General Test once every 21 days, up to five times in any rolling 12 month period, even if an earlier score was cancelled. On test day, a test taker gets four free official score reports and can use the ScoreSelect option to send either the most recent administration or every administration from the last five years; later, Additional Score Reports can be ordered for US$40 per recipient, with a further option to send any single chosen past administration.

Graduate schools, business schools and law schools that accept the GRE each set their own score expectation for a programme, and expectations vary widely between a general master's programme and a competitive research based one. A candidate should check the exact figure the programme itself asks for rather than assume a single score applies everywhere.