The GRE General Test is one of the world’s largest assessment programs for graduate admissions and the exam is conducted by Educational Testing Service (ETS).

The GRE General Test is a standardized test created and administered by the Educational Testing Service, commonly known as ETS, that is designed to measure overall academic readiness for graduate school. Some grad programs require that applicants take not only the general test, but also a GRE Subject Test that assesses technical knowledge related to a specific discipline like physics, psychology or mathematics.

Types of GRE

There are two types of GRE tests, GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test.

GRE General Test

The GRE General Test is a standardized test created and administered by the Educational Testing Service, commonly known as ETS, that is designed to measure overall academic readiness for graduate school. Some grad programs require that applicants take not only the general test, but also a GRE Subject Test that assesses technical knowledge related to a specific discipline like physics, psychology or mathematics.

GRE Subject Tests

GRE subject tests are content-based exams that assess a person's mastery of a particular field of study, such as biology or psychology. Each is designed for students who have majored in or extensively studied the particular exam subject. A grad school hopeful might take a math subject test in order to demonstrate quantitative skills to grad schools in fields where numerical competence is vital, such as computer science or economics.

GRE 2021: Key Highlights

GRE Test Scores

Someone who signs up for the GRE general test can expect to receive three scores after successfully completing the test, including scores in verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing. Verbal and quantitative scores range from 130 to 170, and these scores are always a whole number. Writing scores can be as low as zero and as high as six, and these scores are assigned in half-point increments.

What is the cost of taking the GRE?

Starting July 1, 2020, the GRE General Test fee is between $205 and $255 based on your location. 

Here is the GRE fee in different countries:  

GRE Exam Pattern

GRE exam pattern is made up of three sections, namely, Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. The Analytical Writing section will always be the first, whereas, the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and unscored sections may appear in any order. Along with the time duration difference, the pattern also differs for paper-based and online exams. Candidates looking to appear for the paper-based format of the GRE Exam can visit the official website for the same. 

The GRE General Test consists of three sections

• Analytical Writing

• Verbal Reasoning

• Quantitative Reasoning

Syllabus of General Test 

GRE Syllabus for Verbal Reasoning

The GRE Verbal Reasoning section tests your ability to understand the meanings of words, entire texts, and sentences. It measures your understanding of relationships among terms and concepts.

You need to analyze and draw conclusions from the discourse, identify the author’s assumptions/perspective, and understand multiple levels of meaning, such as figurative, literal, and author’s intent.

List of the topics covered in GRE Verbal Reasoning: 

1. Modifiers and Parallelism
2. Idioms and Idiomatic expressions
3. Verb tense
4. Pronoun Agreement
5. Subject-Verb Agreement
6. Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns

The GRE verbal Syllabus is divided into three parts:

• Reading Comprehension
• Sentence Equivalence
• Text Completion

Topics in GRE Quantitative reasoning:

GRE Eligibility 2021

Here are the 9 GRE Eligibility criteria for 2021: 

1. ID requirement
2. Age restriction
3. Qualification requirement
4. Restriction on Gap year after the undergraduate degree
5. Maximum number of attempts for GRE
6. Eligibility for Physically Handicapped
7. Nationalities
8. GRE ‘at home’ version
9. Test center requirement