The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for most graduate schools is in the United States. Almost all graduate schools in the United States require GRE results as part of the admissions process.

The GRE is a standardized test intended to measure the abilities of all graduates in tasks of general academic nature, regardless of their field of specialization. The GRE is supposed to measure the extent to which undergraduate education has developed an individual’s verbal and quantitative skills in abstract thinking.

This test is created and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the exam aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based exam administered at Prometric testing centers.

The structure of the computer-based GRE General Test consists of six sections. The first section is always the analytical writing section involving separately timed issue and argument tasks. The next five sections consist of two verbal reasoning sections, two quantitative reasoning sections, and either an experimental or research section. These five sections may occur in any order. The experimental section does not count towards the final score but is not distinguished from the scored sections.

The entire testing procedure lasts about 3 hours 45 minutes. One minute breaks are offered after each section and a 10-minute break after the third section.

GRE Subject Tests

In addition to the General Test, there are also seven GRE Subject Tests testing knowledge in the specific areas of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemistry, Literature in English, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology. The length of each exam is 170 minutes.