How is the shortened GRE different from the old one?

It runs just under two hours instead of nearly four, and Analytical Writing is one task rather than two. Fewer questions carry more weight each, so a slow start costs more than it used to.

For a graduate programme outside business, the GRE, usually without a real choice. For business school, most now take either — pick by which format suits you rather than by which you think looks better, because they do not read it that way.

How good does the Quantitative score need to be?

It depends entirely on the programme, and many publish a floor rather than an average. Find the floors for your actual shortlist before deciding how to divide your preparation; that number should shape the plan more than any general target.

Does the essay matter?

Less than the two scored sections at most programmes, and more than nothing at all of them — particularly where the department cares about written work. It is also the cheapest part to improve, because the scoring guide is published and the structure is learnable.

How long should I prepare?

Ten to sixteen weeks is typical for a full run. A retake aimed at one section is usually shorter, and worth doing only when you can name what went wrong.

Is there a group course for the GRE?

Yes, seventy-two hours across Verbal, Quantitative and the essay, in classes capped at six. One-to-one suits a retake or a programme-specific Quantitative floor better.

GRE General Test preparation, live online

The shortened GRE runs just under two hours and has one Analytical Writing task instead of two. Less time also means fewer questions carrying more weight each, so the margin for a slow start is smaller than the old format allowed. The test adapts between sections rather than within them, which makes the first scored section the one to protect.

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Exam format

What the GRE actually looks like

The structure, the timing and the scoring, stated plainly — before anything about a course.

Length: Just under two hours
Questions: Five sections: one writing task, two Verbal, two Quantitative
Scored: Verbal 130–170, Quantitative 130–170, Analytical Writing 0–6
Adaptivity: Section-level: your second section in each subject depends on the first

Analytical Writing — one task

A single Analyze an Issue essay, where the older exam had two tasks. You take a position on a claim and defend it. The marking rewards a clear line held consistently and supported with specific examples far more than it rewards balance or elegance.

Verbal Reasoning — two sections

Reading comprehension, text completion and sentence equivalence. Vocabulary matters, but almost always in context: the questions are built so that knowing a word roughly is not enough and knowing the sentence's logic often is.

Quantitative Reasoning — two sections

Arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis, plus quantitative comparison — a question type that exists nowhere else and asks which of two quantities is larger, or whether that can be determined at all.

An on-screen calculator is available in the Quantitative sections. It is basic on purpose; questions that look like they need it usually have a shorter route.
The test adapts between sections rather than within them, so the first scored section in each subject decides the difficulty — and the ceiling — of the second.
You can mark questions and return to them within a section, which makes a first pass for the questions you can answer quickly a viable strategy.

Before you start

Is GRE preparation right for you?

Who it suits. Graduate applicants preparing for the GRE General Test, including students returning to mathematics after a gap.

When to check another option. A GRE Subject Test request. The General Test coverage on this page should not be mistaken for a subject-specific syllabus.

Why it matters

What a GRE score is for

The GRE is the most broadly accepted graduate admissions test there is: master's and doctoral programmes across the sciences, humanities and social sciences read it, and most business schools now accept it alongside the GMAT. That breadth is the point for an applicant still deciding between fields — one test keeps several doors open. Many programmes also set a floor on the Quantitative score specifically, which makes it the section where a few points can decide eligibility rather than impression.

Coverage

What the preparation covers

The ground a course goes over. How much of it you need, and in what order, is what the first session decides.

Verbal Reasoning: reading comprehension, text completion, sentence equivalence
Quantitative Reasoning: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, data analysis, quantitative comparison
Analytical Writing: the single Analyze an Issue task, and what the scoring actually rewards
The on-screen calculator, the mark-and-review tool, and section-level adaptivity
Full-length practice tests under real timing, then a written review of each section

Where marks go

Where candidates lose marks on the GRE

Not a list of study tips. These are the specific ways this particular test takes marks off people who know the material.

A slow start in the first scored section

Because the test adapts between sections, the first Verbal and the first Quantitative decide what the second can be worth. There is less room here than on a within-section adaptive test to recover from a bad opening ten minutes.

Learning vocabulary as a list

Text completion and sentence equivalence both put a word back into a sentence rather than asking for a definition, and every wrong option is built to satisfy someone working from a rough gloss. A word met on a flashcard rarely survives that; a word met inside three sentences usually does.

Solving quantitative comparison questions

The question asks which quantity is larger, not what either equals. Computing both is often possible and almost always slower, and on the questions where the answer is that it cannot be determined, computing is a trap rather than a detour.

Writing a balanced essay

Analyze an Issue rewards a position argued well. Surveying both sides evenly reads as indecision to a marker working from the scoring guide, and it costs the essay the thing it is being marked on.

Reaching for the calculator

It is there and it is basic. Questions that appear to need it usually have a route that does not, and the time spent typing is time not spent on the question after.

Ignoring the mark-and-return tool

Within a section you can skip and come back. Working strictly in order means the four hard questions in the middle eat the time that six easy ones at the end needed.

Lesson format

Group course, or one-to-one

Group · 72 hours

Seventy-two hours over Verbal, Quant and the Analyze an Issue essay, in classes of six. Vocabulary is taught inside text completion and sentence equivalence rather than handed over as a list to memorise.

One-to-one

One-to-one lessons for a specific target — a quant score a programme sets a floor on, or an essay that needs structure more than it needs ideas.

How it runs

How the teaching works

A diagnostic before anything is planned

The first session is spent finding out where the marks are actually going. That is not a formality: on most of these tests the gap a student describes and the gap the diagnostic shows are different, and hours spent on the described one are hours wasted.

Teaching in the order your deadline allows

A group course works through the syllabus in a fixed order because a class of six has to. One-to-one starts with whatever is costing you most and works outwards, which is why it suits a retake or a short runway better.

Timed work from early, not saved for the end

Untimed accuracy is a poor predictor of a timed score, and finding that out three weeks before the test is too late. Timed sections start in the first fortnight, short at first.

Review and progress checks

Review looks beyond the mark: which errors recur, whether the reasoning is clearer and how accuracy holds under time pressure. Bring earlier attempts to the discussion so the next practice has a specific purpose.

All of it runs in the browser, live, with a teacher on the other end. There are no recordings sold as a course and no premises to travel to.

Timeline

How long GRE preparation takes

A rough shape rather than a promise. People arrive at different starting points and the plan is built around yours, but this is what a full run usually looks like.

1
Ten to sixteen weeks out — diagnostic
A full-length timed test before teaching. For the GRE in particular this establishes something specific: how your accuracy holds through a first scored section, which is what the adaptive step turns on.
2
Weeks 2–8 — Verbal and Quantitative together
Both subjects every week rather than in blocks, because the sections alternate on test day and the skill of switching between them is real. Vocabulary is taught inside text completion and sentence equivalence, never as a list.
3
Weeks 8–12 — essay and full-length tests
The Analyze an Issue task worked to the scoring guide, with written feedback on your own essays, alongside a full-length test every week or so.
4
Final two weeks — pacing and the first-section problem
Timed first sections, repeatedly, because that is where this test is decided. No new content.

Practice

Practising between lessons

Lessons are where something gets explained; the marks move in the hours between them. Both of these are included with every GRE course and package.

Full-length practice tests

The real section timing, the on-screen tools the test gives you, and the real adaptive behaviour. A score from an untimed paper printout tells you much less than it appears to.

Question bank

Filter to one section and one difficulty band and work a narrow skill until the pattern in your wrong answers is obvious. Solved questions are remembered, so a session does not hand back what you already got right.

FAQ

GRE questions we get asked

How is the shortened GRE different from the old one?: It runs just under two hours instead of nearly four, and Analytical Writing is one task rather than two. Fewer questions carry more weight each, so a slow start costs more than it used to.
GRE or GMAT?: For a graduate programme outside business, the GRE, usually without a real choice. For business school, most now take either — pick by which format suits you rather than by which you think looks better, because they do not read it that way.
How good does the Quantitative score need to be?: It depends entirely on the programme, and many publish a floor rather than an average. Find the floors for your actual shortlist before deciding how to divide your preparation; that number should shape the plan more than any general target.
Does the essay matter?: Less than the two scored sections at most programmes, and more than nothing at all of them — particularly where the department cares about written work. It is also the cheapest part to improve, because the scoring guide is published and the structure is learnable.
How long should I prepare?: Ten to sixteen weeks is typical for a full run. A retake aimed at one section is usually shorter, and worth doing only when you can name what went wrong.
Is there a group course for the GRE?: Yes, seventy-two hours across Verbal, Quantitative and the essay, in classes capped at six. One-to-one suits a retake or a programme-specific Quantitative floor better.

Pricing

What GRE preparation costs

Shown in US dollars. Charged in US dollars — there is no conversion at checkout to be surprised by.

One-to-one lessons