About the GRE® Tests

GRE® test scores provide graduate and business schools around the world with an objective and common measure for evaluating and comparing the qualifications of applicants with differing educational and cultural backgrounds. GRE scores are used by admissions and fellowship panels to supplement undergraduate records, including grades and recommendations, and other qualifications for graduate-level study.

GRE test takers may opt to take the GRE® revised General Test and/or a GRE® Subject Test, depending on their intentions and institutional requirements.

The GRE revised General Test

For more than 60 years, the GRE® General Test has been a proven measure of a candidate's readiness for graduate-level work — and of their potential for success.

In August 2011, ETS enhanced the content and delivery of the General Test in several significant ways. The GRE revised General Test:

• is more closely aligned with the skills needed in today's demanding graduate and business school programs
• provides more simplicity in distinguishing performance differences between candidates
• is more test-taker friendly for an enhanced test experience

The revised test continues to assess the skills that graduate and business schools value: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing — skills that are not limited to any specific field of study, but are important for all.

Learn more about the GRE revised General Test.

The GRE Subject Tests

The GRE Subject Tests gauge undergraduate achievement in specific fields of study and can help predict a candidate's success in graduate school.

Carefully developed by committees of examiners with expertise in particular disciplines, the tests assess knowledge of subject matter emphasized in many undergraduate programs as preparation for graduate study. Each Subject Test is intended for students who have majored in or have extensive background in that specific area.

Some Subject Tests also yield subscores that can indicate the strengths and weaknesses of an individual student's preparation and may be useful for guidance and placement purposes.

Learn more about the GRE Subject Tests.

See also:

• Become a GRE Score User
• GRE Program Brochure
• GRE Guide to the Use of Scores
• Guidelines to the Use of GRE Scores
• Get Even More Value from Accepting GRE Scores — 3 Easy Ways