The GRE clocks in at three hours, 45 minutes. The GRE consists of six sections with a 10 minute interruption after the third section.
Here'southward how you can await to spend your time on test day.

GRE Test Day Timeline

Task Time # of Questions
Biographical Information +/- 10 mins —
Consequence Essay 30 mins i
Argument Essay 30 mins 1
Verbal Reasoning (2 sections) thirty mins each xx each
Quantitative Reasoning  (ii sections) 35 mins each 20 each
Experimental Department (unscored) 30 or 35 mins* Varies
one Break 10 minutes —
Possible Enquiry Section Optional Depends
Select Schools/Programs five mins Up to 4
Accept Scores 1 min —
Receive Scores 1 min —

*If your experimental department is math, your test will exist five minutes longer than someone whose experimental section is verbal.

How how long is the GRE

Biographical Data

The first section of the test collects all of your biographical data. If you fill this out, y'all will starting time getting mail from programs that have bought your proper noun from ETS. If you don't want them to sell your proper noun, or yous don't want to spend the time answering their questions, you can click on a box that tells ETS non to share your information.

The Essays

The scored part of the GRE begins with two dorsum-to-back essays. For the Consequence Essay, yous'll make a compelling instance for your position on a topic and then analyze the logical soundness of another author'southward argument for the Argument Essay. You have 30 minutes for each. Get a preview of what you'll face with these sample GRE essay prompts.

Multiple-Pick Sections

You'll complete 5 multiple-option sections, but simply four will count. The fifth is an "experimental" section.  Keep in listen that the math, verbal, and experimental sections may appear in any order. At the end of the exam, you will know, based on the number of math or exact sections, if the experimental section was math or exact, but y'all will not know which department will not count toward your score.

GRE Breaks

You lot are given 1 minute between sections except for the 2d multiple-choice department, when you get a 10-infinitesimal intermission. When tackling practice tests during your test preparation, be certain to mimic the existent GRE and give yourself these timed breaks but like the real thing.

Research Section

At the end of the exam, you may as well have an unscored research section that will be used only to aid develop and exam questions for the GRE. If you want to skip it, y'all have the option of skipping information technology.

Cancelling/Accepting Your GRE Scores

Before you lot run across your GRE scores, you volition be given the opportunity to cancel. But information technology usually doesn't make sense to cancel your scores. Near people believe they are doing worse while taking test then they actually are. If yous cancel, you will never run across your scores and you will have to go through the whole feel again. Plus, you can always make use of GRE ScoreSelect®, which allows you to select which scores get sent to which schools.

GRE Timing Tips

Whatever timed examination will crusade at to the lowest degree some level of stress. Try these GRE timing tips to stay confident on examination day.

ane. Accurateness is better than speed.

Slow downwardly and focus on accumulating as many points as possible. Pushing yourself to work faster results in careless errors and lower scores. Don't let that clock force you to make silly mistakes!

ii. Take information technology all in.

Correctly answer the questions you know you tin can become right. This means it'south important to allow yourself to run into every question. Afterward all, question xx could exist the easiest one on the test for yous.

three. Mark and move on.

If a question is not coming to yous immediately, it is not necessarily something that you cannot answer. On the Reading Comprehension questions, for instance, you may struggle on a question that deals with the main thought of the passage. You may fifty-fifty have eliminated some answer choices. Don't surrender yet! If yous take invested time and work on a particular question, press the Mark button and move on.

4. Endeavour another question if you lot're stuck.

When yous get stuck on a GRE math question, walk abroad. Do a few other problems to distract your brain, and and so return to the question that was giving you problems

Practise for the GRE

Take a GRE practice exam with us nether the same weather as the real thing. You'll go a personalized score study highlighting your strengths and areas of improvement.

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