Graduate Record Examinations (GRE General Test)(GRE)

About the exam

About GRE

The GRE General Test on offer now is the shorter one ETS introduced in September 2023: five sections, under two hours, no scheduled break. Candidates testing in India are pointed by ETS to its ETS India website, whose own pages quote two different headline fees, accept a passport as the only primary ID and name Aadhaar as unacceptable. ETS's reporting on who takes the test shows the number testing in India declining significantly from 2022-23 onward.

The GRE General Test is run by ETS (Educational Testing Service), and the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 describes it as measuring verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing, skills it says are not related to a specific field of study. The bulletin says the test is taken by people applying to graduate, business and law programmes, and that its policies are in effect from 1 July 2026 through 30 June 2027.

ETS also runs GRE Subject Tests, which are a different product. The bulletin describes them as achievement tests in Mathematics, Physics and Psychology that assume an undergraduate major or extensive background in the discipline, offered in three two-week windows rather than year-round, and it states that test fees and registrations cannot be exchanged between the General Test and the Subject Tests.

ETS publishes who sits the test. Its report A Snapshot of the Individuals Who Took the GRE General Test (July 2020 to June 2025) counts 111,476 examinees who tested in India in the 2021-22 testing year and 31,677 in 2024-25, and says the number in India declined significantly from 2022-23 to 2023-24, with the downward trend continuing into 2024-25. Across the 2020-21 to 2024-25 testing years, the same report names Physical Sciences as the largest intended graduate major among test takers in India, followed by Engineering and Business.

The bulletin sends candidates testing in India to the ETS India website for payment information and refund terms, and that site's fee page, ETS India: Fees for GRE Tests and Related Services, quotes prices in both US dollars and rupees.

At a glance

GRE highlights

Calendar

Important dates

The bulletin's registration checklist says the General Test is offered year-round on a first-come, first-served basis, and tells candidates to allow enough time for score reporting to meet their schools' admissions deadlines. In the table below, each limit runs from the candidate's own test date:

For application deadlines, ETS India's Schedule Your GRE General Test page adds that schools may receive scores faster depending on the delivery method they have chosen, and that electronic scores are delivered to schools twice a week.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The registration checklist in the 2026-27 bulletin is procedural: check the fees, read the reschedule, cancellation and ID policies, pick a date, create an ETS Account and choose score recipients, with no academic qualification among its steps. What can actually stop a candidate is set out elsewhere in the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27:

• Name match. The first and last name used to register must exactly match, accents aside, the name printed on the ID shown on test day. If it does not, the candidate may be refused the test or have scores cancelled after taking it.
• Retake spacing. Under the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27, the limit of one sitting every 21 days applies even to tests whose scores were cancelled, and ETS enforces it after the fact: a violation found once scores are reported gets those scores cancelled, the recipients told and the test fee forfeited.
• Accommodations. Candidates with disabilities or health-related needs must have accommodations approved before testing, through the Bulletin Supplement for Test Takers with Disabilities or Health-related Needs.
• No acceptable ID. Anyone unable to meet the ID requirements, including people granted political asylum or with refugee status, must contact ETS's Office of Testing Integrity at least seven days before registering and receive its approval first.

Step by step

Application process and fee

Registration runs through an ETS Account. ETS's Contacts for GRE Test Takers page says candidates in India register online through that account, and the bulletin adds that an at-home test can only be booked online. Before registering, the bulletin asks candidates to decide which graduate institutions or fellowship sponsors should receive scores, since designating up to four recipients is part of the test fee.

ETS India's fee page quotes its charges in dollars and rupees:

ETS's pages do not agree on the headline fee. The Fees for GRE Tests and Related Services page on ETS's main site states its US-dollar fees as effective 1 August 2026 and lists US$249 for all areas of the world other than China. The India copy of that page says its fees are effective July 1, 2024, then carries a note, worded in the future tense, that effective 1 August 2026 the General Test fee "will increase to $249 USD" and that registrations completed on or after that date reflect the updated fees; the table under that note already shows US$249. The FAQ on the ETS India GRE home page answers "How much does the GRE cost?" with US$220 worldwide, while a comparison table on the same page gives US$249.

On payment, ETS India's Payment, Refund and Cancellation Terms say candidates registering online may be given the option to pay in Indian rupees, that cash is not accepted, and that outstanding balances from earlier ETS tests must be cleared before a new registration. The GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 adds a non-refundable 4% online service fee to the final charge of a transaction, and in the same chapter refers candidates testing in India to the ETS India website for payment information. ETS India's terms page mentions service fees only to exclude them from refunds.

Moving an appointment costs the rescheduling fee in the table, and the bulletin says it must be done no later than four days before the test or the test fee is forfeited; an appointment cannot be moved beyond one year from its original date. Cancelling follows the same four-day line. ETS India's Payment, Refund and Cancellation Terms describe a refund of 50% of the test fee for a cancellation made before that deadline, give the example that a Saturday test must be cancelled by Tuesday, and say the rest of the fee is retained to cover processing the registration and holding the seat.

Under the same Payment, Refund and Cancellation Terms, refunds go back to the original payment method, may take about 15 business days and are subject to applicable taxes, and a candidate who paid in a currency other than rupees is refunded at the prevailing exchange rate rather than the rate on the day of payment. The page rules out a refund for a candidate who did not follow registration procedures, did not turn up, arrived too late to be admitted or could not produce valid ID.

The same ETS India fee page describes four groups that can receive a GRE Fee Reduction Voucher: US citizens or resident aliens with financial need who are college seniors or unenrolled college graduates, people who are unemployed and receiving unemployment compensation, current Peace Corps volunteers, and members of listed programmes for underrepresented groups, who apply through their programme coordinator. The first two groups must be planning to test in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam or the US Virgin Islands, and a voucher holder pays US$100 to register for the General Test, according to ETS India's fee page.

Before the exam

Admit card and exam day

The bulletin's list of what to bring to a test centre has one item: valid and acceptable identification. For an at-home test it adds a mirror or mobile phone to show the proctor the screen at check-in, and note-taking materials, meaning a whiteboard with an erasable marker or one blank sheet of paper kept inside a transparent sheet protector.

The ID Rule for India

ETS India's Identification Requirements for the GRE General Test page accepts one primary document for a candidate testing in India within their country of citizenship: a passport with name, photograph and signature. A foreign national testing in India must also present a valid passport with name, photograph and signature, and the page says there are no exceptions. Aadhaar card appears on the same page's list of documents that are not acceptable as primary or supplemental ID under any circumstances.

The bulletin's general document rules apply as well: the ID must be an original, physical document, not a photocopy or an image on a phone, must not have expired, and must carry the registered first and last name, a recent photograph and a signature. If the administrator or proctor questions the primary ID, a supplemental document can be asked for; the India ID page lists a student ID card and a confirmation-of-identity letter from the candidate's educational institution among acceptable supplemental documents, but supplemental ID cannot be used to resolve a name discrepancy.

At a Test Centre

ETS's Test Center Testing page asks candidates to arrive at least 30 minutes before the appointment; a candidate who arrives late may not be admitted, and the fee is then forfeited. At check-in, staff take a photo and verify the ID, and may ask for a voice sample, have the candidate empty pockets and pull up sleeves and trouser legs, pass a hand-held metal detector wand over them and inspect their eyeglasses. The candidate signs a confidentiality statement, and the only personal items allowed into the testing room are the ID and a mask.

Inside the room, the bulletin says the administrator hands out scratch paper, the Quantitative Reasoning sections come with an on-screen calculator, personal calculators are barred unless approved as an accommodation, and the General Test runs without a break. If a technical problem at the centre forces a session to be cancelled, the candidate is offered a new appointment free of charge or a full refund, and can ask ETS within 30 days to reimburse documented travel costs, paid in US dollars, under the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27.

At Home

ETS India's Your At Home Testing page says the at-home test is identical to a test taken at a test centre, is monitored by a human proctor, is available around the clock seven days a week, and is offered everywhere the test is normally available, based on the country of the account address. A candidate whose computer or room fails the requirements on the day cannot test and gets neither a refund nor a free reschedule. Its equipment list asks for:

• a desktop or laptop computer; tablets, Chromebooks, mobile devices and Microsoft Surface Pro devices are not permitted, and neither are dual monitors
• a licensed operating system, with Windows 11 or higher recommended on a PC and Mac OS X 11 or higher on a Mac, the Chrome browser, and the ETS Secure Browser, whose Equipment Check includes a bandwidth check
• a speaker to hear the proctor, with headsets and earphones not allowed, and a microphone that is not part of a headset
• a camera that can be moved to show a 360-degree view of the room, including the tabletop, as Your At Home Testing specifies
• a second camera: a fully charged smartphone or tablet running iOS 12 or later or Android 8 or later, which scans an on-screen QR code and shows the testing area from a different angle

The same page sets the room rules. The candidate must be alone with doors closed and blinds or curtains shut, and parks, internet cafes, restaurants and glass-walled rooms are not allowed. The computer sits on a desk or tabletop and the candidate on a standard chair, not a bed or couch; food and drink are not allowed; ears must stay visible; and face masks may not be worn.

On the day itself, ETS India's Your At Home Test Day page says identity must first be verified in the IDVaaS app at least 72 hours before the test, or immediately for a booking made within 72 hours. Check-in opens up to 15 minutes before the appointment, and a candidate who has not started checking in 12 minutes after the scheduled time has the test cancelled without a refund. The proctor checks the ID, has the candidate show the screen with a mirror or phone and pan the camera around the room, a process the page expects to take about 20 minutes, and the whole session is recorded.

Structure

Exam pattern

Since 22 September 2023 the General Test has had five sections and an overall test time of about 1 hour and 58 minutes, per ETS's GRE General Test Structure page:

Analytical Writing always comes first, and the Verbal and Quantitative sections follow in any order. Both of those measures are section-level adaptive: the first section of each is of average difficulty, and the difficulty of the second depends on overall performance in the first. Within a section the test lets a candidate preview and review questions, mark questions to return to, and change answers.

ETS's Understanding Your GRE General Test Scores page explains how that becomes a score. For each of the Verbal and Quantitative measures the raw score is the number of questions answered correctly, and equating converts it to a scaled score while accounting for differences between test editions and for the difference in difficulty the adaptive second section introduces.

The test before 22 September 2023 was far longer: about 3 hours and 45 minutes over six sections, with a 10-minute break after the third and Verbal and Quantitative sections of 20 questions each, according to the GRE General Test Structure page. The unscored and research sections explained in that page's footnotes appear as rows only in its table for the older test. ETS's announcement dated 1 June 2023, Shorter GRE Test Coming September 2023, listed the changes as the removal of the "Analyze an Argument" task, fewer Verbal and Quantitative questions, and the removal of the unscored section. The GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 mentions the unidentified unscored section only in its description of the test given before that date.

What to study

Syllabus

The Overview of the Quantitative Reasoning Measure sets the mathematics at a level generally no higher than a second course in algebra, and says it does not include trigonometry, calculus or other higher-level mathematics. Across its four content areas, arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis, the page also states that constructing proofs and inferential statistics are not tested, while data analysis does reach conditional probability, interquartile range and normal distributions. Questions come as Quantitative Comparison, multiple choice with one answer from five choices, multiple choice with one or more answers, and Numeric Entry, either standing alone or grouped into a Data Interpretation set built on the same table or graph.

The Overview of the Verbal Reasoning Measure divides the measure into Reading Comprehension, Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence, with about half of it built on reading passages drawn from the sciences, social sciences, business, arts and humanities and everyday topics. A Text Completion passage runs one to five sentences with one to three blanks, and a Sentence Equivalence item is a single sentence with one blank and six answer choices, of which two must be picked. Neither format gives credit for a partly correct answer.

The Overview of the Analytical Writing Measure describes the single 30-minute "Analyze an Issue" task, typed into a basic word processor developed by ETS that has no spellchecker or grammar checker. ETS has published the entire Issue topic pool from which test tasks are selected.

ETS's GRE Test Content page adds a warning for anyone practising on published material: a test may include modified versions of published questions or of questions already seen, and a question that looks familiar may have a different answer.

How to prepare

Preparation and books

ETS India's POWERPREP Practice Tests page sets out three official practice products. The free POWERPREP Preview Tool holds 2 Analytical Writing tasks, 7 Verbal Reasoning questions and 11 Quantitative Reasoning questions. POWERPREP Online offers 2 full-length tests, one untimed and one timed, and the untimed test gives no Verbal or Quantitative scores. POWERPREP PLUS Online is 3 further timed tests of never-before-published questions, sold separately at Rs 3,305.08 each, with scores on all three measures and explanations.

The back page of the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 lists ETS's own books: The Official Guide to the GRE General Test, which contains two full-length practice tests, and separate Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning practice-question books with 150 questions each.

For mathematics, ETS's Prepare for the Test page offers a Math Review, which it describes as a 100-page refresher on the concepts that may appear, and a Math Conventions document on the notation, terminology and mathematical assumptions particular to the General Test.

The ETS India GRE home page also carries a GRE Mini Quiz of 5 Quantitative Reasoning and 5 Verbal Reasoning questions taken from the real General Test.

Where it is held

Exam centres

The GRE Guide to the Use of Scores 2026-27 says the General Test is given on computer at more than 1,000 ETS-authorized test centres in more than 160 countries worldwide, and that in most regions it is available on a continuous basis. The guide limits Mainland China; Hong Kong, China; Taiwan, China; and Korea to sittings one to three times a month, and India is not on that list. The bulletin says the test is administered throughout the year at Prometric test centres, and may also be offered on specific dates at locations outside that network.

ETS India's scheduling page does not print a list of centres. It asks for the test and a city or postal code and returns test locations and dates for that search, per Schedule Your GRE General Test.

After the exam

Answer key

The one route to the correct answers from a real sitting in the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 is a paid Question-and-Answer Review Service, which shows the Verbal and Quantitative questions answered incorrectly alongside the correct answers. The bulletin offers it only to people who take the General Test in New York during eight named weeks, no other service it describes shows test questions, and ETS India's fee page lists the same service for New York State residents only, with no rupee price.

What a candidate in India can use instead is the free GRE Diagnostic Service. The GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 says it opens in the ETS Account about 15 days after the test and stays available for six months, and shows the types of Verbal and Quantitative questions answered right and wrong, the difficulty level of each question and the time spent on each.

Under the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27, an Analytical Writing score can be sent for review for a fee, with the request reaching ETS within 90 days of the test. The bulletin allows four weeks for results, holds back reporting to institutions until the review is complete, and reports the new score whether it is higher or lower.

A candidate who thinks a question contained an error should tell the test supervisor on finishing and write at once to GRETestQuestionInquiries@ets.org, giving the centre name and address, the test date, the question's number and content, and the section it appeared in. ETS's Contacts for GRE Test Takers page asks for 10 business days for a reply.

Scores

Result and scorecard

The GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 reports Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning on 130 to 170 scales in one-point increments, and Analytical Writing on a 0 to 6 scale in half-point increments. A measure in which no question is answered is reported as No Score (NS).

At the end of the test the candidate chooses to report or cancel the scores. Reporting shows unofficial Verbal and Quantitative scores straight away but not the Analytical Writing score, and once scores are viewed they cannot be cancelled. Cancelled scores are not shown to anyone, bring no refund, and can be reinstated within 60 days of the test for the reinstatement fee, according to the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27.

Official scores arrive in the ETS Account, and go to the designated recipients, about 8 to 10 days after the test, with an email from ETS when they are ready, per the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27. The candidate's own Test Taker Score Report is for personal records. The copy an institution receives shows the scores selected for it with their percentile ranks, and ETS also makes the candidate's test-day photo and Analytical Writing essay responses available to that institution.

ScoreSelect decides which sittings an institution sees. On test day each of the four free score reports can carry either the Most Recent scores or All scores from the last five years; later, paid reports add a third option, Any, to send one or several chosen administrations. A sitting is always reported in full, and institutions get no indication of other GRE tests taken, although the bulletin notes that some programmes require applicants who have tested more than once to report every administration.

Scores stay reportable for five years after the test date, and the bulletin warns that a request to send scores takes about five business days to process, which matters when that limit is close. Additional score reports are charged per recipient: the ETS India fee table lists US$40 or Rs 4,150, while ETS India's Sending Your GRE General Test Scores page gives US$35 per score recipient.

Percentile ranks put a score in context. In ETS's GRE General Test Interpretive Data, based on everyone worldwide who tested between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2025, 90 percent of test takers scored below a Verbal Reasoning score of 163, 89 percent scored below a perfect Quantitative Reasoning score of 170, and 93 percent scored below an Analytical Writing score of 5.0. The mean scores for that worldwide group were 151.39 in Verbal Reasoning, 157.62 in Quantitative Reasoning and 3.46 in Analytical Writing.

For Indian citizens, wherever they tested, the snapshot report counts 34,477 test takers between July 2024 and June 2025, with mean scores of 151.0 in Verbal Reasoning, 158.6 in Quantitative Reasoning and 3.3 in Analytical Writing.

Scores you need

Cutoff

The document ETS writes for the programmes that receive GRE scores tells them not to set a cut score. The GRE Guide to the Use of Scores 2026-27 says the practice of using cut scores, especially one that uses GRE scores as the sole criterion, is contradictory to a holistic admissions process because it puts too much weight on one measure, and recommends not using it.

The same GRE Guide to the Use of Scores 2026-27 urges programmes to report GRE scores as ranges, such as the highest and lowest scores of the middle 50 percent of admitted applicants, rather than a precise mean, median or minimum score, and to treat Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Writing scores as three separate measures. It also notes that percentile ranks are based on test takers over a three-year period and can change, so comparisons should use the most recent tables.

Any score requirement a candidate meets or misses is set by the programme, and the bulletin suggests checking GRE score requirements with the programmes applied to.

Getting a seat

Counselling and seat allotment

ETS releases GRE scores to three kinds of recipient, and only at the test taker's request: institutions granting baccalaureate or higher degrees, approved graduate fellowship sponsors, and the vendors those recipients designate to process scores, per the bulletin. From there the GRE Guide to the Use of Scores 2026-27 leaves admissions officials at each institution to decide what weight GRE scores carry against the rest of an application.

The nearest thing to matching is ETS's free Graduate Search Service. According to the bulletin, a candidate who opts in has background information, contact details and the broad score ranges their scores fall into added to a database that participating graduate, business and law schools and fellowship sponsors can search, and individual scores are not shared with them.

Where it is accepted

Participating institutes

The GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 says GRE scores have been used by admissions and fellowship panels at thousands of graduate programmes around the world, ETS's GRE General Test Scores page adds that business and law schools accept them, and ETS India's MBA Programs that Accept the GRE General Test page puts the business-school figure at more than 1,300 worldwide, for some or all of their MBA programmes. The MBA page tells candidates to contact prospective schools directly for their admission requirements.

Where candidates in India want to study shows up in the snapshot report. Across the 2020-21 to 2024-25 testing years, test takers in India preferred to study in the United States and, outside it, Canada and Western Europe. The share of test takers in India naming Canada fell from 32 percent in 2020-21 to 13 percent in 2024-25, while Western Europe was named by 21 percent in 2024-25.

Get help

Contact

For test takers in India, ETS's Contacts for GRE Test Takers page lists GRE Services at GRESupport4India@ets.org and +18001200371, available seven days a week except local holidays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on India Standard Time. It asks anyone contacting ETS to have their name, address, date of birth, test date, registration or appointment number and ETS ID number ready.

The Contacts for GRE Test Takers page also lists ETS Disability Services for accommodation requests at stassd@ets.org and 1-609-771-7780, on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on US Eastern Time, and asks for complaints about a test centre to be emailed to GRE-Info@ets.org within 7 days of the test. For identity problems, the GRE Information Bulletin 2026-27 lists the Office of Testing Integrity at TSReturns@ets.org and 1-609-406-5430 for callers outside the United States.

Source

Official links

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Fees (ETS's pages currently disagree), exact appointment availability and university-specific score requirements vary; score validity and retake rules are standing ETS policy. Anything per-cycle here is stated for the cycle it names and is taken from the conducting body's own notification; confirm it on the official website before acting on it. Expertie does not conduct any exam, process applications or charge fees.

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