Choosing between them
The Facts Both Makers Publish.
No Recommendation From Us.
We sell both tests on one subscription, which makes us exactly the wrong people to tell you which one to take.
So here is what GRE® and GMAT® each publish about their own exam, side by side, with the makers linked.
The comparison is yours to make.
Opening soon · $89/mo covers both tests · No per-test unlock
What each maker publishes
Side by Side
Every cell restates the test maker’s own published description of its own exam.
Verified against those materials on September 14, 2026; confirm anything decision-critical at the source, because fees and formats move.
| GRE General Test | GMAT Focus Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Published by | Educational Testing Service | Graduate Management Admission Council |
| Current form since | The shortened test, 2023 | January 31, 2024 — the only GMAT now offered |
| Total testing time | About 1 hour 58 minutes | About 2 hours 15 minutes of testing, plus one optional 10-minute break |
| Scored sections | Verbal Reasoning in two sections, 12 then 15 questions, 41 minutes in total · Quantitative Reasoning in two sections, 12 then 15 questions, 47 minutes in total | Quantitative Reasoning, 21 questions in 45 minutes · Verbal Reasoning, 23 in 45 · Data Insights, 20 in 45 |
| Writing | One Analyze an Issue task, 30 minutes, scored 0–6 | None. The analytical writing assessment was removed from the Focus Edition |
| How it adapts | At the section level — the second section of each subject is selected from how the first went | Within the section, item by item |
| Score scale | 130–170 per subject in one-point steps, reported separately, plus the 0–6 writing score | 60–90 per section, combining into a 205–805 total in ten-point steps |
| Changing an answer | Within a section, before you move on | Question Review & Edit lets you flag items and change up to three answers per section at the end of that section |
| Fee | $249 in most locations, with a fee-reduction voucher available and a different published price in some countries | $275 as published; the online and test-center prices are published separately |
| Where you can take it | At a test center or at home | At a test center or online |
| How long scores last | Five years from the test date | Five years from the test date |
| Where it is accepted | Graduate programs across most disciplines, and business programs — ETS publishes its accepted-by list | Business and management programs — GMAC publishes its accepted-by list |
| What left the current form | The second writing task and the unscored research section | The analytical writing assessment, sentence correction, and geometry. Data sufficiency moved into Data Insights |
Sources: ETS on the GRE General Test and GMAC on the GMAT Focus Edition. Each maker is the authority on its own exam, including on anything that has changed since this page was last verified.
On purpose
What This Page Will Not Do
Three things a comparison page usually does, that this one does not.
It will not tell you which test to take. Both are in the same subscription, so any recommendation we made would be a recommendation with nothing at stake for us and everything at stake for you. The people whose opinion actually counts are the programs on your list, and they publish what they accept.
It will not say one test is easier. The two are scored against different populations on different scales, so “easier” has no meaning that survives contact with a percentile table. What is true is that a timed section of each tells you more in ninety minutes than any comparison article will, and both sections are already paid for here.
It will not advise you on admissions. Where to apply, whether to submit a score, what a program weighs, whether to retake — none of that is ours to answer. We prepare you for an exam. Your programs, and the makers who administer these tests, own everything else.
In practice
The Cheapest Way to Settle It Is to Take Both.
Not the real exams — a timed practice section of each, generated from its own blueprint.
That is the one comparison that is about you rather than about the tests.
Both courses are in the $89/mo subscription, so there is no second purchase and no unlock between them. Practice each one under its own clock, in its own form, and, once score projection arrives, read your projected score per section on each maker’s own scale. Whatever you learn about your own quantitative and verbal ground carries between the two rather than resetting, because the engine tracks the skill rather than the test.
Neither exam has a pass mark, so nothing here reports one. Scores are projections against a modeled scale, labeled as practice estimates wherever they appear. They are never an official score and never an equating, and this product never reports a pass or fail verdict on a test that does not have one.
Questions About Choosing
Do business programs really accept both?
Which one is more common?
Can I prepare for both?
Is the Executive Assessment included?
Do you cover the GRE Subject Tests?
Where do I register?
Both Tests.
One Subscription.
Decide With Data.
$89/mo covers the GRE and the GMAT together, so comparing them costs you an afternoon rather than a second purchase.
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