GRE^® General Test

Two Hours.
Two Scored Skills.
Both of Them Adaptive.

The shortened GRE gives you 54 scored questions to establish two numbers that graduate committees will read in about four seconds.
Section-level adaptivity means the second half of each subject is chosen by how you did on the first.
Practice that cannot do that is practicing a different exam.

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2
Scored reasoning subjects: 54
Scored questions: 130–170
Per-subject scale: 147
Skills we track

The structure

Two Verbal Sections.
Two Quant Sections.
The Second of Each Depends on the First.

Verbal Reasoning is 27 questions across 41 minutes; Quantitative Reasoning is 27 across 47.
Each subject runs as a short section followed by a longer one whose difficulty is set by how the short one went.

Section-level adaptivity has a strategy consequence most prep ignores: the opening section is disproportionately valuable, because it decides which pool the rest of your score can come from. Rushing the first twelve Quant questions to bank time for later is a trade that costs more than it buys. The practice here adapts the same way, so that lesson lands in week two rather than on test day.

What is covered

Both Scored Subjects, in Full

Content follows the domains ETS publishes for the current shortened General Test.

Verbal Reasoning

41 minutes · 27 questions · 2 adaptive sections · 70 tracked skills

What the blueprint covers

Vocabulary and word knowledge in context
Text Completion — one, two and three-blank items
Sentence Equivalence — the two-answer trap
Reading Comprehension — core skills, passage structure and function, multi-source passages
Argument analysis — assumption, weaken, strengthen, and the paradox items

What practice feels like

Sentence Equivalence is where most points leak, because it demands two correct answers producing the same meaning and partial credit does not exist. Vocabulary is drilled in context and spaced rather than as a list, which is the only version of vocabulary study that survives contact with a real passage.

See the full outline

Quantitative Reasoning

47 minutes · 27 questions · 2 adaptive sections · 77 tracked skills

What the blueprint covers

Arithmetic and number properties
Algebra — equations, inequalities, functions, coordinate geometry
Geometry — lines, angles, triangles, circles, three-dimensional figures
Data Analysis — statistics, distributions, probability, data interpretation sets
Quantitative Comparison — the question type with its own logic

What practice feels like

The mathematics tops out around early high school; the difficulty is in the phrasing and the clock. Quantitative Comparison is treated as its own skill family because it is — the answer is often reachable without computing either quantity, and that is a technique rather than a fact.

See the full outline

Analytical Writing is not part of this course. The General Test also carries one 30-minute Analyze an Issue task scored 0–6. We do not currently prepare it, and we would rather say so than let you find out in October. Every scored multiple-choice question on the exam — all 54 — is covered here in full.

Scoring

What the Numbers Mean

Verbal and Quantitative each score 130–170 in one-point steps, reported separately with percentiles.
Programs read the one that matches their discipline far more closely than they read the other.

GRE per-subject score bands and what they generally indicate
Score	What it generally means
165–170	Top decile territory. In quantitative fields the Quant score does most of the work here; in humanities, the Verbal.
158–164	Above average by a clear margin and in range for most funded programs that publish a range at all.
151–157	Around the middle of the test-taking population. The band where a structured eight weeks moves the number most.
130–150	Below the middle. Worth knowing early, because at this end the gain per hour is the highest it will ever be.

Know which of your two numbers your programs actually read. A materials-science program and a comparative-literature program will both ask for the GRE and will weight it almost oppositely. The readiness forecast is per subject for exactly that reason — there is usually one number worth optimizing and one worth not embarrassing yourself on.

In practice

How the Course Handles the GRE

Most GRE candidates are working, applying, and studying at once.
Everything below is built for a schedule that keeps breaking.

Section-adaptive practice, generated per attempt

The second section is selected from the first, exactly as the real test does it — and the whole thing is generated fresh each time, so there is no bank to exhaust and no question you have quietly memorized the answer to.

A projected score per subject

Verbal and Quantitative forecast separately, with confidence bands, aimed at your booked date. Useful precisely because the two rarely move at the same rate.

A plan that survives a working week

Autopilot plans backwards from your test date and rebuilds when a week disappears. It is designed around interruption rather than around an idealized study calendar nobody keeps.

Overlap with the GMAT^® is real and used

If you are applying to programs that accept either, the quantitative and reading ground is substantially shared. Both tests are in the same subscription, and proven skills transfer rather than resetting.

GRE Questions

Is this the shortened GRE?

Yes — the roughly two-hour General Test, with 27 scored Verbal and 27 scored Quantitative questions and a single Analytical Writing task. The unscored research section and the second writing task are gone. Prep material describing a nearly four-hour test is out of date, and so is its pacing advice.

Do you cover Analytical Writing?

No. That is a deliberate omission rather than an oversight, and we would rather state it here than have you discover it. Everything scored by multiple choice — both reasoning subjects, in full — is covered.

How many practice tests do I get?

There is no fixed number, because there is no fixed bank. Sections are generated per attempt from the blueprint and adapt within the subject, so you can take as many full-length rehearsals as your schedule allows.

GRE or GMAT for business school?

Most programs now accept both and report no preference, so take a timed section of each and use whichever one you score better on relative to its population. The subscription includes both, which makes that comparison free rather than a $500 experiment.

Can I use a calculator?

An on-screen calculator is provided for the Quantitative sections. It is slower than doing the arithmetic yourself for most items, and practice here treats reaching for it as a timing decision rather than a free action.

How long are scores valid?

ETS reports GRE scores as valid for five years from your test date. Confirm against the programs on your list, since some apply a shorter window of their own.

Do you handle registration or accommodations?

No. Registration, rescheduling, accommodations, and score reporting all run through ETS. We prepare you for the exam; they administer it.

One Subscription.
Five Tests.
No Per-Test Unlock.

The GRE, GMAT, SAT, ACT, and PSAT/NMSQT are all in the same $89/mo subscription. If you are still deciding between the GRE and the GMAT, that decision costs you nothing here.