GRE Retake Policy: The 21-Day Rule, the Five-Test Limit, and Your Earlier Scores

ETS allows one GRE General Test every 21 days, and no more than five within any continuous rolling 12-month period, which ETS defines as 365 days. Both limits apply together, so you need to satisfy each one before a new appointment is allowed.

The yearly cap does not follow the calendar or the testing year. To see whether you have room for another attempt, count back 365 days from the date you want and tally every General Test you sat for in that span. If you already have five, your next opening arrives when the oldest of them slides out of the window.

Three weeks is short enough that a retake in the same application season is realistic. It is also long enough that you should decide what you will do differently before you pick the next open slot.

ETS states plainly that the retake limits apply even if you canceled your scores on an earlier test. Canceling hides the result; it does not give you the attempt back.

ETS also enforces the rule after the fact. The Bulletin says that if a violation surfaces later, for example through inconsistent registration information, the invalid scores are canceled, the schools that received them are told, and the test fees are forfeited. Registering under a variation of your name to squeeze in an extra sitting is a fast way to lose both a score and the money you paid for it.

Retaking never overwrites an earlier result. Every administration you choose to report joins your reportable history, and ETS keeps GRE scores reportable for five years after the test date.

When you send scores, the ScoreSelect option lets you pick which administrations each school receives, and ETS says institutions see only the scores you selected, with no special indication that you tested more than once. The catch is that an administration travels as a unit: you cannot pair the Verbal score from one sitting with the Quantitative score from another.

Some programs ask applicants who tested more than once to report every administration, and ETS recommends confirming each program's requirements. ETS's guide for institutions also notes that departments may look at the most recent score, the highest, or an average, and should apply whichever method they choose to all applicants. If the method affects your decision, ask the admissions office directly.

When you finish the test you are asked whether to report (view) or cancel your scores. According to the Bulletin, once you view them you cannot cancel them, and you cannot cancel one measure while keeping the others. Canceled scores are not shown to you, are not sent anywhere, are not added to your reportable history, and are not refunded.

If you change your mind, ETS allows you to reinstate canceled scores through your ETS account within 60 days after the test date. There is a fee for this, listed at $50 on the fee page when this guide was written, and ETS says reinstated General Test scores are reported roughly two weeks after the request.

For most retakers, viewing is the better choice. ETS itself suggests weighing ScoreSelect before canceling, since it already lets you keep an administration away from schools, and a viewed score gives you real information for planning the next attempt.

ETS requires you to reschedule no later than four days before your test date (ten days in Mainland China), or the test fee is forfeited. Rescheduling carries a fee, listed at $55 for most of the world on the current fee page, and an appointment cannot be pushed beyond one year of the original date.

Canceling a registration by the same four-day deadline returns half of the test fee. After that point, the Bulletin offers no refund, and missing the appointment forfeits the fee as well.

If your practice results a week out suggest you are not ready, paying to move the date is usually cheaper than sitting unprepared and paying the full fee again. Any new date still has to respect the 21-day spacing from your last attempt.

The ETS fee page lists the General Test at $249 in most of the world and $231.30 in China, effective August 1, 2026, and notes that fees can change without notice. In some countries, including the United States, taxes are added at checkout.

Each registration includes four free score recipients if you name them on test day. Reports ordered afterward cost $40 per recipient at current rates. If you previously received a GRE Fee Reduction Voucher based on a FAFSA submission within the past year, ETS lets you apply for another voucher to retest.

Before you book, open the free GRE Diagnostic Service in your ETS account. The Bulletin says it becomes available about 15 days after the test and stays open for six months, and it shows which question types you got right and wrong, how hard each question was, and how long you spent on it. That is the most direct evidence you have about where points were lost.

From there, pick a date that leaves enough preparation time and still fits your deadlines. RetakePrep starts with a 30-question diagnostic scored topic by topic, then builds daily 20-question drills from your three weakest areas, which suits the few weeks between attempts.