The Shorter GRE: What Changed, and What It Means If You Took the Longer Test

ETS describes the current test as about 1 hour and 58 minutes with five sections. The version given before September 22, 2023 ran about 3 hours and 45 minutes with six sections and a 10-minute break after the third.

The three measures are the same: Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. What changed is how much of each you sit through, and what was removed around them.

The older test had an Analyze an Issue task and an Analyze an Argument task, each timed at 30 minutes. The current test keeps only the Issue task, still 30 minutes, and ETS says the writing section always comes first.

If your earlier prep included Argument essays, you can set that practice aside for this test. The scoring scale did not change: Analytical Writing is still reported from 0 to 6 in half-point steps, as a single score.

The number of scored questions per measure fell from 40 across two sections to 27. Time fell with it, and when you work out the per-question pace from ETS's figures, it barely moved. The old Verbal section allowed a minute and a half per question; the new 12-question section allows the same, and the 15-question section just slightly more. Old Quant sections gave one and three-quarter minutes per question, and the new ones land at almost exactly that.

So your sense of speed from the longer test is still roughly right. What changes is the weight of each question. Because ETS computes the raw score as the number of questions answered correctly, each question is a larger share of a 27-question total than it was of 40. A careless miss costs relatively more.

The question types did not change with the length. ETS still lists Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, and Sentence Equivalence for Verbal, and Quantitative Comparison, two kinds of multiple choice, and Numeric Entry for Quant.

The section-level adaptive design carried over. ETS says the first Verbal and first Quant sections are of average difficulty, and the difficulty of each second section depends on how you did on the first. Scoring then accounts for both the number correct and the difficulty of the sections you saw.

With the first sections now only 12 questions long, there is less room to recover from a slow start. Treat the opening section of each measure as high-stakes, and practice starting cleanly.

On the older test, ETS told test takers that an unidentified unscored section could appear in any order, so every section had to be treated as if it counted. ETS's current structure table lists five sections and no unscored section; the unscored and research sections appear only in its description of the pre-September 2023 format.

The Bulletin also states that the current General Test does not include a break, and that if you leave your seat, section timing keeps running. The test is shorter, but you sit through all of it continuously, so plan food, water, and a restroom visit before you start.

ETS's guide for institutions says the score scales stayed the same for the shorter test, specifically so that admissions processes were not disrupted. Verbal and Quant remain 130 to 170, and Analytical Writing remains 0 to 6.

Scores from the longer test are still reportable for five years from their test date, and ScoreSelect treats them like any other administration. Depending on when you tested, an older-format score may be near the end of its window, so check the reportable date in your ETS account before you count on sending it.

Several things a returning test taker relies on are the same as before. The retake rules still allow one General Test every 21 days and up to five in any rolling 365-day period. ScoreSelect still lets you choose which administrations each school receives, and ETS still reports official scores 8 to 10 days after the test.

The test-taking tools carried over too. ETS says you can still skip questions, mark them for review, go back and change answers within a section, and use an on-screen calculator in Quant. The at-home option also remains, and ETS describes it as identical in content and format to the test-center version.

Finally, the free GRE Diagnostic Service is still available after each test. If you tested on the longer format and did not open it then, you cannot rely on it now, since ETS keeps it open for six months. Your next attempt will give you a fresh report to work from.

Stamina matters less than it did, but focus without a break matters more. Build practice sessions that run the full test length with no pause, starting with a 30-minute Issue essay.

Check the materials you are using. Older books and practice sets may include Argument prompts and 20-question sections, which no longer match the test. ETS describes its POWERPREP tests as simulating the actual exam, and its test structure page reflects the current timing.

If you want topic-level practice for Verbal and Quant, RetakePrep offers 800 original GRE-style questions across 13 topic areas, with daily 20-question drills from your three weakest areas.