The GRE exam (Graduate Record Examination) is a competitive exam at the international level for students who intend to receive a master's or doctoral degree in foreign universities, especially in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Singapore. Many students who intend to take the GRE test are not familiar enough with the test or do not know how to prepare for it. In the following section, we will provide more information about this test.

The GRE test organizer defines it as follows:

The smartest way to graduate a business school.

That means, taking GRE test is the smartest way to enter graduate schools and business schools. This definition does not provide us with much information. Therefore, it is better to express it in a simpler language.

The GRE test is a standardized test conducted by the Educational Testing Service company, abbreviated as ETS.

  There are two types of GRE test:

1- General exam (GRE General), which is the main exam: The GRE General Test includes sections to measure quantitative reasoning, qualitative reasoning, and language comprehension.

2- Subject test (GRE Subject), which is considered a side test: The GRE Subject test includes specialized courses in some fields, such as biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, English literature, and psychology, and is designed for candidates in these fields.

Many graduate programs (master's and doctorate) and business schools in the United States and many countries require applicants to send their GRE test scores to them during the application process.

People who intend to continue studying law and medical sciences are exempt from this rule and must take the LSAT and MCAT exams, respectively. Most prestigious business schools in the world accept the GRE along with the GMAT for admission.

The GMAT exam, which stands for Graduate Management Admission Test, is generally used for candidates in management, business, and accounting fields and tests the applicant's management-related skills, which is held in both computer-based and paper-based formats. The GRE test stands for Graduate Record Examination and its purpose is to measure the ability and knowledge of graduates.

Although both the GMAT and the GRE have Verbal and Quantitative questions, the Verbal part of the GMAT focuses on grammar and the Verbal part of GRE focuses on vocabulary. One third of the GMAT questions are reasoning, while the GRE lacks these types of questions.

In terms of the passing score, for the GRE test in the three sections of writing, language comprehension and mathematics, it is at least 3.8, 520 and 720 respectively, and for the GMAT test, it is 3.5, 550 and 550 respectively.

The GRE exam consists of six sections and it takes 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete. In these six sections, the candidate must answer verbal, quantitative and Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) questions. The GRE written test has 3 parts:

1- Quantitative reasoning and mathematics;

2- Qualitative reasoning and verbal reasoning;

3- Analytical Writing Assessment.

The cost of the GRE General test in Iran is $205 and the cost of the GRE Subject test is $150. In addition, if you want to change the exam date or center after registration, you have to pay another 50 dollars. You can pay this amount through dollar payment service websites or by preparing a voucher.

Click to see the guide to get the GRE test voucher.

ETS sends your score to four universities for free. (You must write down the codes of the universities you want on paper and take it with you to the center. (After the exam, you will be allowed to take this paper from your locker and enter the codes in the computer.) If you need more reports, for each Additional Score Report (ASR), you have to pay $27.

Khatam University is one of the few organizers of the GRE test in Iran, which accept applicants for this test in certain time periods.

Click to see the dates of the GRE test.

1- Quantitative reasoning and mathematics

The Quan section of the GRE test measures a person's mathematical analysis ability. The topics of the questions are not very difficult, but they try to evaluate the flexibility of people's minds by creating linguistic and logical complications. The questions of this section at the high school math level include algebra, geometry, statistics and probability. There are no difficult topics such as trigonometry and differential in this test, and it is not necessary to memorize sinuses and cosines or to calculate derivatives and integrals. This part of the GRE test consists of three categories of questions:

1. Quantitative reasoning;
2. Problem solving;
3. Questions with numerical answer or numeric entry.

Quantitative reasoning questions are for comparing quantities and the other two sections include problem solving and ultimately differ only in how to answer questions such as choosing from options and entering information numerically.

In the problem section, there is another type of question, which is called a multiple answer question, where all correct statements must be selected from among the written statements, and any combination may be correct. A question may even have 4 statements that are all true or only one of them is true. However, there is at least one correct option.

2- Qualitative reasoning and verbal reasoning

The Verbal part of the GRE test is the same part that students know as the language test. In fact, this part measures the verbal analysis abilities of the person. The verbal reasoning section is divided into two parts: fill in the blanks and text questions:

The direct vocabulary questions section includes two types of questions named text completion and sentence equivalence.

The section of texts or reading includes two subcategories of reading comprehension and logical questions or paragraph argument.

3- Analytical Writing Assessment

The written analysis section or AWA, also known as writing, is designed to measure the candidate's ability in the following skills:

1. Expressing complex ideas in a clear and effective way;
2. Correct expression of opinions, evaluations and claims and their evidence;
3. Focused and coherent discussions;
4. Having critical thinking;
5. Developing opinions and ideas with structures and logical reasoning.

 The quant part of the GRE test consists of three class of questions: quantitative reasoning, problem solving and numeric entry. The QC questions demand you to compare two quantities and say which one is bigger, equal, or indistinguishable. The other two parts also involve problem solving, and ultimately differ only in the way to respond, such as choosing between options and entering information numerically. 

In the issues section, there is another type of question called (multiple choice) questions, where you have to select all the correct statements among the given ones and any combination might be correct.  For instance, if the question has 4 statement, all 4 or just one of them might be correct. Note that there is at least one correct option. That is, there is no question without a correct answer. 

You have two sets or sections of 20 questions and 35 minutes to answer each.