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.

Test Content

The GRE General Test closely reflects the kind of thinking you’ll do in today's demanding graduate school programs, including business and law. It measures your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills — skills that have been developed over a long period of time and aren’t related to a specific field of study but are important for all.

Verbal Reasoning

The Verbal Reasoning section measures your ability to:

• analyze and draw conclusions from discourse; reason from incomplete data; identify author's assumptions and/or perspective; understand multiple levels of meaning, such as literal, figurative and author's intent
• select important points; distinguish major from minor or irrelevant points; summarize text; understand the structure of a text
• understand the meaning of individual words, sentences and entire texts; understand relationships among words and among concepts

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning section measures your ability to:

• understand, interpret and analyze quantitative information
• solve problems using mathematical models
• apply basic skills and elementary concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis

Analytical Writing

The Analytical Writing section measures your ability to:

• articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively
• support ideas with relevant reasons and examples
• sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion
• control the elements of standard written English

It requires you to provide focused responses based on the tasks presented, so you can accurately demonstrate your skill in directly responding to a task.

The cost of the GRE General test in Iran is $220 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 60 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 $35.

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.