The Education Testing Service (ETS) has brought some changes to the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Beginning in September, the length of the GRE examination will be reduced. As per the recent amendments, the time duration to complete the test is set at less than two hours.
The ETS states that the GRE’s new shorter duration makes it the shortest test among those required for admission to top-tier graduate, business, and law schools. A few more changes are introduced in the GRE test. ETS has dropped the “Analyse an Argument” task from the Analytical Writing section. Moreover, the number of questions in the quantitative and verbal reasoning sections has decreased. Even the unscored section has been removed.
Just like the TOEFL, GRE test takers will now receive their test scores within 8 to 10 days. Earlier, a similar reduction in test duration was introduced in the TOEFL too. Officials of ETS mentioned that “these changes mark the first of several planned future updates to the GRE General Test”. These revisions are made to provide a better experience for test takers that is aligned with their time and reduces anxiety and fatigue. According to the latest data, the number of Indian students appearing for the GRE has increased from 56,782 in 2012–13 to 114,647 in 2021–22. This reveals that India is almost caught up with the US in the number of students using the gateway exam to pursue Master’s and Doctorate courses in America.