GRE at a glance

Conducting body

Educational Testing Service (ETS)

Full form

Graduate Record Examination

What is the GRE exam format?

Duration: ~1 hour 58 minutes total (revised shorter format)

Scoring: Verbal + Quant each 130-170 (scaled, 1-point increments); AWA 0-6.

• Analytical Writing

  30 min

  One 'Analyze an Issue' essay. Scored 0-6 in half-point increments.

• Verbal Reasoning

  ~41 min (across two sections)

  Reading comprehension, text completion, sentence equivalence. Section-adaptive difficulty between two Verbal sections.

• Quantitative Reasoning

  ~47 min (across two sections)

  Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, data interpretation, quantitative comparisons. Section-adaptive between two Quant sections.

What does my GRE score mean?

Verbal 160+ / Quant 168+

Strong score for top international STEM programs (CMU / Berkeley / GeorgiaTech / UIUC) and fully-funded PhDs. Required for IISc Bangalore competitive programs.

Verbal 158+ / Quant 165+

Competitive for mid-tier US grad programs and Indian institutes like IIT Madras MS.

Verbal 155+ / Quant 162+

Acceptable for many international masters programs; below the bar for top-tier and competitive PhD funding.

How does T.I.M.E. Coimbatore teach GRE?

Batch types

Classroom (weekends + weekday evenings) • Online live • Test-series only

Course duration

10-14 weeks (foundation-to-test); 6-8 weeks accelerated for retakers or students starting from 295+ baseline

Mock series

GRE mock series using ETS PowerPrep + section-wise drilling on weak areas

T.I.M.E.'s GRE prep emphasizes the section-adaptive nature of the test - first-section performance in Verbal and Quant determines second-section difficulty, which caps your maximum possible score. Most students target the test 8-12 weeks before application deadlines so retakes are an option. Fee structure: please enquire below.

GRE or GMAT for Indian programs?

ISB and IIM PGPX accept both; most engineering candidates choose GRE since the Quant section overlaps with their existing strengths. Pure-finance / consulting backgrounds tend to choose GMAT. For US grad school (MS / PhD): GRE is the standard. For US MBA: GMAT is the historical standard, though GRE is increasingly accepted.

Is the GRE shorter test easier?

No - same scoring scale, same per-question difficulty. The total time was cut by reducing question counts per section and dropping the unscored experimental section. Per-question time stays comparable, so time pressure feels similar.

How does section-adaptive scoring work?

Within Verbal and Quant, your first section's performance determines the difficulty of the second section. Higher difficulty in the second section means higher potential score; lower means a capped range. The algorithm reports your final scaled score after combining both sections. Pace + accuracy in the first section matters disproportionately.