GMAT or GRE:
Which test is better?
GMAT vs GRE
It used to be pretty easy: if you wanted an MBA, you would almost always have to include GMAT scores in your application. However, most recently many business schools have started to accept GRE scores instead of the GMAT.
What are the differences between the GRE and GMAT? Do graduate schools prefer one over the other? Which one should you take: the GMAT or the GRE?
In this quick guide, we will break down both exams and do a brief comparison of them. We will then discuss how to best prepare for both, the GRE and the GMAT and take you through the steps you need in order to do so.
Not sure which exam is right for you?
A Quick Look at the GMAT
Length: 3 hours 30 minutes
Number of Sections: 4
Number of Essays: 1
Number of Multiple Choice Questions: 90
Composite Scoring: 200-800 in 10 point increments
Cost: $250 dollars
Expiration: 5 years
GMAT General Info
The GMAT is taken by people who plan to attend business school and/or an MBA program. It’s used almost exclusively for admission to these types of programs.
The exam has 4 separate sections:
- The Analytical Writing Assessment consists of one 30-minute essay.
- Integrated Reasoning contains 12 questions.
- The Quantitative section has 37 questions.
- The Verbal section has 41 questions.
SCORING
If you take the GMAT, the most critical score you receive will be your composite score, which can go from 200 to 800. The composite score takes only your scores from the Verbal and Quantitative sections into account. Your other scores on Analytical Writing and Integrated Reasoning are not included in this score.
You will also receive specific section scores. The Verbal and Quantitative sections both have score scales of 0-60, in one-point increments.
The score range for Analytical Writing is 0-6, in half-point increments, and the score range for the Integrated Reasoning section is 1-8, in one-point increments.
The GMAT is taken on the computer, and it is an adaptive test. In other words, when you begin the Quantitative and Verbal sections, the first question you have in each section will be intermediate difficulty. If you answer that question correctly, the next question will be slightly harder, and if you answered incorrectly, the next question will be slightly easier. This continues throughout the whole section for both Quantitative and Verbal. Once you answer a question on the GMAT, you can’t go back to it. Adaptive testing is used to get more accurate scores by selecting specific questions with varying difficulty levels from a larger pool.
A Quick Look at the GRE
Length: 3 hours 45 minutes
Number of Sections: 6
Number of Essays: 2
Number of Multiple Choice Questions: 100
Composite Scoring: 260-340 in 1 point increments
Cost: $200 dollars
Expiration: 5 years
GRE General Info
The most biggest difference between the GMAT and the GRE is that the GRE is used as part of admissions for a wide variety of graduate school programs, while the GMAT is only used to apply to business schools.
The GRE has three major sections: Analytical Writing, Quantitative Reasoning, and Verbal Reasoning.
- Analytical Writing consists of two 30 minutes essays.
- Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Reasoning each have two 20-question sections, for a total of 80 multiple-choice questions.
- The GRE will also include one 20-question research section which won’t be included as part of your score.
SCORING
As the GMAT, the score range for the GRE’s Analytical Writing section is 0-6, in half-point increments. Both Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning are scored the same way. Their score range is 130-170, in one-point increments. The three section scores are generally reported separately and not combined into a single composite score.
The GRE is also taken on the computer, and it is section-level adaptive. This means that your score on the first section of both Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning will affect the difficulty of the questions tested on the second section for each subject.
Unlike the GMAT, where each individual question determines the difficulty of the next question, on the GRE, your score on the entire section determines the difficulty of the next section on that subject. On the GRE you can return to questions you’ve already answered within a section.
Which do Business Schools prefer the GMAT or the GRE?
The majority applying to business schools send GMAT scores, but more people are submitting GRE scores each year (and commonly to other types of graduate schools). Most schools will accept both GMAT and GRE scores.
About 90% of business schools in the US will receive both GMAT or GRE scores. You can check to see, just because a school accepts scores from either exam doesn’t automatically mean that they view the exams equally. A survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep of over 200 business schools found that 25% of business schools prefer the GMAT over the GRE. This number rose from 18% in their 2014 survey.
It’s key to note that the survey still found that the majority of business schools, 74%, said that they have no preference when it comes to GMAT vs. GRE scores. Additionally, some of the country’s most prestigious business schools, such as Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, and Stanford Graduate School of Business have made it a point to specifically state that they view the two exams equally.
So, a growing number of business schools prefer the GMAT over the GRE, but they are still the minority. Most schools have no preference between the two exams, and, even if they do, almost all schools will accept scores from either test.
Which is better for you: the GRE or GMAT?
Ask yourself each of the questions in this section to figure out if you should take the GMAT or GRE. However, before you spend a lot of time thinking about the questions in this section, there are two things you should do.
1. See what the school wants: First, research the exam policies of the top schools you’re interested in. Many schools will state which exam(s) they accept on their admissions page, but you may still want to contact someone from the admissions office directly and ask them if they prefer one exam over the other.
As we saw in the previous section, many schools will accept both the GRE and the GMAT, but they may prefer the GMAT. Speaking to someone directly can sometimes get you more specific information.
2. Take a Practice Exam: These tests are long, so don’t take them back-to-back just to get them out of the way. Take the tests under as realistic testing conditions as possible: taken in one sitting, with the same breaks you’ll get on the real test, and minimal distractions. Then, grade the exams and see how well you did.
Compare your GMAT vs. GRE scores (we explain how to do this further on in this section) and think about how you felt during both tests. Did you score significantly higher on one test than the other? Did one test feel more challenging than the other? Keep these things in mind as you ask yourself the questions below.
A note on taking both exams: It’s completely possible to register for and take both the GMAT and the GRE. However, this isn’t recommended for most people because of the time and money it takes to study for each exam. Many people study for weeks or even more to take one of these tests, and doubling that amount of preparing in order to take two exams can get overwhelming.
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