ETS Unveils New GRE 2023 Exam Pattern, Slashing Test Duration by Half, Details Inside

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has announced a significant change in the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) with the introduction of a new exam pattern. This standardised test is crucial for admission into various graduate, management, and law programmes in the United States, Canada and select other countries.

The primary objective behind this modification was to enhance overall performance and reduce examination-induced stress. Notably, the GRE 2023 duration has now been streamlined, reducing the testing time from nearly 4 hours to 1 hour and 58 minutes.

Under the new exam pattern, the GRE is divided into three distinct sections: analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. Important alterations include the removal of the "analyse an argument" component from the analytical writing section, as well as the elimination of the unscored section. Furthermore, the total number of questions in both the quantitative and verbal reasoning segments have been adjusted to align with the revised format.

The official website read, “The analytical writing section will always be first. The verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning sections may appear in any order after the analytical writing section.”

The verbal and quantitative reasoning sections are each divided into two parts.

GRE 2023 Exam Pattern Overview:

• Analytical writing section will have 1 task of 30 minutes duration.
• Verbal reasoning section will have Section 1 (12 questions of 18 minutes duration) and Section 2 (15 questions of 23 minutes duration)
• Quantitative reasoning section will have Section 1 (12 questions of 21 minutes duration) and Section 2 (15 questions of 26 minutes duration)

Advanced Features of GRE 2023:

• The revamped GRE 2023 introduces an advanced adaptive design that will enable test takers to navigate forward and backward throughout an entire section.

• Additionally, candidates can now preview and review options within a section, mark questions for later review, and even modify or edit answers within a section.

• For the quantitative reasoning section, an on-screen calculator has been integrated, providing test-takers with enhanced functionality and ease of calculation.