GMAT vs. GRE

The GMAT and GRE may not be new to you, especially if you plan to study abroad. Many students wonder which test is easier or which is better if you plan to get an MBA. This article will definitely help you get the facts right so that you can proceed to make a wise decision.

The Exam

The GMAT is taken by students who aspire to attend business school or enroll in an MBA course. The test is almost exclusively for admission to these types of programs.

The GMAT has four separate sections:

• Analytical Writing Assessment (one 30-minute essay)
• Integrated Reasoning (12 questions)
• Quantitative Section (37 questions)
• Verbal Section (41 questions)

A significant difference between the GMAT and the GRE is that the GRE is used as part of admissions for various graduate school programs, while the GMAT is only used to apply to business schools.

The GRE has three major sections:

• Analytical Writing (two essays, 30 minutes each)
• Quantitative and Analytical Reasoning (each has two 20-question sections; 80 multiple-choice questions totally)
• One 20-question Research Section (won’t be included as part of the final score)

This research question is either Verbal or Quantitative, but examinees won’t know which research section.

The Marking Scheme

The GMAT’s most important score is the composite score, which can range from 200 to 800. The combined score takes into account only your scores from the Verbal and Quantitative sections. Students also receive section scores. The Quantitative and Verbal sections have mark ranges of 0–60 in one-mark increments. The range of marks for Analytical Writing is 0–6, in half-mark increments, and that for the Integrated Reasoning section is 1–8, in one-mark increments.

Adaptive Testing

The GMAT is taken online, and it is an adaptive test. When examinees begin the Quantitative and Verbal sections, the first question that appears in each section will be of medium difficulty. If they answer that question correctly, the next question will be slightly more challenging, and if answered incorrectly, the next question will, in turn, be somewhat less demanding. This process continues throughout the section for both Quantitative and Verbal parts. Once students answer a question on the GMAT, they can’t go back to it. Adaptive testing is used to obtain more accurate scores by selecting specific questions with varying difficulty levels from a larger pool.

Like the GMAT, the mark range for GRE’s Analytical Writing section is 0–6, in half-mark increments. Both Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning are scored identically. Their range is 130–170, in one-point increments. The three scores are reported separately and not combined into a single composite score.

The GRE is usually taken on the computer, and it is adaptive at the section-level. This means that a student’s score on the first section of Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning affects the difficulty of the questions tested in the second section for each subject. Unlike the GMAT, where each question determines the difficulty level of the next question, the candidate’s score on the entire section determines the next section’s difficulty of that subject in the GRE. In the GRE, the examinees can return to questions they’ve already answered within a section.

The Verbal Section

The Verbal section of the GMAT tests a student’s ability to understand written material, evaluate arguments, and identify and correct errors in it. There are three types of questions asked — Reading Comprehension, Critical Reading, and Sentence Correction.

The GRE’s Verbal Reasoning measures a student’s skills in analyzing and drawing conclusions from written excerpts, identifying key points in texts, summarizing passages, and understanding the meaning of words, sentences, and complete passages.

There are three different categories of questions in the GRE — Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, and Sentence Equivalence. The GRE is often considered to have a slightly more challenging Verbal section. It tends to include more high-level vocabulary and reading passages, making it especially difficult if a student is not a native English speaker. Besides, the GRE’s Verbal section tests grammar more than the GMAT’s Verbal section. On the whole, the Verbal sections of the two exams are pretty similar.

The Quantitative Section

The GMAT has two sections that test a candidate’s math skills — the Quantitative and Integrated Reasoning sections. It’s widely agreed that the GMAT’s quantitative sections are more complicated than those in the GRE. Both exams test similar topics such as equation solving and data interpretation, while neither tests higher-level math subjects like calculus. So, students only require high school math education to answer all the questions. However, the Data Sufficiency and Integrated Reasoning questions in the GMAT have more challenging quantitative questions that frequently require more in-depth analysis and critical thinking. The GRE quantitative questions are usually either straightforward multiple choice or numeric entry, both of which students are likely to have a lot of experience with.

The Writing Section

Both the GMAT and GRE have writing sections that are relatively equal in terms of difficulty. For both, students have to write an essay to analyze a given argument’s strengths and weaknesses. The GRE has a second essay as well. The Analytical Writing section in the GRE is for 60 minutes compared to the GMAT’s 30 minutes. However, since each test’s overall duration is about the same, it doesn’t make the test as a whole much longer. As long as students don’t feel that writing for an hour instead of 30 minutes will tire them, they can regard these sections as equal.

The Location

Both the GRE and GMAT are offered year-round at many testing centers. Hence, students have plenty of flexibility for where and when they wish to take either test. Even so, the GRE is offered more often and at more locations than the GMAT. So, a GRE testing center will likely be closer to you, though this isn’t guaranteed. It’s suggested to look on the websites for each test and see where the nearest test center is, and if there are still spots free on the date of your preference.

The Score Report

For candidates who opt to take a particular exam more than once, the GRE gives more flexibility than the GMAT in terms of which scores you send to schools. Students can choose to send any or all their GRE scores to schools without them knowing of the withheld scores. For the GMAT, candidates’ score reports will automatically contain scores from every GMAT they took. There is no negative impact for most schools if they see you’ve taken a test more than once. But if you feel you may need to take a test more than thrice, or if you’re worried you might get a low score the first time, the GRE gives you more flexibility in choosing which scores to send.

The Cost

The fee for both exams are nearly the same, and this isn’t likely to be a deciding factor. The cost of appearing for the GMAT is slightly greater than that of taking the GRE. The GMAT cost includes five free score reports, while the GRE only comprises four. For candidates who plan to take the exam multiple times, the GMAT’s higher fee could be of more significance. To send additional reports, it costs $28 for each GMAT report and $27 for each GRE report sent.

The Scholarships

Some institutions require applicants to submit scores from a specific exam to be eligible for certain scholarships. For students looking for ways to keep their education costs minimum, this might be something they’d want to take note of.

Taking Both the Exams

It’s possible to register for and take both the GMAT and the GRE. However, most people don’t recommend this because of the time and money it takes to study for each exam. Many aspirants study for weeks or even more to take one of these tests, and doubling that amount of preparation to take two exams can get overwhelming.