GRE exam day guide

The GRE General Test takes about 1 hour 58 minutes. You start with a 30-minute essay, then two Verbal and two Quant sections in any order. Within a section you can skip, mark and return to questions, and Quant has an on-screen calculator.

Source: ETS, GRE General Test Structure (format since September 22, 2023), checked October 11, 2026.

Source: ETS. Analytical Writing is always first; Verbal and Quant sections follow in any order.

Before you start

• Bring an accepted ID whose name matches your registration exactly; see ETS’s ID requirements.
• At home: check your computer, camera and room against ETS’s at-home requirements well before test day.
• At a test center: arrive early for check-in.

During the test

• Section-level adaptive: your second Verbal and Quant sections are harder or easier depending on how you did in the first.
• Use Mark and Review to skip questions and come back within a section.
• Breaks: ETS’s structure page lists no scheduled break in the current test (the pre-2023 test had a 10-minute break).

After the test

Official scores appear in your ETS account 8 to 10 days later. See score timing.