The GRE Gets SHORTER on September 22. Here's What Changes.
Ten days. That is how long you have until the GRE you have been training for gets cut down to about two hours. And I already know what a lot of you did when you heard. You opened your calendar, stared at your test date, and started making decisions out of fear.
Stop. Put the calendar down. A shorter test is NOT a reason to panic, and it is definitely not a reason to throw away the work you have done. Some things are changing. A lot of things are not. The people who lose points over the next few months will not lose them because the test changed. They will lose them because THEY changed their training in a hurry, for bad reasons.
What the GRE looks like today
If you sit for the GRE General Test before September 22, here is what you get. This is the version that has been around since August 2011:
- About 3 hours and 45 minutes in total.
- Analytical Writing first: an Issue essay and an Argument essay, 30 minutes each, scored 0 to 6.
- Two Verbal sections, 20 questions in 30 minutes each.
- Two Quant sections, 20 questions in 35 minutes each.
- One unscored section that looks just like the others, so you cannot tell which one does not count.
- A 10 minute break after the third section.
Verbal and Quant are each scored from 130 to 170. You get an on screen calculator. Inside a section, you can skip a question, mark it to come back to, and change your answers. The test is adaptive section by section, which means how you do on your first Quant section decides how hard your second Quant section is. You can test at a center or at home.
What changes on September 22
The big one: the whole thing drops to about two hours. That means fewer questions, less total time, and a different way the day feels. ETS lays out the new section breakdown on its page on the sections and question types. Go read it tonight. Not skim it. Read it, with a pencil, and write the new structure on paper. If you are going to train for an event, you need to know EXACTLY what the event is.
Here is the part I want you to think about. Fewer questions means each question carries more weight. On a longer test, one silly mistake gets buried in a big pile of right answers. On a shorter test, there is less pile. We will dig into that in fewer questions, less room for silly mistakes, but the short version is simple: the cost of carelessness just went UP.
What does NOT change
The math did not get rewritten overnight. Percents are still percents. Number properties still work the same way. Reading a passage still means reading a passage. The habits that earn points (taking notes, testing values, testing the answers, checking what the question actually asked) earn points on a two hour test just like they did on a four hour one.
And your control over who sees what stays the same. ScoreSelect lets you send schools only the scores you pick, as explained on ETS's scores page. So one test day, in either version, is not your permanent record.
The panic moves (and what to do INSTEAD)
Rushing to test before September 22 because you "know" the old format. If your practice scores are not where you want them, cramming for ten days will not put them there. You will just take a long test you are not ready for.
INSTEAD: Pick your date based on your readiness, not the format. Are you consistently hitting your goal score in practice? If yes, keep your date. If no, the shorter test is not the enemy. Being unprepared is.
Thinking shorter means easier. It does not. Less time on the clock is not the same thing as easier questions. A two hour test that you have not trained for is a two hour test you will be tired and sloppy on.
INSTEAD: Train your focus for the full length of the new test, start to finish, in one sitting.
Speeding up because there is "less time." Fewer minutes go with fewer questions. That is not the same as needing to work faster on each one. We will break this down in the shorter GRE didn't change your pace per question.
INSTEAD: Once you know the new structure, do the division yourself. Minutes divided by questions. Then compare it to what you have been practicing. I will bet the number is closer than you think.
Dumping all your practice material. The format changing does not make your math review worthless. The concepts did not move.
INSTEAD: Keep your materials. Change how you SIMULATE the test, not what you study.
Taking a practice test every day to "get used to" the new version. A practice test is a measuring device. It tells you where you are. It does not make you better. Taking one every day is like stepping on the scale five times a day and calling it a diet.
INSTEAD: One full practice test a week, max. Spend the rest of the time reviewing EVERY mistake and redoing questions until the right process is automatic.
Dropping your notes because "it's only two hours." This is pride, and pride is expensive. Let me make it real with the CURRENT test. Say you skip notes and lose 10 seconds re-reading each question in a 20 question Quant section. That is 20 × 10 = 200 seconds. That is 3 minutes and 20 seconds out of 35, gone, spent reading words you already read.
INSTEAD: Notes on paper, on every question, every time. Shorter sections give you even LESS room to waste time like that.
Here is what the habits look like in action
This is a Quantitative Comparison question. That is a GRE Quant question where you get two quantities, A and B, and you decide which one is bigger, or whether they are equal, or whether you cannot tell. The answer choices are always the same four.
Notice that nothing about that question depends on how long the test is. Writing the facts down, testing values, refusing to stop at the first result: that works on any version. It is also the same discipline as making sure you are answering the question they actually asked, not the one you assumed.
The real question underneath all this
Most people asking "what changes on September 22?" are really asking "do I have to start over?" No. You do not. You have to adjust how you simulate the test. That is a few hours of planning, not a few months of new work.
What's MORE important to you: taking the version of the test you feel cozy with, or taking the test on the day you are actually ready to earn your score? Answer that honestly, and your date decision makes itself.
Your move today
Before you go to bed tonight, do three things. First, open ETS's content page and write the new section structure on one sheet of paper. Second, look at your last practice test and write down, next to each wrong answer, the exact reason you missed it. Not "it was hard." The REAL reason. Third, look at your test date and ask: am I ready, or am I hoping? Then make the call. You have ten days to make it with a clear head instead of a panicked one.
