GMAT vs GRE: What is the Difference?

GMAT or Graduate Management Admission Test, one of the most popular exams across the globe, is taken by more than 2.5 lac students every year, out of which 13% are Indian candidates. Though the global number of the students appearing for GMAT has been same, in the case of Indian students, the same has risen by around 14% in the last 5 years, isn’t it interesting?

GRE or Graduate Record Examinations is equally popular and many students appear for this test too to secure admission to many international universities and colleges. In the last ten years precisely from 2009 to 2018, the number of students taking GRE in India has doubled and its value reached 80,029 in 2018.

The students who are not aware of the key difference between these two tests, can get the details here.

Fundamental Difference

GMAT score is often used by top business schools as a part of their admissions process. GRE is mostly used for admission in graduate programs. GMAT and GRE have different test duration, test structures, scoring methods, and the business schools accepting these scores. While the GMAT score is accepted by many different schools and programs, the GRE score is accepted by only a few business schools.

Validity, Duration, and Format

While the validity of the test remains 5 years for both the tests, the test duration and the number of sections for the test are different. There are four sections in GMAT and three to six in the case of GRE. The test duration for GMAT is 3 hours and 30 minutes, for GRE it is 3 hours 45 minutes.

Scores

Your GMAT score can range between 200 to 800. The GMAT is a computer adaptive test. The score range for GRE is 130-170. The GRE is a section-level adaptive computer test.

Difficulty Level: GMAT vs GRE

Talking about the difficulty level of GMAT and GRE, both the exams are quite the same. GMAT verbal section includes grammar and reasoning and GRE verbal questions test the vocabulary. GRE verbal vocabulary test is tougher as compared to the GMAT verbal. Also, GMAT Quant is tougher than GRE Quant. GRE allows calculator but GMAT does not.

Which is Right for you: GMAT or GRE?

If you are confused, thinking about whether to choose GMAT or GRE, then we recommend you to choose GMAT if you want admission to a business school and go for GRE if you want to go for one of the graduate programs.

As per GMAC data, talking about the global GMAT candidates, more than half of them are from Business and Commerce background, but in India 61% are from engineering background data.

One of the ways to determine the choice between the GMAT or GRE especially for MBA admission is to know which of your preferred business school need which test. If your dream school accepts both tests equally, you can choose one based on your aptitude and academic strengths.

Though many business schools do not have any preference criterion regarding GMAT or GRE, most of the applicants apply using their GMAT score. The popularity of the GMAT is much more than the GRE in business schools. If you want to know more about Best online preparation for study abroad, login to Edustori webiste!