How Difficult is GRE? Key Challenges & How to Overcome Them

How Difficult is GRE?

If you are looking for an answer to “How difficult is GRE?” The GRE can be moderately to highly difficult depending on your preparation and familiarity with the exam format. The GRE is an adaptive test. Let us take the Quants section, for instance. Everyone’s first quantitative section is “medium” difficulty, meaning that it may have some questions that most people get right and some questions only a few people get right. The following possibilities can occur:

• If you do medium well in this section, your second Quantitative section will also be medium difficulty.

• If you don’t get many questions correct, then your second Quant section will be much easier.

• If you perform quite well in the first section, you will find your second Quant section will be more difficult.

The same applies to the Verbal section.

It also depends largely on your preparation. The GRE tests your ability to reason with college-level vocabulary, analyze dense academic passages for meaning, and apply math knowledge up through plane geometry to solve problems. Thus, test takers who have the requisite knowledge and have honed their critical thinking skills will find most questions easy and will also perform well on the test.

The GRE is a standardized test, meaning that the types of questions you will see, the material you will need to know, and the type of reasoning tasks you will need to do are predictable. This predictability means that you can learn to think like the test makers. Prepare for the test by studying the known range of material tested, practicing with test-like questions, and taking practice tests that simulate the GRE’s adaptive structure.

Also, Read WES Evaluation Guide: Process, Fees And Documents

The following are some factors that affect the difficulty level on GRE:

1. Math knowledge

For some people who take the GRE, it may be years since they’ve last taken a math class or had to put their geometry skills to use. Or you may just have always disliked math and thought you were done with it once you finished your undergrad math requirements.

To overcome the same:
Prep books are a great way to improve your knowledge of GRE math. There are many prep books available to help you become more familiar with the math tested on the GRE.

2. Varied Vocabulary

Half of the Verbal Reasoning section tests your knowledge of some abstruse and superfluous vocabulary. Throughout this section, you’ll be asked to select words or sets of words to fill in the blanks in sentences.

How to Overcome It:
Fortunately, the GRE repeats many of the vocabulary words it tests, so you can study and become familiar with the most common vocabulary words by making flashcards and quizzing yourself.

3. The complex wording of questions

GRE makes itself challenging by wording questions in ways that require more logic and analysis to find the correct answer. This can be an especially frustrating aspect of the exam because you may know all the content needed to do well, but you end up getting tripped up by the wording of the questions by not understanding what’s being asked or being fooled into selecting an incorrect answer.

How to Overcome It:
The way to avoid this issue is to do so many practice problems that you begin to see through the GRE’s tricks and are no longer fooled by them. Take multiple practice quizzes and tests and, for each one, go through every question you answered incorrectly and make sure you understand what went wrong so you can avoid making those same mistakes in the future.

4. The time factor

Like most standardized tests, the GRE doesn’t give you much time to answer each question. You’ll get 30 minutes to write each essay and an average of one minute and 30 seconds to answer each verbal question and one minute and 45 seconds to answer each math question. That means you’ll have to be aware of the time for the entire test. You’ll need to work quickly and efficiently throughout the test in order to get to all the questions.

How to Overcome It:

Practice, practice, practice! The more familiar you become with the GRE and the types of questions it asks, the more quickly you’ll be able to answer questions. Be sure to take timed practice exams to see which sections you run out of time most often on and to track your progress. Also, be aware of where you tend to spend a lot of time.

Do the critical reading passages take you forever to get through? Do you get stuck on a math problem and lose track of the time, wasting valuable minutes trying to solve it? Focus specifically on eliminating these problem areas and make it a habit to move on to the next question if you’ve spent over a minute looking at a question and still have no idea how to solve it.

There you go – a complete answer to the question, “How difficult is the GRE?”

GRE Exam Syllabus

The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) syllabus is divided into two main categories: the GRE General Test and GRE Subject Tests. Below is a detailed breakdown of both.

GRE General Test Syllabus

The GRE General Test evaluates skills in three core areas:

Analytical Writing

• Task: 1 essay (Analyze an Issue)
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Skills Tested: Ability to articulate complex ideas, support arguments with relevant reasons and examples, examine claims and evidence, maintain coherent discussion, and use standard written English

Verbal Reasoning

• Sections: 2 (Section 1: 12 questions, Section 2: 15 questions)
• Duration: 41 minutes total (18 minutes for Section 1, 23 minutes for Section 2)
• Skills Tested:
  • Analyzing and drawing conclusions from discourse
  • Summarizing text
  • Understanding the meanings of words, sentences, and entire texts
  • Understanding relationships among words and concepts
• Question Types:
  • Reading Comprehension: Passages from the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences
  • Text Completion
  • Sentence Equivalence
• Topics Covered:
  • Sentence structure (nouns, pronouns, adjectives)
  • Verb tense
  • Idioms and expressions
  • Pronoun and subject-verb agreement
  • Modifiers and parallelism

Quantitative Reasoning

• Sections: 2 (Section 1: 12 questions, Section 2: 15 questions)
• Duration: 47 minutes total (21 minutes for Section 1, 26 minutes for Section 2)
• Skills Tested:
  • Problem-solving using mathematical concepts
  • Data interpretation
  • Quantitative comparison
• Topics Covered:
  • Arithmetic
  • Algebra
  • Geometry
  • Data analysis

GRE Subject Test Syllabus

The GRE Subject Tests are specialized and assess knowledge in specific fields. The main subjects offered are:

Mathematics

• Number of Questions: ~66 MCQs
• Duration: 2 hours 50 minutes
• Topics:
  • Calculus (50%)
  • Algebra (25%)
  • Additional Topics (Discrete Mathematics, Geometry, Statistics, etc.) (25%)

Physics

• Number of Questions: ~70–100 MCQs
• Duration: 2 hours 50 minutes
• Topics:
  • Classical Mechanics (20%)
  • Electromagnetism (18%)
  • Optics and Wave Phenomena (8–9%)
  • Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (10%)
  • Quantum Mechanics (12–13%)
  • Atomic Physics (10%)
  • Special Relativity (6%)
  • Laboratory Methods (6%)
  • Specialized Topics (9%)

Psychology

• Number of Questions: ~144–205 MCQs
• Duration: 2 hours
• Topics:
  • Biological (17–21%)
  • Cognitive (17–24%)
  • Developmental (12–14%)
  • Social (12–14%)
  • Clinical (15–19%)
  • Measurement/Methodology/Other (15–19%)

Summary Table: GRE General Test Structure

Section	Number of Questions	Duration	Main Skills Tested
Analytical Writing	1 essay	30 minutes	Argument analysis, writing
Verbal Reasoning	27 (12+15)	41 minutes	Reading, vocabulary, and reasoning
Quantitative Reasoning	27 (12+15)	47 minutes	Math, data analysis, and reasoning

The GRE General Test focuses on skills applicable across disciplines, while Subject Tests are for candidates with strong backgrounds in specific fields. Please find the Official Website for this.

1-Test Taker

2-General Test Preparation 

FAQs:-

1. What is the GRE exam?

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a standardized examination for admission into graduate programs (Masters, PhD, MBA) around the world. GRE looks at verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing.

2. What are the GRE exam eligibility criteria?

There are no age limits, educational qualifications or nationality limits to take the GRE exam. However, most candidates will have a bachelor’s degree and will provide a valid passport as proof of identification.

3. How many years is the GRE score valid?

GRE scores remain valid for 5 years from the test date.

4. How tough is the GRE?

The GRE is not as difficult as specialized graduate exams (for example, GMAT, MCAT) and is more difficult than undergraduate (for example, SAT, ACT) tests. GRE is difficult because of the higher levels of vocabulary, complex reading passages, and trickier math reasoning.

5. What is the GRE full form?

GRE stands for Graduate Record Examination.

6. Which is better: GRE or GMAT?

• GRE: Accepted for most graduate programs (engineering, social sciences, MBA) and has a focus on vocabulary and wider academic skills.
• GMAT: Designed for MBA applicants and emphasizes business reasoning and business data analysis.