Taking the GRE is a costly affair for most applicants. The total cost of attempting the GRE includes not only the test fees but also study materials and, potentially, tutoring services.
This article will cover the total cost of the GRE, including:
Please note that the exam costs vary in China and India. Click ahead to see the cost of taking the GRE in these countries.
The registration fee for the GRE General Test is $220—regardless of whether you take the GRE at home or in a test center.
To register for one GRE subject test, the test fee $150.
There are some exceptions—namely in China and in India—which we discuss in more detail below.
In most parts of the world, the GRE rescheduling fee is $50.
Additionally, if you want to switch to a different test center, the relocation fee is $50.
You must reschedule at least 4 days before the test date, otherwise, you forfeit your test fees.
If you cancel the test at least four days prior, you will receive 50% of your registration fees back. Any closer to your test date, you will forfeit the entire fee.
In addition to your official score report, which allows you to submit GRE scores to up to four graduate programs, GRE takers can avail of several other official test services.
For both the GRE General Test and the GRE Subject Test:
The GRE also provides some additional score review services for your exam. For more information on this, you can take a look at the ETS Info Bulletin.
For reasons we’ll expand on later, we recommend sticking to the use of Official GRE Prep Materials to supplement your GRE preparation.
The official materials distributed by ETS include online practice tests and GRE prep books (which include practice questions and mandated exam strategies).
To gain experience in a real test situation, you can attempt the three POWERPREP® Online Practice Tests which are available free of charge on the ETS website.
After that, the POWERPREP PLUS® Online Practice series (three tests) can be purchased for $39.95.
Further, the ScoreItNow!™ Online Writing Practice enables you to hone your Analytical Writing skills.
While practice exams are an important part of GRE test preparation, it’s important not to overuse these practice exams. There are a total of six official practice tests available to test takers, and so the use of these tests should be spaced out throughout the preparation process. At Menlo Coaching, we strongly advise against using unofficial GRE practice tests.
ETS offers three official prep books for sale on its website to aid in your GRE study.
These books are available in combinations at lower prices.
Further undergraduate student training for the GRE is available in module form on the ETS website.
Registering for the GRE itself can be expensive, particularly if you need to take the exam multiple times.
Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate these expenses.
Firstly, certain GRE takers can avail of the GRE Fee Reduction Program. However, this applies only to a small number of people.
The GRE Fee Reduction Program offers limited vouchers on a first-come-first-serve basis for U.S. citizens or resident aliens who:
To be eligible, the college seniors must be:
If you are an unenrolled college graduate, then to qualify you must have applied for financial aid and have an SAR that shows a self-supporting status and a contribution of not more than $3,200.
Those applicants that receive GRE Fee Reduction vouchers for the GRE General Test:
The applicants attempting the GRE Subject tests under this program have to pay only 50% of the fees, which is $75.
If you fulfill the eligibility criteria, then you can complete the GRE Fee Reduction Request Form available on the ETS website and follow the rest of the directions on the form.
The GRE fee reduction voucher numbers are sent to applicants through email within 2 weeks of ETS approving your request.
This procedure can be repeated if you take multiple exams.
For those who don’t qualify for fee reductions, there are some additional ways to save money.
The most expensive way to prepare for the GRE is to do so without a strategy.
Test takers who don’t consider their strengths and weaknesses, the amount of time they can commit to studying, and the availability of official resources often end up spending more time and more money on test prep than those who plan ahead.
Working with a tutor who evaluates your test taking profile and works with you to develop a personalized GRE roadmap might look more expensive at the outset, but will very likely end up saving you money in the long run.
Someone with a strong quant background looking to enroll in an engineering and science program, for example, will likely have little difficulty understanding the material on the quant side of the GRE.
This person should work with a GRE tutor who can tailor their preparation towards their unique strengths and weaknesses, identifying low hanging fruit for score improvement and tackling their areas of weakness in more depth.
In the early stages of GRE prep, many test takers opt to self-study using books and practice tests sold by test prep companies.
While there can be exceptions to the rule, we find these materials are not beneficial for the vast majority of GRE takers.
This is because GRE books sold by test prep companies tend to teach foundational concepts and rudimentary problem-solving strategies. Unofficial GRE practice tests, on the other hand, aren’t written by experienced test writers and therefore are not as good at evaluating the skills and knowledge that the GRE tests.
As a result, unofficial materials—at best—offer the same benefit as official materials (at an additional cost) and—at worst—reinforce inefficient problem-solving habits.
GRE takers who understand the foundational verbal and quant concepts being tested should spend more time working on approach—getting to the right answer quickly and accurately. And official GRE prep materials are the only prep books that effectively teach this approach.
Beware of overusing official GRE practice tests, however, as there are a limited number available to test takers. Take care to space these tests out deliberately over the course of your GRE preparation.
The Menlo Coaching GRE curriculum is based exclusively on official GRE test prep materials, including practice questions and a bank of vocabulary words that appeared in 25+ years of official GRE exams.
The following countries have some differences in the cost of taking the GRE.
The total cost of taking the GRE will vary depending on where you are in the world as well as what services and materials you choose to avail of.
The cost of registering for the GRE in most parts of the world, however, is $220.
While there are many GRE prep materials on the market, we recommend only using official GRE prep books and materials. Unofficial materials can cause you to focus on the wrong elements of test preparation and ultimately make you a less effective and efficient test taker.
Test takers should also take care not to overuse official GRE practice tests. A good GRE preparation roadmap should include the deliberate and strategically timed use of official practice tests.
Finally, while it may seem like an unnecessary expense, working with an experienced GRE tutor from the outset often ends up saving test takers time and money.
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