What does the new GRE mean for you as an MBA candidate?

Earlier this year, ETS announced the launch of a new, shorter version of the GRE exam. The GRE general test now takes less than two hours to take! This makes the GRE General Test the shortest and most efficient test for business school admissions.

To help candidates understand how to create a strategy for preparing for the new GRE, I connected with Tyler York, Founder of the test prep company Achievable and GRE Snacks, a podcast that offers bite-sized GRE tactics and tips.

But first, what are the main changes in the new GRE?

According to ETS, among the changes to the new GRE are:

• Removal of the “Analyze an Argument” task in the Analytical Writing section

• Reduced number of questions in the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections

• Removal of the unscored section

In addition to test changes, test takers can expect to receive their official scores much faster, in just 8-10 days. These changes mark the first of several planned future updates to the GRE General Test, all of which are intended to provide test takers with a better experience that values their time and reduces anxiety and fatigue.

What, if anything, should MBA candidates do differently to prepare for the new GRE?

Here’s what Tyler had to say to all MBA hopefuls who are making decisions about how to best position themselves for success in the GRE exam.

The good news is - not much needs to change when it comes to GRE test prep!

You can consider the new GRE to be the old GRE cut in half. The content is the same, the types of questions are the same, the amount of time per question is roughly the same, and the weighting of those questions (how often they appear on the test) is the same.

From a preparation perspective, you are looking at the same test content. The only exception to this is the GRE Analytical Writing section, which dropped the “Analyze an Argument” essay entirely, so you will only need to prepare for the “Analyze an Issue” essay.

This means that the GRE prep program that you already purchased will cover the test as well as it did before, and your GRE practice tests with the old format should mostly represent the test you’ll see in the new format. 

An important caveat: Avoiding mistakes on the new GRE Exam is more important than ever!

Now, this is where the one caveat comes in. I say “mostly”, but as you know, the new GRE is about half the length of the old exam. This has one major implication - avoiding mistakes is now more important than ever. Your score is being determined by half the number of questions, so getting one wrong has roughly double the negative impact on your score. 

Because of this, the main thing candidates should do differently to prepare for the new GRE is focus on minimizing their mistakes. One of the best ways to do this is by creating an error log, which is a record of every mistake you make when practicing GRE questions.

For each question you get wrong, record the date, the question number, the section it was in, the type of question (if your prep program shares that), and what mistake you made. Fill out your error log after every practice question and practice exam you take. This might sound tedious, but you’ll soon start to see patterns in your mistakes and can take corrective action to fix it.

What are some common mistakes MBA candidates make on the GRE?

When diagnosing your errors, here are some of the common mistakes that we see students make on the GRE:

• Careless error - Whether it’s getting the math wrong or not carefully reading a question, a careless error is the kind of mistake that makes you smack your forehead when you see it. These are super common, so don’t fret - but do practice avoiding them with careful reading and problem solving.

• Diagnosis error - Sometimes, particularly on the GRE Quantitative section, you can think a question is asking for one thing but it is not. You might use an approach that makes the question way harder than it needed to be, and get it wrong. Practice diagnosing question types to remedy this.

• Formula error - Also on the GRE Quantitative, it’s quite common to get or apply a formula incorrectly and get the question wrong. Make sure you review that formula and practice questions that test it to brush up on it.

• Vocabulary error - On the GRE Verbal, there are a lot of questions that you’ll get wrong simply because you didn’t know a vocab word or misremembered it. When you write these down, include the word(s) in question and make your own vocabulary list with them.

This is just a starting point - you can make up your own error types or catalog them however you like. The key thing is that you keep track of your errors and deliberately focus on minimizing your mistakes over time. This will help you get the best possible score on the new GRE.

What else has changed in the 2023-2024 MBA Admissions Cycle?

Watch the latest update on the 2023-2024 MBA Admissions Trends.

Onwards and upwards,

Petia