I took the new, shortened GRE. Here are a few takeaways:
The length of the exam is much more friendly
The shortened format is a total game changer. Like many people who take it, I always found the last 2 hours to be vastly different from the first 2 hours. The first 2 hours were basically fun, but I always hit a wall after that and the last half of the exam always took pure tenacity. With the shortened format, you don’t hit that blood sugar wall where you suddenly lose the ability to focus. I always have a lot of adrenaline going into the exam, and with the shortened format that adrenaline carried me throughout the entirety of the exam without it evaporating like it usually does.
Only one AWA essay
It is such a relief that there is only one 30-minute essay. I would love for there to be no writing section at all, but at least now you don’t have to spend a full hour writing essays and draining your adrenaline before you actually start into the quant and verbal. I recommend taking no more than 15- 20 minutes to just rip out a quick, 5 paragraph essay. Just get it done and move on to what matters.
STRUCTURE
I had 2 quant sections and 2 verbal sections as follows:
Quant- 12 questions (21 minutes)
Verbal- 12 questions (18 minutes)
Quant- 15 questions (26 minutes)
Verbal- 15 questions (23 minutes)
How does it compare to the new GMAT?
I detail my experience with the new GMAT focus in another post. I think the new GRE is still the less stressful, less exhausting test to take. The GRE scoring is punishing- you can only miss 1 or 2 quant questions if you want a top score for an M7 MBA program. But this is basically true for the GMAT focus as well, now that it has been shortened to 21 Quant questions. I still think the new GRE is “easier” than the new GMAT focus, and better for those not fully confident in their quant abilities. The essay never mattered anyway, so now the only big difference, in terms of content to study, is that the GMAT has you do the charts and graphs stuff on their Data Insights section. While this is totally manageable, taking the GRE to avoid this altogether is still a good route for those who just need a solid score to submit and don’t feel super confident about their quant.