Top 10 GRE Prep Courses - June 2025

What Is The GRE Exam?

What is GRE and who needs it?

The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is a standardized test which aims to predict your academic performance in graduate school or business school. Everyone who interested in pursuing a master’s, MBA, specialized master’s in business or doctoral degree needs to take the GRE test. The GRE test score is an important part of the graduate school and business school application process and it is taken into consideration along with your work experience, academic record, and supporting materials. The GRE is owned and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS) who created it in 1949. The GRE taking place in about 1,000 test centers in more than 160 countries.

The GRE structure

The GRE is a multiple-choice taken mostly on a computer in selected locations. The test’s question types closely reflect the skills and the way of thinking you’ll need as a graduate and business school student. Contrary to other standardized tests, in the GRE test you get the option to skip questions within a section, go back and change answers if you need and even have the flexibility to choose which questions within a section you want to answer first. The GRE has five sections: Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Unscored (may be either Verbal Reasoning or Quantitative Reasoning) and Research (used for ETS research purposes).
The first three sections aim to measures skills you must have if you want to succeed as a Graduate school and business school student.
Each section gets a separate scaled score:

• The Verbal Reasoning section is scored on 130 to 170 scale.
• The Quantitative Reasoning section is scored on 130–170 scale.
• The Analytical Writing section is scored on 0–6 scale.

How much does it cost and when it offered?

Taking a GRE test will cost you $205 and includes sending your score reports to up to four schools. The GRE can be taken once every 21 days, up to five times within any continuous rolling 12-month period (365 days). GRE score is valid for five years. So, it’s very important to choose the right time for you to take the GRE and of course, choosing the right prep course there is for you, so you don’t have to take the test once again.
* Some prep courses offer to pay your GRE fee.

How to compare prep-courses

During our research on test prep courses, we identified three key criteria for GRE students to consider:

1. How do I get the score I need, in the shortest amount of time?
2. Is it affordable?
3. Does it provide an enjoyable learning experience?

Before making a choice, ask yourself:
Does the company have a technology to not only reduce my learning curve but to identify the best methods of problem-solving and assist in achieving the score I desire?
Finally, ask yourself: What investments do I need to make in terms of time as well as money?