How Much Does the GRE General Test Cost?

Updated in 2024 for the new GRE

The GRE costs $220 everywhere in the world except China, where it costs $233. The fee is the same whether you take the GRE at home or in a test center. The most detailed and up-to-date prices can be found on ETS.org.

Your test fee includes:

The option to send your scores to up to four graduate programs
A helpful Diagnostic Service that provides detailed info about your GRE performance

In addition to the GRE test fee, you may choose to purchase additional services and features. Continue reading to determine whether these additional GRE services will be worth the investment for you.

GRE RESCHEDULING FEES

Cost:

Everywhere except China: $50

In China: $53.90

You must reschedule your GRE test four or more days before your test date. Within four days of your GRE appointment, you will forfeit your entire GRE test fee.

While it can be unpleasant to spend $50 in addition to your GRE test fee, it is sometimes worth the price to reschedule your GRE exam.

You should consider rescheduling your GRE if:

1. You can no longer make it to your original appointment (obviously),

2. It becomes clear that you’re not fully prepared for the GRE.

It’s not uncommon to schedule the GRE exam well in advance, and then realize as the date gets closer that you’re not as well prepared as you thought you’d be.

Unfortunately, you’re only allowed 5 GRE attempts in a 12-month period. If you’re getting close to this limit, don’t waste an attempt just because you don’t want to pay the GRE reschedule fee. Just bite the bullet, pay the GRE rescheduling fee, and give yourself more time to study.

Also, please be aware that you can’t reschedule your test within four days of your appointment time, so make your final decision well before that window.

THE BOTTOM LINE: RESCHEDULE YOUR GRE IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT TO YOUR APPOINTMENT, OR IF YOU’RE UNPREPARED AND CAN’T AFFORD TO WASTE AN ATTEMPT.

CANCELING YOUR GRE TEST APPOINTMENT

Cost:

4 or more days before GRE appointment: 50% refund

Fewer than 4 days before GRE appointment: no refund

You should think about canceling your GRE test date if:

1. You signed up for an extra test date but don’t need it because you already achieved your GRE score goal, OR

2. You’re really not ready to take the GRE.

It’s marginally cheaper to reschedule a GRE test date than to cancel and get an entirely new appointment. Unfortunately, it’s possible that you’re so far from being ready for the GRE that you don’t know when to schedule your next GRE test appointment. If you’re in that situation, it may make sense to cancel your GRE test appointment entirely instead of rescheduling it multiple times.

THE BOTTOM LINE: CANCEL YOUR GRE TEST APPOINTMENT IF YOU’RE COMPLETELY DONE WITH THE GRE, OR IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN YOU’LL BE READY TO TAKE THE EXAM.

SENDING ADDITIONAL GRE SCORE REPORTS TO GRADUATE PROGRAMS

Cost: $35 for each additional GRE score report

On test day, you can opt to send your official GRE score report to up to four schools. This service is included in your GRE test fee.

After test day, you can send your GRE score report to any number of graduate programs at a cost of $35 each.

There are plenty of circumstances in which you may find yourself sending additional GRE score reports. If your target graduate programs change after you take your GRE exam, you’ll have to send your GRE score report to any programs you’ve added to your list. If you’re applying to more than four programs, you’ll also have to send an additional GRE score report.

In addition, there are several reasons why we sometimes recommend that students opt out of sending their GRE score reports on test day. For starters, filling out that information adds more time to an already-long GRE test-day experience.

Second, thinking about your target graduate programs can shift your focus away from what really matters. As you sit down for the test, thoughts like “Will I get into Harvard?” and “I hope this score is good enough for Stanford!” are distractions from the actual task at hand. Some students feel additional pressure when they opt to send their GRE scores, which can adversely impact their performance on test day.

Score Select (included in the $35 fee): ETS makes a big deal about its “Score Select” option, which offers a bit more flexibility regarding which scores you can choose to send in your additional score reports. Overall, though, it doesn’t really matter – schools only care about your best score, so it generally doesn’t hurt to send a report that includes all of your scores.

Notably, the “Score Select” option does not allow you to mix and match section scores (you can’t combine your best quant and verbal scores from different GRE test days).

THE BOTTOM LINE: IT’S LIKELY THAT YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY TO SEND ADDITIONAL GRE SCORE REPORTS TO YOUR TARGET PROGRAMS.

REINSTATING YOUR GRE SCORE

Cost: $50

You can cancel your GRE scores on the day of your test for free, but it’s a pretty terrible idea for several reasons.

First of all, you’ll have to make that decision BEFORE you see your unofficial scores – so you might be throwing away a good attempt! Secondly, schools really only care about your best GRE score, so there’s no reason to cancel less-than-stellar performances. And finally, if you send your scores after your GRE test day, you can choose which scores actually show up on your score report and which do not.

Imagine that you do cancel your GRE score (again: bad idea, for either the GMAT or the GRE), and then change your mind later. If that happens, you can pay $50 to reinstate your GRE score as long as you submit the request within 60 days of your test appointment.

Let’s be honest: this is a cash grab by ETS. The fix is simple: don’t cancel your GRE score and you won’t need to pay to reinstate that score.

THE BOTTOM LINE: IF YOU MAKE GOOD DECISIONS AND DON’T CANCEL YOUR GRE SCORES UNNECESSARILY, THEN YOU’LL NEVER NEED TO PAY TO REINSTATE A GRE SCORE.

GRE ANALYTICAL WRITING RESCORING

Cost: $60

According to ets.org, your GRE essays are graded by a human reader and an “e-rater” machine. These grades are then averaged to give you a final score from 0-6.

If you’re unhappy with your GRE analytical writing score, you can cough up $60 to have your essay regraded.

Are you applying to an MBA program? No one really cares about your GRE writing score. It’s really not worthwhile to try to get your 4 or 4.5 on the GRE writing section bumped up to a higher score.

Applying to a non-MBA graduate program? Your writing score might matter, or it might not. Look through the specific admissions requirements for your target programs to determine how much emphasis they put on the GRE writing score.

However, there’s no guarantee that a rescore is a good idea – you could spend $60 and end up with a worse score! If this data point is truly important for your target program, you may need to retake the GRE test.

THE BOTTOM LINE: DON’T PAY FOR A GRE ESSAY RESCORING.

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