Many people may not realize that some MBA programs do take the GRE for admissions and that some doctoral programs take the GMAT for admissions. With this in mind, it is important to understand the key differences you will encounter with both of these tests. Be sure to check with your target schools well in advance to make sure you are taking and preparing for the right test. The last thing you want to do is learn that your top school only takes one test or the other. Further, please be to check www.mba.com and www.ets.org/gre for further details. Also, ETS, makers of the GRE, are planning a GRE overhaul to start in 2011, so keep this in mind.

The following is an overview of the overall structure of the GMAT test:

GMAT

The GMAT test consists of three main parts, the Analytical Writing Assessment (commonly referred to as AWA), the Quantitative section (commonly referred to as Quant), and the Verbal section (which many people just call Verbal). You have 3.5 hours for the entire exam, though there is a whole process of checking in, etc, that will make it longer than this. All three portions are taken at a testing center on a computer. Also, note that the GMAT is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) and adapts to your skill level based on your right or wrong answer choices. This implies that your test is unique, as you will receive different questions than another test taker.

Analytical Writing Assessment Section

The GMAT test begins with the AWA and consists of two separate writing portions and you are allowed 30 minutes for each essay. They are the “Analysis of an Argument” and “Analysis of an Issue”. These writing samples are fairly straightforward and there are many practice examples in the OG Guide or many other books.  Once you are finished with the AWA section, you are offered an optional 5 minute break. Many students use this break to use the restroom or just have a quick walkabout, etc.

Quantitative Section

This Quantitative section contains 37 multiple-choice questions of two different types of questions, Data Sufficiency (commonly referred to as DS) and Problem Solving (commonly referred to as PS, for all you lingo enthusiasts). You are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section, which equates to about 2 minutes per question. The Data Sufficiency questions ask you a question, then show you two different pieces of information and you are supposed to analyze whether one, both, neither, or taken together they answer the question that you are given. There is a certain strategy to answer these types of questions, but this is not the purpose of this article (there are many articles and much information out there). Problem Solving questions involve a question and five answer choices, you are to choose the correct answer.

Verbal Section

After the Quantitative Section, you will be given another optional break, which again is useful for many people. The Verbal section contains 41 multiple choice questions of three question types—Reading Comprehension (RC), Critical Reasoning (CR), and Sentence Correction (SC). Reading Comprehension involves reading a short passage and responding to questions (usually several in a row) about the passage. Critical Reasoning questions are those that give you an argument or brief paragraph and you must answer a question on this short argument/paragraph. They are much shorter in comparison to Reading Comprehension and usually only involve one question. Sentence Correction questions give you five different similar sentences and you are to choose what the best choice is. You are given a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section, though because it is a computer test, you do not have to wait if you finish early. Once you are finished with the test, you are given a choice to cancel your scores or to accept. If you accept (which is usually advisable) you are immediately given your numerical score pertaining to the Quantitative and Verbal Sections. You will usually receive an official score report and your AWA score in the mail a few weeks later.

GRE

The GRE can be taken in both written and computer form and depends on what country or area you live in. Computer based tests are CAT, while the paper based tests are calculated via a process called “score equating”. In general, the GRE, like the GMAT, has three main parts, including the Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. Further, an unidentified unscored section may be included and may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section. It is not counted as part of your score. The total testing time is three hours. For more details, please visit www.ets.org/gre.

Analytical Writing

The Analytical Writing section consists of two analytical writing pieces, including a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” essay and a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” essay. These essays test whether you can clearly articulate complex ideas and also test your English language abilities, among other things.

Verbal Reasoning

After the Analytical Writing section, and if you do not have the unidentified, unscored section, you will arrive at the Verbal Reasoning part of the test, which measures reading comprehension and verbal and analogical reasoning skills in a multiple-choice format. There are 30 questions in 30 minutes. There are four types of questions in the Verbal Reasoning section of the GRE test

Reading Comprehension – Reading comprehension questions measure your ability to read with understanding, insight and discrimination and test your ability to analyze a written passage (several paragraphs usually) from several perspectives.

Sentence Completion – Sentence completion questions measure your ability to use a variety of cues to recognize the overall meaning of a sentence and analyze the relationships among the component parts of the sentence. You are given five answer choices of a word or sets of words that best complete a sentence.

Analogies – Analogy questions test your ability to recognize the relationship between two words in a given word pair and to recognize when two word pairs display parallel relationships.  To answer correctly, you must correctly identify the key relationship between the given pair and then select the answer containing those words most closely related to one another.

Antonyms – Antonym questions measure the strength of your vocabulary and ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite. You must choose the best word or phrase that means the opposite of the given word.

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE test measures your ability to understand basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, data analysis and tests your overall quantitative abilities. You are given 45 minutes to complete 28 quantitative questions and there are three types of questions:

Quantitative Comparison - These questions test your ability to reason quickly and accurately compare two different quantities. You are to choose the answer that is bigger than the other.

Problem Solving – The format of these may vary, but can comprise of basic arithmetic, algebra or data quantitative concepts.

Data Interpretation – Some problem-solving questions involve data analysis. These usually occur in sets of two to five questions that share data in the form of tables or graphs and tests your ability to gather data and calculate information from the graphs.

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