For most people the GMAT takes a little longer: plan 3 to 4 months and 100 to 300 hours, against 2 to 3 months and about 80 to 120 hours for the GRE. The GMAT's Data Sufficiency and Data Insights questions reward a kind of reasoning most people have not practised. The GRE's extra work is vocabulary. Your background decides which matters more for you.
If your programs accept both tests, the choice can change how long you study by a month or more. Both have Quant and Verbal sections, but they test different habits of mind, so the hours do not transfer one for one.
| GMAT | GRE General Test | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 2 hours 15 minutes | About 1 hour 58 minutes |
| Sections | Quantitative Reasoning (21), Verbal Reasoning (23), Data Insights (20) | Analytical Writing (1 task), Verbal Reasoning (27), Quantitative Reasoning (27) |
| Scoring | 205 to 805 total | 130 to 170 each for Verbal and Quant; 0 to 6 for writing |
| Adaptive | Question by question; you can bookmark and change up to three answers per section | Section by section; you can move around and change answers within a section |
| Hardest new skill for most | Data Sufficiency and Data Insights | Vocabulary for Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence |
Sources: GMAC and ETS. The GMAT no longer has Sentence Correction, geometry or a separate Integrated Reasoning section, so ignore study plans that schedule weeks for them.
Data Sufficiency, now part of the Data Insights section, does not ask you to solve the problem; it asks whether the information given is enough to solve it. People who know the maths still miss these questions by calculating the answer instead of judging sufficiency, and unlearning that habit takes weeks of practice that GRE takers skip. The rest of Data Insights adds table, graph and multi-source questions that mix Quant and Verbal reasoning, and the section counts for a full third of the score.
GRE Verbal tests vocabulary directly. If you do not know the words, no strategy saves the question, and building a vocabulary of several hundred to a thousand words is slow, linear work. Spaced repetition makes it faster: active recall techniques and pre-made Anki decks help. STEM students and non-native English speakers often find GRE Verbal the longest part of either test.
Neither ETS nor GMAC recommends an hour count. ETS says most GRE test takers prepare for 1 to 3 months. GMAC's survey found a median of 50 hours of GMAT preparation in the US and 100 in East and Southeast Asia, but that was in 2015 to 2016, on the old exam. Planning estimates by gap to your target:
| Gap to target | GRE | GMAT |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 40 to 80 hours, 2 to 4 weeks | 50 to 100 hours, 4 to 7 weeks |
| Moderate | 80 to 150 hours, 2 to 3 months | 120 to 200 hours, 2 to 3 months |
| Large | 150 to 250 hours, 4 to 6 months | 250 to 350 hours, 4 to 6 months |
If you can only study about 5 hours a week, double the timelines. Working professionals usually manage 10 to 15 hours a week; full-time students can do 20 to 30 and compress a plan to 2 or 3 months.
Full details are in how long to study for the GRE.
Full details are in how long to study for the GMAT.
For the flashcard side of a GMAT plan, see what to put in a GMAT flashcard deck.
Whichever you choose, build an error log from the first week and review it weekly. That is where most score gains come from on both tests. AI tools for students can take some of the admin out of it.
Whether it is a GRE vocabulary list or a GMAT error log, typing it into flashcards takes hours. Upload your notes to StudyCards AI and get Anki-ready flashcards in minutes, so the time goes on practice. More options are in this roundup of AI study tools for students.
Try StudyCards AI FreeFor most people the GMAT takes a little longer, often 3 to 4 months against 2 to 3 for the GRE, because Data Sufficiency and Data Insights reward a style of reasoning most people have not practised. If your weakness is vocabulary, the GRE Verbal section can take just as long.
Plan roughly 80 to 120 hours for the GRE and 100 to 300 for the GMAT, depending on the gap between your diagnostic and your target. ETS says most GRE test takers prepare for 1 to 3 months; GMAC's survey found a median of 50 hours of GMAT prep in the US in 2015 to 2016.
Neither is easier for everyone. GRE Quant has no Data Sufficiency and is usually more approachable; GRE Verbal needs a large vocabulary. GMAT Verbal has no vocabulary questions, but its Data Insights section, which includes Data Sufficiency, is more logic heavy.
Yes, if your programs accept both. Take a free official practice test for each and compare percentiles, not raw scores. Pick the test where you start higher relative to your target.
Five years for both, so you can test well before you apply.
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