The GRE,
for pre-AAs

Do I even need the GRE?

CAAHEP-accredited AA programs commonly accept either the GRE or the MCAT, but the specifics differ from program to program: whether a test is required at all, which tests are accepted, whether there's a minimum, and how recently the test must have been taken.

Two examples of how differently programs word it:

• Case Western Reserve University — "The MSA program requires either the MCAT or the GRE as part of the holistic application review," taken within 3 years of the application deadline. Source
• Medical College of Wisconsin — "GRE or MCAT exam scores are required and only applications with official scores received by CASAA will be considered complete and eligible for interview." Their page describes a competitive application as one holding a GRE of 150/150/4 or an MCAT of 490. Source

Not sure which test to sit? We wrote the MCAT guide as its companion. There's a decision section at the bottom of both.

What the test actually looks like

The GRE General Test was shortened in September 2023 and has been stable since. It now runs 1 hour 58 minutes, start to finish, with no scheduled break.

The table below is an inventory, not a running order. Analytical Writing is always first. After that, ETS says only that the Verbal and Quantitative sections “may appear in any order” — so the two Verbal sections are not guaranteed to be back to back, and neither are the two Quant sections. Plan for a Quant section to land second just as readily as a Verbal one.

The test is section-level adaptive: how you perform on your first Verbal section determines the difficulty of your second, and the same for Quant. That is why pacing on the first section of each subject matters more than it feels like it should — and why "first" means first of that subject, not first on the test.

Test center or at home

Both are offered. At-home testing runs around the clock, seven days a week, with a live human proctor. The technical requirements are strict: a desktop or laptop only (no tablets or Chromebooks), a single monitor, built-in keyboard, speakers rather than a headset, a webcam that can do a 360° room scan, and a phone or tablet as a second camera. ID verification through the IDVaaS app has to be completed at least 72 hours before your test date. Miss a requirement on test day and there's no test, no refund and no free reschedule.

How it's scored

There is no single combined "GRE score" the way the MCAT has a total. Programs look at the three numbers separately, which is why you'll see benchmarks written as something like 150/150/4.

When scores arrive

Official scores land in your ETS account 8 to 10 days after your test date. Build that into your CASAA timeline. It's the gap that catches people out, because it sits on top of however long CASAA then takes to post them.

ScoreSelect, in plain terms

• On test day, before you leave, you pick one option that applies to all four of your free score reports: Most Recent (just this sitting) or All (every sitting in the last five years).
• After test day, an Additional Score Report ($40 per recipient) unlocks a third option, Any — you choose exactly which past administrations to send.
• Some programs require applicants who tested more than once to report all scores. Check before you assume you can send only your best.

What it really costs

The sticker price is the registration fee. The real number is registration plus the changes you'll probably make plus the score reports beyond your four free ones.

The Fee Reduction Program is worth 10 minutes of your time

It drops the test from $249 to $100. You must be a US citizen or resident alien testing in the US, Puerto Rico, Guam or the US Virgin Islands, and fall into one of four groups:

• Financial need — a college senior receiving financial aid with a Student Aid Index of zero or less, or an unenrolled college graduate who applied for aid and meets the same SAI criterion.
• Unemployed — 18 or older, unemployed within the past six months, with an Unemployment Benefits Statement dated within the last 90 days.
• Active Peace Corps Volunteers, with official documentation of service.
• Applicants supported by one of roughly 35 designated national programs serving underrepresented, first-generation or financially-in-need students.

When to take it

Work backwards from your earliest program deadline, not forwards from today. The three gaps that matter:

And the long horizon: scores are reportable for five years after your test date. If you're two years from applying and you have the bandwidth now, a score taken now is still good then, provided your programs don't impose a tighter window of their own. Several do.

Getting scores to CASAA

The sequence:

• Self-report your GRE scores in the Standardized Tests section of the CASAA application, including your ETS Registration ID.
• Enter your date of birth in Biographic Information exactly as ETS has it. CASAA matches incoming scores on name and date of birth — if they don't match, scores won't post automatically and you'll need Liaison support to match them by hand.
• Look up the CASAA GRE code for each program you're applying to, and give each one to ETS when you request score release.
• ETS sends in batches; scores post to your application within 2–3 business days of ETS processing.
• Paper score copies are not accepted. Scores can post at any point in the cycle, including after you've submitted.

CASAA Applicant Help Center — Official GRE Scores (with the per-program code table) →

Official prep that costs nothing

Start here before you spend money anywhere else. These come from ETS, which means the questions behave like the real thing.

Accommodations

If you need testing accommodations, this is the first thing you do, not the last. ETS must approve your request before you register to test, and documentation review takes about six weeks once they have a complete request, plus roughly six more if they come back asking for additional documentation.

Available accommodations include extended testing time (25%, 50% or 100%), extra breaks taken outside of testing time, screen magnification and color options, the JAWS screen reader with or without braille, a human reader or scribe, and braille, large-print or audio formats.

Submit through your ETS account under "GRE Accommodation Status/New Request," or by mail or email to disability.reg@ets.org. Wait for the approval email before you register. ETS Disability Services: 1-866-387-8602, Monday to Friday 8:30am–5pm ET.

ETS — Disability Accommodations for the GRE General Test →

GRE or MCAT?

For most pre-AAs the GRE is the default: it's shorter, cheaper, faster to prepare for, and accepted more widely. The MCAT is the deliberate choice, and it's usually made for one specific reason. Several AA programs waive their prerequisite time limits for applicants with a qualifying MCAT score. If you have old science coursework you'd otherwise have to retake, that's a real financial argument for the harder exam.

Read the MCAT guide →   Listen to Episode 10