GRE & GMAT prep built around a working life.
Individualized coaching, progress accountability, and mindfulness tools to help you manage stress, stay focused, and take the next step in your academic journey.
- Quant and verbal fundamentals rebuilt
- Mindfulness tools for test-day stress
- Flexible scheduling for working adults
Sound familiar?
Years out from a math class
The quant isn't hard so much as buried. We rebuild the fundamentals rather than drilling shortcuts on top of gaps.
Preparing around a full-time job
Study happens in the margins of a working week. Scheduling flexes to match, and the plan assumes finite hours.
Losing points to pressure
The practice score and the real score don't match. Test-day stress is trainable, and it's part of the program rather than an afterthought.
Both tests were rebuilt recently. This is what they are now.
The GRE was shortened in 2023 and the GMAT was rebuilt in 2024. If you last looked at either before then, it is worth a fresh read.
GRE
1 hour 58 minutes
| Section | Questions | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical Writing | 1 task | 30 |
| Verbal Reasoning | 27 | 41 |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 27 | 47 |
130 to 170 per section, Verbal and Quant
Verbal and Quant are each delivered in two sections. Shortened in September 2023: the second essay, the unscored experimental section, and the scheduled break were all removed. Section-level adaptive, and you can move backward and change answers freely within a section.
GMAT
2 hours 15 minutes
| Section | Questions | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Reasoning | 21 | 45 |
| Verbal Reasoning | 23 | 45 |
| Data Insights | 20 | 45 |
205 to 805 total
The Focus redesign replaced the classic GMAT in January 2024. Sections can be taken in any order, and you may bookmark questions and change up to three answers per section on review.
Where the two tests actually differ.
| GRE | GMAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Calculator in quant | On-screen calculator throughout Quantitative Reasoning, though tutors who teach both tests warn it slows students down more often than it helps. | None. The calculator appears only in Data Insights. GMAT quant is written so that heavy calculation is never the point. |
| Geometry | Tested. Lines, circles, triangles, polygons, area, volume. | Removed entirely. |
| Vocabulary | Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence are genuinely vocabulary-loaded, and partial answers earn nothing. | None. Verbal is Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning only. |
| Grammar | Not tested directly. | Not tested. Sentence Correction was removed in the redesign. |
| Data interpretation | Some, inside Quant. | Data Insights is a third of the total score and has no GRE equivalent. Charts, tables, and multi-source reasoning under time pressure. |
| Scoring | Verbal and Quant scored separately, 130 to 170 each. | All three sections weighted equally into one 205 to 805 total. The old 200 to 800 came from Quant and Verbal only. |
| Where it is accepted | Business schools plus thousands of other graduate programs, and 100+ law schools. | Built for graduate business education. Accepted outside it only rarely. |
Business schools are taking more GRE every year
Acceptance stopped being the question a while ago. Essentially every MBA program takes the GRE now. The live question is how many admitted students actually submit one, and that number keeps climbing.
Shares can add to more than 100% because some applicants submit both tests, and the rest of the field is not simply the other exam. NYU Stern, for instance, also reports Executive Assessment scores and a substantial share of test waivers.
Schools that address it directly say they have no preference. MIT Sloan puts it plainly: they view scores from both tests equally. Older surveys did find some admissions officers favoring the GMAT, but those are from 2016 and 2017 and the series appears to have stopped, so there is no recent evidence either way. We would not choose a test on the theory that one impresses more.
Admitted students submitting a GRE
Entering class of 2025
| School | GRE | Year before |
|---|---|---|
| Dartmouth Tuck | 54% | Not published |
| Yale SOM | 47% | 37% |
| Harvard Business School | 44% | 41% |
| Chicago Booth | 42% | 38% |
| NYU Stern | 27% | Not published |
There is no valid conversion between the two
ETS publishes a tool that predicts a GMAT score from GRE results, and you will find third-party converters built on it. It rests on 472 people who took the GRE in 2011 and 2012, and it predicts onto the 200 to 800 scale that no longer exists. Both tests have been redesigned since.
GMAC's response is blunt: no conversion table can make the two equivalent. On the facts here they are right, and ETS's own tool carries a note that GMAC does not endorse it.
So do not convert. If you want to know how you would do on the other test, take a practice test of that test.
Start with a practice test of each
Start by taking an official practice test of each and comparing percentiles rather than raw scores, since the two scales mean nothing to each other. Whichever one you perform better on, relative to other test takers, is usually the answer. The differences below are how you break a tie, not how you make the decision.
The GRE tends to suit
- Anyone applying beyond business school as well. It is the only one of the two that keeps policy, data science, engineering, and many law programs open.
- Students who have not touched geometry in years can skip it on the GMAT, but if geometry is a strength the GRE gives you somewhere to use it.
- Strong readers with broad vocabulary, who can turn Text Completion into points.
- Students who want to move freely backward and change any answer within a section. The GMAT lets you bookmark and change three per section, which is real but far more limited.
The GMAT tends to suit
- Students applying only to business programs. Consulting and banking recruiters do still ask for scores, though they accept a strong GRE as readily as a strong GMAT.
- Students who read charts and tables well under time pressure. Data Insights is a third of the score.
- Anyone whose vocabulary is a weak point. The GMAT tests none at all, where the GRE can require memorising hundreds of words.
- Students who have not touched geometry in years, since the GMAT dropped it.
One more thing worth knowing if timed tests rattle you. The GMAT adapts question by question, so difficulty shifts under you constantly. The GRE adapts only between sections, which many students find markedly less stressful to sit.
Practical differences
| GRE | GMAT | |
|---|---|---|
| US fee | $249 from August 1, 2026 | $275 at a test center, $300 online |
| Official scores | 8 to 10 days | 3 to 5 days |
| Free score reports | 4, chosen on test day | 5, chosen within 48 hours of your scores |
| Retake interval | 21 days | 16 days |
| Attempts per year | 5 | 5, online and test center combined |
| Score validity | 5 years | 5 years, reportable up to 10 |
One difference is worth knowing before you book. On the GMAT you see your official score first and then decide whether to send it, and schools see nothing unless you do. On the GRE you see unofficial Verbal and Quant at the end of the test, not your essay score, and you must pick your four free recipients right then. On this point the GMAT is the more forgiving of the two, which is the opposite of what most prep sites say.
Both tests are shrinking
This is not a story about one test winning. In the year to June 2025 the GRE recorded 206,004 test takers, down 19.6%, and the GMAT recorded 93,196 exams taken, down 19.2%. Since 2019 the GMAT is down about 59% and the GRE is down about 44% from its 2020-21 level.
The two figures are not directly comparable. ETS counts people, GMAC counts sittings, so a repeat tester shows up twice on one side and once on the other. What is comparable is the direction, and both fell by roughly a fifth in the same year.
Test waivers and test-optional policies absorbed much of that, which is worth checking before you commit to either exam. Some programs will not need a score from you at all.
How GRE & GMAT prep works
Free diagnostic
We start with a full-length diagnostic and a conversation. It reveals exactly where a student stands, and where the fastest gains are hiding.
A plan with purpose
Telos means purpose. Every student gets a clear, personalized roadmap tied to a concrete score goal, tracked in TestTracker so progress is never a mystery.
Weekly accountability
Focused sessions plus daily practice and check-ins. We target the weak points from the week, then work toward true mastery of each skill.
Confidence on test day
Preparation builds calm. Students walk in knowing the material and the strategy, and walk out with scores that reflect the work.
What it costs.
1:1 hourly and pay-as-you-go, with no minimum commitment. Your rate is locked when you enroll and stays unchanged for as long as you keep the service.
| Service | Associate Instructor | Lead Instructor |
|---|---|---|
| GRE & GMAT Prep | $200 | $260 |
Common questions.
GRE or GMAT?
It depends on the programs you're applying to, and many now accept either. Bring your target program list to the free consultation and we'll work through it before you start preparing for the wrong test.
I haven't done math in a decade. Is that a problem?
It's the common case, not the exception. The program rebuilds quant and verbal fundamentals rather than layering test tricks over gaps, which is what makes scores hold up on test day.
Can sessions work around a full-time job?
Yes. Flexible scheduling for working adults is built into the program, and sessions are online by default, which is what makes that practical.
What does prep cost?
GRE & GMAT prep is $200/hour with an Associate Instructor and $260/hour with a Lead Instructor. Sessions are pay-as-you-go with no minimum commitment, and your rate is locked for as long as you keep the service.
What are your affiliations and credentials?
AffiliateTutor Program
ACT's own program and directory for tutoring providers, which ACT runs in partnership with the National Test Prep Association, licensing us to use official ACT test questions in our test prep materials.
The professional association for test prep. Every member subscribes to its code of ethics, and Telos belongs as an organizational member.
Performance Specialist certification in leading performance psychologist Dr. Ben Bernstein's model for overcoming self-doubt, overwhelm, and distraction.
Start with a free consultation.
No obligation, no pressure. You leave understanding where the student stands and what a plan would look like.