Globally, several schools require you to take the Graduate Record Examination before they offer you admissions. The GRE, its nickname, is probably the globe’s most extensive trial test for graduate and postgraduate admissions. If you want to read a course in any line of study, you need to write the GRE. When I say any line, I mean science, tech, arts, etc. Except for business management related courses, where you’ll need to take the GMAT.
If you do not already know the Educational Testing Service are in charge of the designs and processing of the GRE. And, unlike the regular exams focused on one topic, GRE tests you in three skills. They are writing analytically, mathematics, and English vocabulary.
They expect you to finish this exam within 3 hours and 45 minutes. Of course, for an exam of this reputation, the GRE comes at a cost. There’s a generally recognised cost for the exam asides the preparation cost and cost of materials. In this article, I’ll explain how much GRE costs and factors that are affecting each of the expenses. I will also be showing you how you can pay for the GRE.
Table of Contents
What are the Factors that Affect the Cost of GRE?
There is a standard GRE cost of $205 that, but this varies in some countries. Two major factors affect the price of GRE, they are
1. The Type of Test
The Graduate Record Examination organises two different tests. They are the GRE general test and the GRE subject test. Now, depending on the school you want to go, you know the tests you want to take. For the GRE general test, for instance, there’s a globally accepted fee of between $205- $255, which changes in some countries. In contrast, the GRE subject test has an ongoing cost of $150 regardless of your country. Irrespective of the GRE test you decide to pick, there will still be some add on fees.
2. Your Country
The country you intend writing the exam from has its effects on the incurred costs. If you’re preparing for the GRE subject test, you pay the constant fee of $150 even if you’re registering from space. However, there’s a range between $205- $255 for the GRE general test. Essentially, the fee is $205 for all countries, except five countries which are; Turkey, China, Australia, Nigeria, India. The costs for these countries are:
- Nigeria: $226
- China: $231.30
- India: $213
- Australia: $230
- Turkey: $255
If you come from any of the above countries, these are the fees you pay. When you pay this fee you have access to certain benefits, which are;
- GRE Eligibility.
- Four score reports for free
- Online access to your score.
- The GRE diagnosis service where you can learn your strong and weak areas.
Now, unlike your regular school exams, GRE is quite flexible. By flexible, I mean you can change a couple of things such as test venue, rescheduling of the exam, cancelling of papers. All of these functions, however, come with a cost. Let’s look at some of the expenses you may incur;
3. Rescheduling and Location Changing Fee
There are sometimes when you feel you’re not ready for the exam, or maybe some personal issues back home happen, and you need to reschedule. You can change your exam schedule by paying $50. Simply log on to your account, pay the amount and change it to your preferred date. The $50 fee changes to $53.9 if you’re from China. If you want to change, you must have done it about four days before the day, and if you’re in China, you need a prior 10-day timeline.
4. Late Registration
For every GRE batch, there is always a deadline for registration. If for any reason you couldn’t register before the deadline, the ETS still gives you a chance to register at a little cost for the delay. You need to pay a $25 fee for late registration. However, this late registration window is only open for candidates writing the test on paper.
5. Additional Score Reports
Now, when you write the GRE test, you most likely have some schools in mind. Your initial registration fee already gifts you about four different reports of your score, which you can send to four schools. However, there anything can happen, and you may need to send another school asides these four institutions. In this case, you’ll need to pay an extra fee of $27 for each report.
6. Score Review
If you believe you did better than the score you see, you can contest your score. For the analytical writing section, you can always ask for a score review on or before a three-month window. However, it will cost you $60. Likewise, for the calculation and verbal reasoning sections, you can review your scores, on the condition that you took a paper-based test. The price goes for $60. All you need to do in both cases is to fill a form and pay the required fee. This review may take up to a month. Now let me remind you that the quality of GRE’s marking is top-notch, so reviewing your scores may only change on infrequent occasions. And in some cases, they can score you lower.
7. Reinstatement Fee
If you take GRE on a computer, you get to see your raw score for the verbal and mathematical sections immediately. Now, you may be displeased with what you see. In cases like this, you can cancel these scores, which will clear off all records of your writing GRE.
Now, these scores aren’t gone for life. GRE holds on to it for about two months, and if you realise that these scores are still useful, you can get them back; but this time at a cost. You’ll have to pay $50 for your scores to appear back on your profile. However, I don’t think you need to cancel scores no matter how terrible. You can choose the score you wish to send to your desired school. So, a bad result doesn’t affect anything.
Conclusion
In this write-up, I have just shown you how much GRE costs. However, there are some other costs, such as material costs that I cannot estimate. Furthermore, if you learned to save yourself from as much charge as possible, it would help. You do not need to cancel your scores for any reason. You don’t have to apply for a score review until you’re super sure. And in case you forget how much GRE costs, you can come back to read this article. Enjoy!
