The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a pre-requisite for applying to the graduate and doctoral programs of most US universities in the arts, humanities, engineering and medicine. This exam is administered by ETS (Educational Testing Services, Inc.) a not-for-profit organization, based in Princeton, New Jersey, US.

In addition to an admission criterion, schools often use GRE scores to determine eligibility for merit-based grants and fellowships, as well as teaching and research assistantships. Many programs, especially those at large state schools, establish cutoff points for GRE scores to limit the application pool, while others use GRE scores to directly determine how much financial support you receive. Investing time and effort in preparing for the GRE today can help you get into the grad school of your choice and can greatly increase your chances of getting financial aid.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) consists of two separate tests:
1) General Test
2) Subject Test

The General Test is designed to provide graduate schools with common measures for comparing the qualifications of applicants.

The Subject Test, required by only some programs, measures knowledge of psychological concepts that are essential to graduate study; it also yields a score from 200-800. The book, Graduate Study in Psychology, will tell you whether schools require the GRE as well as the minimum scores they require for admission.