GRE General test checks the fundamental skills-Reasoning and Comprehension included-and does not require any subject-specific theoretical study. The test has three distinct sections : Quantitative Section, Verbal Section and Analytical Writing Assessment Section.

Quantitative Section: Measures problem-solving ability, focusing on basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis. This section contains 28 questions on Mathematics that are to be completed in 45 minutes. This difficulty level of questions is comparable to Class X. Major topics include Number Systems, Percentages, Fractions & Decimals, Algebra (including Quadratic Equations), Geometry (including Basic Coordinate Geometry), Ratio & Proportion, Area & Volume of 2-D and 3-D figures, and Probability.

Verbal Section: Measures reading comprehension skills and verbal and analogical reasoning skills, focusing on the test taker's ability to analyze and evaluate written material. This section contains 30 questions to be attempted in 30 minutes. The verbal section requires a good vocabulary level, and basic skills of grammatically correct English coupled with reasoning and analysis. The questions consist of four types : Antonyms, Analogies, Sentence Completion, and Reading Comprehension. The four types are intermingled, with no fixed number for each type.

Analytical Writing Assessment: Measures critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically the test taker's ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively. The writing assessment section requires you to write two short essays. The first is the Issue task, in which you need to analyze the issue presented and explain your views on it and support your views some examples. For the Issue task, you will be able to choose 1 of 2 essay topics selected by the computer from the pool of topics. The time allotted is 45 minutes.

The second essay is Analysis of an Argument, in which a given argument has to be critically analyzed and evaluated. The Argument task does not offer a choice of topics; the computer will present you with a single topic selected from the topic pool. The time allotted is 30 minutes.