Quick answer for anyone in a hurry: the current GRE General Test has 54 scored multiple-choice questions, plus 1 essay (Analytical Writing). The whole test runs about 1 hour 58 minutes. That is the post-September-2023 shorter test, which is what every test taker sits today.
The longer answer matters because the questions are not evenly distributed and because older guides still describe an unscored research section that the current test does not have. Below is the section-by-section breakdown, the per-question pacing math, and the practical implications for how you spend your time inside each section.
The Exact Section-by-Section Count
| Section | Questions | Time | Seconds per question (target pace) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analytical Writing (Analyze an Issue) | 1 essay | 30 minutes | Not applicable (write to time) |
| Verbal Reasoning, Section 1 | 12 | 18 minutes | About 90 seconds per question |
| Verbal Reasoning, Section 2 | 15 | 23 minutes | About 92 seconds per question |
| Quantitative Reasoning, Section 1 | 12 | 21 minutes | About 105 seconds per question |
| Quantitative Reasoning, Section 2 | 15 | 26 minutes | About 104 seconds per question |
Section 2 of each measure is slightly longer than Section 1 (15 vs 12 questions, with proportionally more time). The shorter Section 1 is the diagnostic that routes you to the easier or harder Section 2.
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Verbal · Sentence Equivalence
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The Unscored Research Section You Might See
On the current GRE, you should not see one. ETS's published structure for the test it has given since 22 September 2023 lists five sections and no unscored or research section (checked 5 October 2026). ETS's notes about an unidentified unscored section, and about an identified research section placed at the end of the test, belong to the longer pre-September 2023 format.
- On the old test, the research section appeared at the end and was labelled as research, while the unscored section was hidden among the scored ones.
- Neither appears in ETS's description of the current five-section test.
- Your test is the essay plus the four scored Verbal and Quant sections: 54 questions and 1 essay.
- If a guide tells you to expect a research section, check its date: it is describing the pre-September 2023 GRE.
Distinct from the research section, the GRE does NOT include hidden unscored questions inside the scored Verbal or Quant sections (a practice that some older standardized tests use). Every question inside the four main sections counts.
How the Section-Adaptive Routing Affects Counts
The total scored question count is the same for every test taker (27 Verbal + 27 Quant), but the difficulty mix you face in Section 2 depends on how you did in Section 1 of the same measure.
| Your Section 1 performance | Your Section 2 |
|---|---|
| Cleared the routing threshold | Higher-difficulty Section 2 |
| Did not clear the threshold | Standard-difficulty Section 2 |
This matters for question count because the harder Section 2 includes more discriminating items: questions that spread out high-ability test takers. The number is still 15. ETS says every question within a section counts equally toward your raw score; the difficulty of the Section 2 you received is accounted for when that raw score is converted to the scaled score. For a deeper read on how this works, see our companion post on how the GRE's section-adaptive algorithm actually works.
Pacing Implications: How Much Time per Question?
The per-question targets in the table above are averages. Real GRE Verbal and Quant sections include question types of very different lengths, so you cannot pace evenly across them.
| Question type | Realistic time on a good day | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal: Text Completion, 1-blank | 30 to 60 seconds | Fastest verbal type; identify the pivot word, predict, pick the closest |
| Verbal: Text Completion, 2- or 3-blank | 60 to 120 seconds | Slower; each blank multiplies the choices |
| Verbal: Sentence Equivalence | 60 to 90 seconds | Must find a near-synonym pair, not just two words that fit |
| Verbal: Reading Comprehension (short passage) | 60 to 90 seconds (after reading) | Read passage first, then answer 1 to 3 questions on it |
| Verbal: Reading Comprehension (long passage) | 90 to 120 seconds per question | Same passage answers 2 to 4 questions; reading time amortises |
| Quant: Quantitative Comparison | 60 to 90 seconds | Compare A vs B; common trap is forgetting negatives or zero |
| Quant: Problem Solving (multiple choice) | 90 to 150 seconds | Standard arithmetic, algebra, geometry |
| Quant: Numeric Entry | 90 to 180 seconds | Type the exact answer; no choices to back-check |
| Quant: Data Interpretation (set of 2 to 3 questions) | 60 to 120 seconds per question | Same data set serves multiple questions; reading time amortises |
Inside each section, do not pace per question. Pace per chunk. After every 5 questions, check that the time remaining matches roughly: 5/12 of the section gone after question 5, 10/12 after question 10. Per-question pacing creates anxiety; per-chunk pacing creates control.
What Counts Toward Your Score
| Section | Counts toward your score? | Scoring scale |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical Writing essay | Yes | 0 to 6 in half-point increments |
| Verbal Reasoning, Section 1 (12 questions) | Yes | Contributes to Verbal scaled 130 to 170 |
| Verbal Reasoning, Section 2 (15 questions) | Yes | Contributes to Verbal scaled 130 to 170 |
| Quantitative Reasoning, Section 1 (12 questions) | Yes | Contributes to Quant scaled 130 to 170 |
| Quantitative Reasoning, Section 2 (15 questions) | Yes | Contributes to Quant scaled 130 to 170 |
| Unscored or research section | Not on the current test | ETS's current structure lists none; these belonged to the pre-September 2023 format |
For the precise mapping from a scaled score to its official percentile, see our GRE percentile calculator.
Comparison to the Old GRE (Pre-September 2023)
If you are reading older guides that mention 80 questions or a 3-hour-45-minute test, that is the pre-September 2023 GRE. ETS shortened the test in September 2023 by cutting the Verbal and Quant sections from 20 questions each to 12 and 15, dropping the Analyze an Argument essay, and removing the unscored and research sections.
| Aspect | Pre-September 2023 GRE | Current GRE (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Total time | About 3 hours 45 minutes | About 1 hour 58 minutes |
| Essays | Two (Analyze an Issue + Analyze an Argument) | One (Analyze an Issue only) |
| Verbal sections | Two scored at 20 questions each | Two scored at 12 + 15 questions |
| Quant sections | Two scored at 20 questions each | Two scored at 12 + 15 questions |
| Unscored experimental section | Yes, mixed in with scored | No (ETS's current structure lists no unscored or research section) |
| Scoring scale | Same 130 to 170 per measure, 0 to 6 Writing | Same 130 to 170 per measure, 0 to 6 Writing |
| Score validity | 5 years | 5 years |
How Many You Need to Get Right for Each Score Band
The most useful framing: out of 54 scored multiple-choice questions, roughly how many do you need correct to hit each total band? ETS does not publish a raw-to-scaled lookup (the scaled score depends on the test edition and which Section 2 you receive), but the realistic ranges below give a usable working estimate.
| Target total (out of 340) | Approx. % correct overall | Approx. correct in each measure (out of 27) |
|---|---|---|
| 330+ | around 90% or higher | around 24 to 27 per measure |
| 320 to 325 | around 80 to 85% | around 22 to 24 per measure |
| 310 to 315 | around 65 to 75% | around 18 to 21 per measure |
| 300 to 305 | around 50 to 60% | around 14 to 17 per measure |
| 290 or below | below 50% | below 14 per measure |
Two implications of the above. First, you do not need to be perfect to hit a strong score: a 320 typically allows several misses per section. Second, the easiest points are not always at the start of the section. Skip-and-return is allowed within a section; use it for items that smell like time sinks and come back if time remains.
For target-specific plans by band, see How to get a 320, 325, or 330. For the precise scaled-to-percentile mapping, the GRE percentile calculator returns the exact official ETS figure for any total.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take a free, full-length, section-adaptive Warm-Up Mock to experience the real question counts and timing under real conditions. The test runs about 2 hours and returns an instant estimated score with the exact official ETS percentile.