GRE PowerPrep: what ETS gives you free, and how to use it
PowerPrep is the GRE practice software written by ETS, the organisation that writes the real test. Two full-length tests are free. The detail almost nobody mentions is that only one of them scores your Verbal and Quant, so plan how you spend them. Pair them with free mock tests for the volume PowerPrep cannot give you.
PowerPrep is the official test, in the official interface
Third-party mocks approximate the GRE. PowerPrep is the GRE: same software, same on-screen calculator, same navigation, questions written by the same people.
ETS publishes PowerPrep as browser-based practice tests under two names. POWERPREP Online is the free tier. POWERPREP PLUS Online is the paid tier. Both run the real test interface, which is the single biggest reason to use them: on test day nothing about the screen surprises you.
Because the questions are retired official items and the scoring is the real algorithm, a timed PowerPrep score is the most trustworthy score estimate available to you at any price. Treat everything else, including our own estimate, as a supporting signal rather than a prediction.
Exactly what you get in each PowerPrep tier
ETS separates these clearly once you read the fine print, but the marketing does not make the split obvious.
| POWERPREP Online (free) | POWERPREP PLUS Online (paid) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free with an ETS account | $44.95 per test |
| Number of tests | 2 (Test 1 untimed, Test 2 timed) | 3 separate tests |
| Verbal and Quant score | Timed test only | Yes, instant |
| Answer explanations | No, correct answers only | Yes, with difficulty levels |
| Analytical Writing | Scored sample essays with rater commentary | Your essay scored, with commentary |
| Performance report | A summary of how you did | Detailed score report |
There is also a free 10-question Mini Quiz on the ETS site. It is not a practice test and gives you no score, but it is the fastest honest look at GRE question types if you are still deciding whether to take the test.
PowerPrep 1 will not give you a Verbal or Quant score
This is the part that costs people their baseline, and it is easy to miss.
POWERPREP Online Practice Test 1 is untimed. Because it is untimed, ETS does not report Verbal Reasoning or Quantitative Reasoning scores for it. You get the correct answers and a performance summary, and that is all. Practice Test 2 is timed, and it does score you.
In practice you have exactly one free official scored GRE test. If you burn Test 2 casually in week one, you cannot get another free scored baseline from ETS.
That single constraint should shape your whole prep timeline. Use Test 1 as a guided walkthrough of the interface with no score pressure, and protect Test 2 for the moment its score is worth the most.
A spending plan for your two free official tests
The goal is to get an interface rehearsal early and a trustworthy score late, without wasting either test.
- **Week 1: take PowerPrep 1 untimed.** Do not rush it. Click every tool: the calculator, mark-for-review, the section navigator. You are learning the software, not measuring yourself. Since it gives no Verbal or Quant score, there is nothing to protect here.
- **Week 1, same day or next: get a real baseline elsewhere.** You still need a number to plan against. Take a timed full-length mock test here for an estimated score and your official percentile, and check it against our score calculator.
- **Weeks 2 to N: drill, do not test.** Full tests are a measurement tool and a poor learning tool. Spend this time on Quant practice, Verbal practice, and the vocabulary trainer, plus more mocks whenever you want another checkpoint.
- **About 7 to 14 days before test day: take PowerPrep 2, timed, strict.** No pauses, no phone, correct time of day if you can manage it. This score is your best available prediction of your real score.
- **After PowerPrep 2: fix only what is fixable.** Two weeks is enough to sharpen timing, review your missed question types, and cram high-frequency words. It is not enough to rebuild a section from scratch, so triage honestly.
If your timed PowerPrep 2 score lands well below your target, that is useful information, not a verdict. Rescheduling costs less than a disappointing official score, and our test dates guide covers how rescheduling works.
Should you pay $44.95 for PowerPrep PLUS?
An honest answer: for most people, one PLUS test is worth more than most $200 prep bundles, and three are usually unnecessary.
The thing you are actually buying is answer explanations plus a second scored official test. The free tier gives you correct answers with no reasoning, which tells you that you were wrong but not why. If you keep missing questions and cannot diagnose the pattern yourself, explanations on official items are genuinely valuable.
- **Worth buying one** if you are retaking after a disappointing score, or if you are targeting 320 or above and need to know exactly why you miss hard items.
- **Probably skip it** if your first timed attempt is already near your target, or if your errors are clearly timing and carelessness rather than content.
- **Buy it late, not early.** Its value is the explanation of mistakes you are still making after real study, so an early purchase wastes official questions.
- **Do not buy all three up front.** Buy one, work through it properly, and decide again.
For a wider comparison of what is worth paying for, including whether the official guide book earns its price, see our best GRE books roundup and the best free GRE prep guide.
What PowerPrep does not do, and what to use instead
PowerPrep is the best measuring instrument for the GRE. It is not a study programme, and it was never meant to be.
| PowerPrep limitation | Why it matters | What to use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Only two free tests | You need repeated timed exposure, not two data points | Repeatable timed practice with our free mock tests |
| No explanations on the free tests | You learn nothing from a wrong answer you cannot diagnose | Every question in our Quant and Verbal sets has a worked solution |
| No practice by topic or difficulty | You cannot drill just geometry or just sentence equivalence | Section practice by type and difficulty |
| No vocabulary training | Verbal is decided largely by word knowledge | The GRE vocabulary trainer and the full GRE words list |
| Essays only sample-scored on the free tier | You get model essays, not feedback on yours | Our Analytical Writing practice with rubric-based scoring |
The sensible structure is PowerPrep for calibration, everything else for practice. If you want that written out as a week-by-week schedule, our GRE study plan maps official tests into a 4, 8, or 12 week timeline.
How to start a free PowerPrep test
There is no payment step for the free tier, but the flow confuses people because the free tests still pass through a cart.
- Create a free ETS account at ets.org. The same account handles registration and score reports later.
- Go to the GRE POWERPREP page and choose POWERPREP Online, the free option, rather than POWERPREP PLUS.
- Add Practice Test 1 or Practice Test 2 to your cart. The total stays at zero, so you check out without being charged.
- Launch it from your ETS account. It runs in the browser, so check the ETS system requirements page first if you are on an older machine or a locked-down work laptop.
- Set aside the full block of time before you start the timed test. Roughly two hours, uninterrupted, is the honest minimum.
Testing with accommodations changes the setup. ETS publishes a separate PowerPrep accommodations page, and our GRE waiver and accommodations notes cover the adjacent fee-reduction route.
Common questions.
Do not spend your official tests on measurement you can get free
Save PowerPrep 2 for the week before test day. For everything in between, take a full-length mock here with an instant estimated score, your official percentile, and a worked solution for every question.