This GRE cheat sheet distills all three measures of the current shorter GRE General Test into a printable rundown of the facts that move your score most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free GRE toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
GRE exam at a glance
- Sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Analytical Writing
- Questions: 54 multiple-choice — 27 Verbal + 27 Quantitative
- Time: About 1 hour 58 minutes, including the essay — no scheduled breaks
- Score range: 130–170 per section (Verbal & Quant); 0–6 for Analytical Writing
- No pass mark: Scored by percentile, not pass/fail — mid-160s per section reaches roughly the top 10–15%; target your programs' range
- Cost: About $220 (varies by region; confirm with ETS)
- Administered by: Educational Testing Service (ETS)
What’s on the GRE cheat sheet
- Verbal Reasoning — the three question types — Reading Comprehension, Text Completion, and Sentence Equivalence — with the vocabulary-in-context and signpost moves that crack them.
- Quantitative Reasoning — the four content areas (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, data analysis), the signature Quantitative Comparison format, and the must-know formulas at a glance.
- Analytical Writing — the single Analyze an Issue task, the 0–6 rubric, and what separates a 5–6 essay from a 3–4 — take a clear position and back it with specific examples.
- Scoring & percentiles — the 130–170 and 0–6 scales, how there is no pass mark, and how to read your scores against program percentiles instead.
How to use it in your final week
- Lock in the quant formulas cold — area of a circle πr², circumference 2πr, area of a triangle ½bh, the Pythagorean theorem a² + b² = c², and the special right triangles 45-45-90 (1 : 1 : √2) and 30-60-90 (1 : √3 : 2).
- Review the Verbal traps daily: Sentence Equivalence needs two near-synonyms, Text Completion gives no partial credit, and every Reading Comprehension answer must be supported by the passage.
- Re-read the Quantitative Comparison rule — pick '(D) cannot be determined' only when the relationship can change for different allowed values.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed set (27 Verbal in ~41 min, 27 Quant in ~47 min) to keep your pacing sharp, and outline one Analyze an Issue essay from memory.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your GRE practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
GRE cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the GRE cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It's part of Career Employer's free GRE toolkit alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
The cheat sheet condenses the highest-yield facts from all three GRE measures into a quick reference: Verbal Reasoning question types and vocabulary strategy, the Quantitative Reasoning content areas with must-know formulas, and the Analytical Writing task — plus the 130–170 scoring scale and how percentiles work.
No — the GRE is not pass or fail. Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning are each scored 130 to 170, and Analytical Writing is scored 0 to 6, then reported as percentiles. A 'good' score is one that meets your target programs' expectations, so the cheat sheet frames scores by percentile rather than a cutoff.
It's built from ETS's current shorter GRE General Test — the roughly two-hour format with 27 Verbal and 27 Quantitative questions and one Analytical Writing essay — and we review it against the official ETS materials regularly.
Click the download button (or the preview card) at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark this page so you can find it again in the final week before your test date.
References
- 1.Educational Testing Service. “About the GRE General Test.” ETS.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.Educational Testing Service. “GRE General Test Structure.” ETS.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.Educational Testing Service. “GRE General Test Scores.” ETS.org, 2026. ↑
- 4.Educational Testing Service. “GRE General Test Fees.” ETS.org, 2026. ↑
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