While the GMAT is exclusively for business schools and the GRE is the general-purpose graduate exam for nearly every program, students looking at business and combined programs will typically want to consider both. Traditionally, students who are inclined towards humanities and memorizing content will tend towards the GRE whereas students who are inclined towards math, logic, and methodical strategies will tend towards the GMAT.

Although both tests are adaptive, giving students harder questions the better they do, it’s still crucial to understand their scales in order to home in on “must-get” questions and topics that will maximize a score. Consequently, prep should always be customized not only towards the test but the student’s target score: on the GMAT in particular, an extremely challenging test that allows for significant error, most students will want to optimize their time by using strategic tricks and timing whereas a select few may aim for near-perfection.