INSEAD's Recruitment Team Took Both the GMAT® and GRE® — Here Is What They Learned
If you are going back and forth between the GMAT® and the GRE®, you are not overthinking it.
It is a real decision. And the stakes feel high because you do not want to spend weeks preparing for the wrong test.
Most advice about this comes from test prep companies, tutors, or students who have been through the process. That makes sense. Those are the people with direct experience.
But there is one group whose perspective almost never gets shared: the recruitment teams at the schools you are applying to.
INSEAD's Degree Programmes recruitment team did something unusual. They sat both the GMAT® and the GRE® in person. The full tests. In a real testing center. Then they wrote a three-part series about what they experienced and what it means for applicants.
Steal their perspective for one reason: it helps you pick based on how the test FEELS to take, not just what forums say about it.
Why the tests exist in the first place
When you are deep in prep, it is easy to lose sight of why business schools require these tests.
The short answer: comparison.
Someone with an engineering degree from Mumbai. Someone with a liberal arts degree from Michigan. Someone with five years in consulting. Someone with five years in the military.
The school needs a common yardstick.
That is a big part of the purpose. Not to see if you are "smart enough." To give the admissions committee a way to compare very different backgrounds.
INSEAD's team makes a useful point here. They look at both raw scores and percentile scores. And they benchmark by region and country.
A 655 from one context can tell a very different story than a 655 from another.
This means the test is not purely a numbers game. How the school READS the score matters as much as the score itself.
The structural difference that changes how you practice
One of the most useful things in the INSEAD series is the side-by-side comparison of how the two tests are built.
Think of it like two different treadmills.
The GMAT® changes the incline after every minute. Get one right, the next one gets harder. Get one wrong, it gets easier. You feel the shifts in real time.
The GRE® changes the incline once per section. Your performance on the first section determines the difficulty of the second. Within each section, the difficulty is mixed.
This is not a small technical detail. It changes the experience.
On the GMAT®, each question can change what you see next. If the questions seem to be getting harder, it can feel encouraging — you are climbing. If one suddenly feels easy, you may wonder if you got the last one wrong.
On the GRE®, the experience within each section feels more stable. You do not get that question-by-question feedback loop.
If you have ever felt your confidence swing mid-section on a practice test, the adaptive structure is usually why.
We covered the full structural comparison in our GMAT® vs. GRE® vs. Executive Assessment guide, including which test eliminates which content areas and how to choose based on your strengths.
Score ranges and what admissions teams look for
The GMAT® Focus Edition scores up to 805.
The GRE® scores up to 340 (combined verbal and quant).
A 320 on the GRE® might sound "lower" than a 685 on the GMAT® because the number is smaller. But the percentile rankings tell a clearer story.
A score at the 80th percentile on either test means you outperformed 80% of test-takers. The raw number is just the packaging.
INSEAD also benchmarks scores by region and country. They are not just comparing you to the global pool. They are looking at how you performed relative to other applicants from similar educational backgrounds.
Schools with sophisticated admissions processes are reading your score in context. Not plugging it into a formula.
Which test fits the skills you can build fastest
This is where the INSEAD series gets practical.
The question is not "which test matches your personality." It is: which test rewards the skills you can train most efficiently in the time you have?
Here are some diagnostic questions worth sitting with:
Can you build a vocabulary system? The GRE® verbal section relies heavily on vocabulary. About half of your verbal score comes from knowing words that most people would need to study specifically for. If English is not your first language, this can feel like a second job on top of your actual prep. If vocabulary comes naturally or you are willing to build a memorization system, the GRE® verbal section may work in your favor.
Are you comfortable with logical reasoning and data analysis? The GMAT® verbal section is all reading comprehension and critical reasoning. No vocabulary. No grammar (which the old GMAT® used to test but the Focus Edition dropped). If you are stronger at analyzing arguments than at recalling word definitions, the GMAT® may be a more efficient path.
How do you feel about geometry? The GRE® tests geometry more heavily than the GMAT® Focus Edition. If you have not looked at geometry since high school, the GMAT® lets you mostly avoid it. If it is a strength, the GRE® gives you more room to use it.
What about data sufficiency? These are unique to the GMAT®. They ask you to determine whether you HAVE ENOUGH information to answer a question, without actually solving it. Some people find this intuitive once they learn the format. Others find it persistently frustrating. The GRE® does not have anything like it.
If you have not seen algebra in a decade, GMAT® quant can feel intimidating at first. That is not a reflection of your ability. It just means you need a plan for fundamentals before you jump into timed practice.
We go into more detail on how to make this choice in our full comparison guide.
What benchmarks should you aim for
INSEAD's series suggests a GMAT® score in the mid-600s and a GRE® score at the 80th percentile or above as reasonable benchmarks for competitive applicants.
Those are useful starting points. But they come with context.
For INSEAD specifically — one of the most internationally diverse MBA programs in the world — the median GMAT® Focus Edition score for the incoming class is around 655, with a reported range of 615-715. A 615 gets you in the conversation. The median is higher.
For a broader range of programs, the "right" score depends on where you are applying. We covered score targets by school tier in What is a Good GMAT® Score?
The bigger takeaway from INSEAD's team: the score is one data point. They read it alongside your work experience, your essays, your recommendations, and the rest of your profile. A strong score helps. A score slightly below median does not automatically disqualify you.
The "15 minutes a day" advice
INSEAD's team recommends starting with 15 minutes a day of practice to build consistency.
We agree with the principle. Consistency matters more than marathon study sessions, especially in the first few weeks.
Getting into a daily rhythm is more important than the length of any individual session.
Where we would add nuance: 15 minutes a day is a good floor for getting started. It is probably not enough to sustain progress over a full prep cycle, especially if you are aiming for a competitive score. As you move from building fundamentals to practicing under test conditions, you will likely need longer blocks.
But the core idea — daily, consistent work over sporadic cramming — is exactly right. We wrote a full guide on how to study for the GMAT® while working full time.
What the recruitment team actually experienced
The most interesting part of the INSEAD series is not the data or the structural comparison.
It is the fact that the recruitment team put themselves through the same experience you are going through.
They sat in the testing center. They dealt with the time pressure. They experienced the adaptive algorithm adjusting in real time.
It can be trying if you are not expecting it. And now at least one recruitment team knows that firsthand.
Whether that changes how INSEAD evaluates scores, we do not know. But it is the kind of institutional empathy that is worth knowing about when you are deciding where to apply.
A simple way to make this decision
If you are still going back and forth, here is a three-step process:
A) Take a diagnostic for both tests.
Use official practice materials. Do not overthink this — just sit down and do one. Then the other. You are looking for two things: where you start on each test, and how annoying the prep load feels for each one.
B) Compare two numbers.
Score-to-target gap: how far are you from where you need to be on each test?
Prep load: would you rather spend your time building a vocabulary system (GRE®) or training reasoning patterns and data sufficiency (GMAT®)? Neither is objectively harder. They are different kinds of work.
C) Pick the test you can train for consistently.
Choose the one where you can sustain daily practice without dreading it. It is okay if that choice feels counterintuitive at first. Train yourself to trust the diagnostic data over the forum opinions.
For the full decision framework — including when the Executive Assessment might be the right option — see our complete comparison guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does INSEAD prefer the GMAT® or the GRE®?
INSEAD accepts both the GMAT® and GRE® and states that it does not prefer one over the other. Their recruitment team took both tests in person and confirmed that applicants are evaluated based on the score submitted, benchmarked by percentile and region.
What GMAT® score do you need for INSEAD?
INSEAD's median GMAT® Focus Edition score for the incoming class is around 655, with a reported range of 615-715. A strong score helps, and it is read alongside the rest of your application.
Is the GMAT® harder than the GRE®?
Neither test is objectively harder. They test different skill profiles. The GMAT® focuses more on logical reasoning and data sufficiency. The GRE® focuses more on vocabulary and geometry. The "easier" test for you depends on which skills you can build most efficiently.
Can you take both the GMAT® and GRE® and submit the higher score?
Most schools accept either test and you only need to submit one. Taking both is possible but not common. The prep approaches are different enough that splitting your study time between them usually is not efficient.
How does INSEAD evaluate GMAT® and GRE® scores?
INSEAD looks at both raw scores and percentile scores. They benchmark by region and country, meaning your score is evaluated in the context of your educational background, not just against the global average.
Want to learn even more?
We wrote a complete comparison of the GMAT®, GRE®, and Executive Assessment that covers which test eliminates which content areas and how to choose based on your strengths and timeline.
If you are earlier in the process, our GMAT® study plan guide covers how to structure your prep. And you can find weekly strategy episodes on our podcast at blog.thegmatstrategy.com/podcast.
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