PRINCETON, New Jersey, Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The GRE® Program saw impressive growth around the world in 2013, ending the year with the second highest annual GRE test volumes in the program's history, 731,000. Volumes in the United States increased a noteworthy 5 percent and students in Europe and Asia tested in record numbers compared to 2012, with the most significant increase occurring in India.  

Some notable trends in 2013 GRE volumes compared to 2012 include:

• GRE volumes in India increased by more than 70 percent, recording annual GRE volumes greater than 90,000 from that region alone.
• International GRE volumes increased by about 30 percent.
• GRE volumes in Asia were up more than 35 percent.
• The intended graduate major fields of study that experienced the most significant growth in 2013 include Business (36 percent), Engineering (31 percent) and Natural Sciences (21 percent).

"Globally, most students now know they can use GRE scores to apply to graduate programs, MBA programs, specialized master's in business programs and more, so taking a GRE test gives them a lot of options around the world," says David Payne, Vice President of Global Education at ETS. "While other testing programs for graduate level admissions outside of ETS struggle to increase their test volumes, the GRE program continues to thrive, providing value to graduate and business schools as well as prospective students worldwide."

GRE score acceptance around the world is also at an all-time high as programs focus on attracting applicants from the desirable GRE test-taker population. The number of international programs accepting GRE scores increased by nearly 12 percent compared to 2012 and the number of business schools accepting GRE scores for their MBA programs has risen to more than 1,100, up 8 percent over last year. Currently, about 70 of the Financial Times Top 100 Full-time MBA Programs around the world and 29 of the Bloomberg Businessweek Top 30 MBA Programs in the United States accept GRE scores for their programs.

"According to a recent GRE survey, the word about the ScoreSelect® option is spreading quickly among test takers, offering them one more good reason to choose the GRE® revised General Test. Available only with the GRE tests, the ScoreSelect option is one of the ways the GRE revised General Test is able to give test takers the Power of Confidence," says Dawn Piacentino, Director of Communications and Services for the GRE Program at ETS. "Test takers can enter a test center with the confidence of knowing that they can send schools only the scores that reflect their best. So, if for some reason they feel they did not do their best on any one test day, they can retake the test and send only the set of scores they want schools to see."

For more information about the GRE revised General Test, visit www.ets.org/gre.

About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

SOURCE Educational Testing Service