The GRE General Test and the GRE Subject Tests only evaluate specific skill sets. Students with high critical thinking skills and strong written communication skills usually score well on the GRE test. Still, other factors influence a student's true potential for succeeding in graduate school. Students who are strongly motivated, fully supported financially, and have a stable living environment will have a greater chance to do their best. Also, creative students with good interpersonal skills can excel in a graduate program. Face-to-face interviews can help institutions of higher learning correctly assess an applicant's talent and ability for learning.
Since the GRE General Test consists of a broad base of skills that indicate exposure to many types of study, another limitation of the test is applicants feeling displaced because their learning experiences have not yet covered it all. Even those with strong academic credentials have not developed all the reasoning skills tested on the GRE test. A fair number of students develop those skills over a longer period of time, and career students without intensive practical experiences in their field of study can struggle. As well, students with different learning styles than what a traditional classroom offers many times find themselves struggling with the GRE test. Those applicants especially need to take extra practice tests and preparation for the GRE test to make a high score.
The GRE Subject Tests evaluate a prospective student's grasp of core knowledge content. However, schools have to be careful that content covered in the GRE test matches the core content in the curriculum they use. Over time, knowledge content changes. GRE test scores occasionally do not necessarily indicate a student's knowledge level. Schools should not compare test scores of different subject tests, only tests of the same subject. Schools should take other factors into consideration when looking at GRE test scores, especially for students with physical or learning disabilities as they may be taking a modified GRE test.