GRE Testing Accommodations: How to Apply

By Muntasir Jul 24, 2026 8 min read

TL;DR

You request GRE accommodations by submitting a Testing Accommodations Request Form to ETS Disability Services before you schedule your test, since accommodations cannot be added to a test already booked. ETS publishes two review times: the Bulletin Supplement says about 4 to 6 weeks once complete paperwork arrives, and the GRE disability accommodations page says about 6 weeks. A Certification of Eligibility filed without documentation is processed in about 2 to 3 weeks. Eligible categories cover vision, hearing, learning, attention, autism, brain injury, and physical, psychiatric and medical conditions. Common accommodations include extended time, extra breaks, screen readers, and human readers or scribes. Both the test-center GRE and GRE at home accept requests.

GRE Testing Accommodations: How to Apply

If a disability or health condition affects how you take the GRE, you are allowed to request accommodations from ETS. Approved accommodations range from extended time and extra breaks to screen readers, braille materials, and human assistance. They apply whether you test at a center or at home. A separate office, ETS Disability Services, reviews every request against published documentation rules.

The request has to be approved before you schedule your test date, so plan around the review timeline rather than around your target exam date. This guide covers who qualifies, what documentation ETS requires, how long review takes, which accommodations are commonly granted, and how the process differs between the test-center and at-home GRE. See GRE registration for the standard sign-up steps, GRE at home for how the remote format works, and GRE test day for what to expect once you arrive.

Who Qualifies for GRE Accommodations

ETS reviews accommodation requests against a checklist of disability and health categories printed on the Testing Accommodations Request Form. You identify your category on the form, then provide documentation supporting the specific accommodation you are requesting. Naming a category does not approve anything on its own, because ETS decides each requested accommodation separately. Pick the category matching your condition so the review does not stall on a follow-up question.

The GRE Bulletin Supplement for Test Takers with Disabilities or Health-Related Needs lists the following categories on the Nature of Disability checklist.

Blind or legally blind
Low vision
Deaf
Hard-of-hearing
ADD/ADHD
Learning disability
Traumatic brain injury
Autism spectrum disorder
Physical condition (identify the condition)
Psychiatric condition (identify the condition)
Medical condition (identify the condition, documentation required)
Other (identify the condition, documentation required)

Documentation ETS Requires

What you submit depends on your category and on whether you already have a documented history of using similar accommodations. ETS offers a documentation shortcut for several categories, so check whether it applies before you arrange a full evaluation. The shortcut also shortens the review, which matters if your target test date is close. The two paths below cover most requests.

Standard Documentation

For health-related needs such as diabetes, Crohn's disease, or chronic pain, ETS requires a letter of support from a medical doctor or other qualified professional stating the condition and the rationale for the accommodation, per the GRE Bulletin Supplement. Handwritten notes and prescription-pad notes do not satisfy this requirement. Requirements for the other categories differ by condition, and ETS publishes separate documentation guidelines for each one, from ADHD to vision loss and hearing loss. Read the guideline matching your category before you pay a professional to write anything.

Certification of Eligibility Shortcut

If you have a learning disability, ADHD, traumatic brain injury, autism spectrum disorder, a psychiatric disability, or a physical disability, and you are requesting 50 percent extended time or less, extra breaks, or both, you are allowed to skip full documentation. Submitting a valid Part III Certification of Eligibility: Accommodations History form instead is enough, as long as it verifies prior use of similar accommodations in college or at work, or a prior approval from ETS or another testing agency, according to the GRE Bulletin Supplement. The shortcut is also the fastest route: ETS reports a decision in about 2 to 3 weeks on a properly completed Certification of Eligibility filed without documentation, against 4 to 6 weeks for a full documentation review. For the categories listed above, the shortcut does not cover 100 percent extended time.

How to Submit Your Request

You submit the Testing Accommodations Request Form directly to ETS Disability Services, separately from your test registration. The request has to be approved before you schedule your GRE, since accommodations cannot be applied to an already-booked test date, per the GRE Bulletin Supplement. Work backward from the review timeline in the next section: start the paperwork first, then book your date once the approval comes through. Sending a complete package the first time is the one part of the schedule you control.

ETS accepts the request through more than one channel. Pick the one matching how you already hold your documentation.

Online through your ETS account at ets.org/mygre, using the Accommodation Status/New Request option.
By email to [email protected].
By mail or courier to ETS Disability Services, PO Box 6054, Princeton, NJ 08541-6054, USA.

The form itself asks you to state your intended testing location, either I intend to test at home or I intend to test at a test center. Decide on your format before you submit, since the location is part of the request ETS reviews. Both options appear on the form, per the GRE Bulletin Supplement.

Submission Timeline Before the Test Date

Review takes weeks, and ETS does not promise a faster turnaround for a request submitted close to your target date. ETS also publishes two different figures for the same review step, so plan against the longer one. The table below gives every published figure with the ETS page stating it.

Path	Published timeline	ETS page
Initial review of a complete request with documentation	About 4 to 6 weeks	GRE Bulletin Supplement
Initial review of a complete request with documentation	About 6 weeks	Disability Accommodations for the GRE General Test
Further review after ETS asks for more documentation	Another 2 to 4 weeks from receipt	GRE Bulletin Supplement
Further review after ETS asks for more documentation	Another 6 weeks from receipt	Disability Accommodations for the GRE General Test
Certification of Eligibility filed without documentation	About 2 to 3 weeks	Certification of Eligibility: Accommodations History

The two pages disagree on the same step, so the safe plan is to allow six weeks for the first review and a further six weeks if ETS comes back for more paperwork. The Bulletin Supplement tells applicants to submit as early as possible. A follow-up documentation request is what turns a six-week wait into a three-month one, which is why a complete first submission matters more than an early one. If your timing is tight, contact ETS Disability Services at 1-866-387-8602 from the United States or Canada, or email [email protected], and confirm the current turnaround before you commit to a test date.

Common Accommodations Granted

ETS groups approved accommodations into extended time, breaks, computer-delivery adjustments, human assistance, note-taking tools, and alternate formats. Several items are restricted to specific categories, such as JAWS screen reader access for test takers who are blind or have low vision. The list below reflects the accommodations described in the GRE Bulletin Supplement and the ETS disability accommodations page for the GRE General Test.

Extended time: 25 percent, 50 percent, or 100 percent additional time (double time).
Extra breaks: the testing clock stops during the break, and the time used does not count against your test time. Breaks cover medication, snacks, or restroom needs.
Computer-delivery adjustments: screen magnification, selectable background and foreground colors, and JAWS screen reader access for test takers who are blind or have low vision.
Human assistance: a human reader, a human scribe, or an oral or sign-language interpreter for check-in and directions if you are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Note-taking tools: a braille slate and stylus or a Perkins brailler for test takers who are blind or have low vision.
Alternate formats: braille, a large-print test book and answer sheet, or recorded audio, with tactile or large-print figure supplements available.

The test-center accommodations page also lists an ergonomic or IntelliKeys keyboard and a trackball as equipment available at GRE test centers in the United States and other countries. The tactile and large-print figure supplements for recorded audio are limited to applicants who are blind or have low vision. List every accommodation you need on the request form, since ETS reviews each requested accommodation on its own.

Availability for Test-Center and At-Home GRE

ETS supports accommodated testing at a physical test center and through GRE at home. The Testing Accommodations Request Form asks you to choose your intended location up front, confirming ETS processes requests for both formats, per the GRE Bulletin Supplement. The published test-center list is the fuller one, because it includes physical equipment such as a Perkins brailler, a trackball, and an ergonomic keyboard. Pick the location matching how you plan to test, since the choice is part of the request ETS approves.

For an unaccommodated test, the GRE General Test at home runs 1 hour 58 minutes with no scheduled breaks, and unscheduled breaks are not permitted. An approved extended-time or extra-break accommodation adds to this baseline. Rescheduling routes differently once accommodations are approved: Prometric handles changes for a test booked at a Prometric center, and for a computer-delivered location including at home, change and cancel requests go through ETS Disability Services rather than Prometric, per the GRE Bulletin Supplement. Use the same office you filed the request with, and give it lead time.

Once your accommodations are approved, practicing under realistic conditions helps you get comfortable with the format before test day. Our GRE prep page has free full-length practice tests and section drills, with no signup required. Start practicing while the request is under review, since the wait runs for weeks either way. Time your own practice sections with the extended time you asked for, so the pacing feels normal on test day.