ETS announced on Tuesday that, beginning from Sept 22, the GRE general test will take less than two hours to complete – roughly half the time of the current test.

The change will make it the shortest test among top professional, business and law school admission test options.

To make the test shorter, GRE will remove the "analyze an argument" task in the analytical writing section, reduce the number of questions in the quantitative and verbal reasoning sections, and remove the unscored section.

These changes mark the first of several planned future updates to the GRE general test, all of which are intended to provide test takers with a better experience that values their time and reduces anxiety and fatigue.

In addition to test changes, test takers can expect to receive their official scores much faster - in just 8-10 days.

The score scales will remain the same and test takers can continue to use the existing official GRE preparation materials.

"The changes we're announcing today underscore the emphasis we place on keeping our customers at the center of all that we do," said ETS CEO Amit Sevak. "As we continue to introduce product innovations, we're committed to balancing two things – maintaining rigor and validity, while improving the test-taker experience."

Test takers who have already registered to take the GRE general test on or after Sept 22 are eligible for a one-time free reschedule if they prefer to take the test before the scheduled changes come into effect.