GRE Pattern To Change In August

   The Graduate Record Examination will be overhauled this August, changing the types of questions that are posed in multiple sections, as well as the exam format, time allotments and scoring system.

The exam, an admissions requirement for many graduate schools, comprises verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and experimental research sections and is evaluated by 10-point intervals on a 200-800 point scale, according to Andrew Mitchell, director of prebusiness programs at Kaplan, a company specializing in test preparation. 

“The new GRE should be better at indicating who’s going to succeed,” Mitchell said. “The new GRE is meant to be more representative of graduate school work.”

David Constant, dean of the University’s Graduate School, said the changes are being made to make the exam more representative of graduate school’s demands.

The scoring of the GRE will change to a 130-170 point scale and will be evaluated similarly to the Law School Admission Test. Mitchell said the changes can be attributed to people overinterpreting the difference between a 700 and 710, as the exam was previously judged by 10-point increments.

“As [Educational Testing Services] describes the scoring, the current scale of 200-800 for each part has become skewed toward the high side,” Constant said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. “The new scale and scoring of exams is designed to use the full range of the scale and give both students and faculty a clearer picture of performance on the exam.”

A calculator will be permitted during the new quantitative section of the test, but according to Mitchell, using one is a double-edged sword.

“While a calculator might seem like an advantage, it’ll change the type of questions that get asked,” he said. “It is likely to make the math harder and at a higher level of thinking.”

Chad Roberts, University alumnus in psychology, said he will take the exam within the next six months. He said he thinks the quantitative section won’t be as difficult with a calculator.

The verbal section is undergoing changes in the types of questions asked. Mitchell said the test currently has many vocabulary-based questions where students must identify antonyms and analogies, which will be replaced with more Reading Comprehension.

Roberts said he would prefer the old GRE verbal format because he’s a slow reader. He said more reading comprehension would be a better indicator of a student’s future performance in graduate school, however.

Garrett Dupre, chemical engineering junior, will also take the GRE within the next several months and said he will prefer the new GRE verbal format because it’s less vocabulary intensive.

The “navigation” of the exam will change, as well. The present GRE is computer adapted, meaning questions change according to how a student is answering them. If a student answers several questions correctly, more difficult questions will emerge. Students can only look at and answer one question at a time.

The updated GRE will allow examinees to skip around within sections and come back to them later as long as they are in the same section, Mitchell said. However, one’s performance on one section will affect the level of difficulty given to him or her on the next section.

“I think they will appreciate that there’s more flexibility in skipping around questions,” Mitchell said.

The revamped GRE will also be an hour longer.

Current practice tests are quickly becoming obsolete, according to Mitchell, but Kaplan is “staying on top” of the changes. Mitchell said Kaplan is used to formats changing and adapts with the exams. He said change can be good.

Mitchell said he recommends seniors take the GRE now before it changes formats, and their scores will be good for five years. If students wait until August, their final scores won’t be available until November, possibly pushing or missing graduate school deadlines.

Source - aglasem.com