Graduate exam to change format and length in ’07
Preparing for graduate school can already be a daunting process … and it may get worse.
The Graduate Record Exam is changing in format in the fall of 2007, according to an announcement on the Educational Testing Services Web site.
Educational Testing Service, the company that produces the GRE, plans to expand the current test sections in verbal and quantitative reasoning and include a new one on critical thinking and analytical writing.
The changes will lengthen the test from two hours to more than four hours.
“ It’s going to require a lot more stamina on the part of the test taker,” Susan Kaplan, director of graduate programs for Kaplan test prep and admissions, said.
The specific changes can be found on ets.org, but the main difference will be in format.
The current adaptive system gives harder or easier questions based on performance on previous questions. The new system will employ a linear format that will provide the same test for all test takers.
This will also require more questions to address different difficulty levels.
Current sections will also differ.
The verbal section will require use of complex reasoning more than knowledge of vocabulary while the quantitative section will rely more on data interpretation over geometry skills.
A new “Critical Thinking and Analytical Writing” section will replace the old analytical writing section.
“ This will more accurately predict success in grad school,” Kaplan said. “There will be more emphasis on critical reasoning.”
The scoring scheme will undergo a massive change.
Currently the scoring is ranges from 200 to 800 for each section. The new version of the GRE will feature scoring from 130 to 170 for each section according to the ETS Web site.
The 130 to 170 scoring will be done in one-point increments opposed to the former test, which scored in 10-point increments.
Kaplan said test takers do not need to worry, as universities will have documents to help them compare the two exams and the different scoring systems.
Despite this, students may not be comfortable with these extreme changes and may wish to take the old exam before it changes.
Students will have until September ’07 to take the GRE General Test in its current format unless the date is extended again.
Scores are good for five years and Kaplan encourages students to get on the five-year plan in terms of graduate school preparation if they would prefer taking the old, shorter version.
Either way, performing well on the GRE can help students receive more financial aid for graduate school, Kaplan said.
The GRE is also often used as a factor in awarding assistantships or grants.
Kaplan said those forms of aid do not have to be paid back and may help make graduate school more affordable.
Test takers can prepare by taking practice versions of the current GRE. Many are available for free online.
Kaplan said learning what each section covers, as well as taking measures to prevent crises on test day, would be good preparation.
People interested in taking the exam this year can register through ets.org and take the computerized version of the test on almost every weekday from now until the end of June.
Test preparation and additional information can also be found through Kaplan’s Test Prep and Admissions Web site at www.kaptest.com.