Another wave of changes has swept over the Graduate Record
Examination according to the Educational Testing Service, which,
beginning in October, will affect the approximately 400,000 U.S.
students who take the test annually.
The new test will be four rather than two hours, and will
include questions focused on critical analysis in an attempt to
make the GRE a better indication of the skills that will be
necessary in graduate school.
David Payne, spokesman for ETS, which produces and distributes
the standardized test for graduate school applicants, explained the
double reasoning behind the modifications.
“(The changes) are in response to feedback we’ve
gotten from (graduate) schools across the country ““ to create
assessments that will be closer analogs to the types of skills that
students need in graduate school,” Payne said.
“Secondly, they are to make the tests less susceptible to
coaching and memorization effects.”
One of the main changes to the test is the omission of antonyms
and analogies, questions that are not foreign to current UCLA
students, as they appeared on old versions of the recently revised
SAT I.
In their place, test takers will find verbal-reasoning questions
focused on critical analysis, which ask students to select
sentences as answers to questions about a passage.
In addition, quantitative-reasoning questions will incorporate
complex, word-based problems, which will raise the bar for foreign
students, according to Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions.
“The memorization of lots of words is unlikely to help you
in your graduate career. Studying vocabulary won’t help you
prepare for the (new) test, but critical reading and analysis
will,” Payne said.
These new forms of questions will reduce the total number of
questions on the test, but also double the length of the test to
approximately four hours.
Karthik Gunnia, a fourth-year cognitive science student who has
already taken the GRE, said the current version of the exam
“accurately measured the skills it assessed” ““
skills which ETS argues will not be as necessary in graduate school
as those tested on the new version.
In response to the changes, Gunnia said the test “seems to
be better, but still, it’s so general and graduate school is
so specific.”
Payne said the test scores from the revised exam will more
accurately reflect an evaluation of the success one will have in
graduate school.
Matt Fidler, GRE programs manager for Kaplan, explained another
probable reason for the changes made to the GRE by ETS.
He said in addition to modifying the test to examine skills that
more accurately mirror those needed for graduate school, the
changes will mitigate some security issues ETS has experienced.
Fidler explained that students take the GRE, memorize questions
and compile them in online question-and-answer banks, which
students can take advantage of.
ETS has consequently reduced the frequency of test dates from
almost daily to only 29 or 30 dates a year. This will allow for
questions to be retired after each test, in order to prevent
collaborative efforts to gain an unfair advantage. Payne said there
will be more spaces during each of those test days to accommodate
all test takers.
Also, students taking the current version will not have to
endure a four-hour test, and pay an increased fee.
“More money, more stamina needed, change in content
““ all reasons why you should take it before it
changes,” Fidler said.
Payne said the ETS has not decided on a new price for the test,
but it will definitely be more expensive than the current $115. The
increase in fees will be mostly to pay for the developmental
changes to the test.
Kaplan and other test-preparation companies will be updating
their courses to reflect all changes to the GRE.
Fidler emphasized that there may be some delays in score reports
with the new GRE as ETS will take the first three administrations
of the test and average their scores to come up with a new high-end
score for the test. Students should be aware of this potential
delay if they are on small time frames for information submissions
to schools, Fidler said.