Grad students face new GRE
March 14, 2007
Students looking to take the Graduate Record Examination General Test before next year might want to sign up soon because changes that could affect students' performance lurk ahead.
The GRE is a test for students interested in entering graduate school, and many departments at MU require it for students to enter MU's graduate programs.
Susan Kaplan, graduate programs director at Kaplan Test Preparation, said the changes are the most significant in the GRE's 55-year history.
One major change is that the new GRE will be extended from 2 1/2 hours to four hours.
The format of the exam will also change.
"The current exam is a computer-adaptive exam," Kaplan said. "If you are answering questions right, you'll get harder questions."
With the new exam, every student will take the same particular administration of the exam with the same questions.
"They will have to answer a wide variety of questions from different difficulty levels," Kaplan said.
She said the Educational Testing Service, which issues the tests, wanted to make the exam a better predictor of success in graduate school.
"It will test higher cognitive and reasoning skills and have less emphasis on vocab," Kaplan said.
The scoring scale and security concerns would also shift.
"Questions have typically been reused between administrations," Kaplan said. "With a new computer-based format, they're alleviating that security concern."
The changes have come in response to research conducted by the testing service.
"The changes reflect four years of research and redesign using the best methods of measuring the skills related to successful graduate study," Mari Pearlman, senior vice president of the ETS Higher Education Division, stated in a news release.
Kaplan said she recommended students take the current GRE before the changes take effect.
The Columbia Kaplan Center offers GRE test preparation and will have a class Saturday at 10 a.m.
The current form of the GRE will be administered until July 31, but the new version won't be available until Sept. 10, 15 or 16, depending on location.
"Anyone planning to take the GRE in August, which is a popular time for college students, will have to change their date," Kaplan said.
GRE Board Chairman Isaac Colbert said the test dates will be announced soon to ensure a smooth transition into the new test.
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