GRE
becomes longer, more complicated
By
Mellani Lubuag
Daily Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
The Graduate Record Examinations will be changed in both format and deliverance
come October 2006, according to the Education Testing Services (ETS) Web site.
The changes to the exam will affect nearly half a million graduate school hopefuls,
pushing the Princeton
Review to encourage students to take the test before the changes are set.
According to the Princeton Review the changes will include an increase from
a two-and-a-half-hour test to a four-hour test. Test dates will also be limited
to 30 fixed dates. The verbal and quantitative scoring will change from the
current 200 to 800 scale to a new 120 to 170 scale.
The writing portion of the exam will keep the 0- to 6-point scale, which will
still be used in place of the Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE) if students receive
a score of at least four points, said Carol Itatani, coordinator for the WPE
and Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement.
An ETS representative would only refer students and questions to the ETS Web
site for information on the GRE revisions. According to the ETS Web site, the
new test will lessen the emphasis on vocabulary while boosting the amount of
critical reading passages. The test will also have fewer geometry-related questions
in the quantitative section, but will focus more on interpretation of data.
All of these are considered “closer to skills generally used in graduate
school.”
The ETS Web site reported changes increased test validity, which will make
the GRE more accurate in determining the potential success of a student hoping
to attend graduate school. They say the new changes will also make the test-taking
process more secure and increase test access around the world.
However, the Princeton Review believes the motive is money and is upset students
have to suffer, said Liz Wands, director of graduate programs for the Princeton
Review.
“
ETS is changing because the GREs are expensive to develop and deliver,” Wands
said. She also said the validity of a longer test with new questions was untested
and “ludicrous.”
Wands expanded on the position of the Princeton Review, saying, “The
truth is the current computer-adaptive GRE is expensive to administer, so ETS
is changing the format. ETS will claim they’re trying to improve the
validity of the GRE, but we don’t buy that.
“
The bottom line is the new GRE will contain new question types that have never
been tested on any standardized exam, take an hour-and-a-half longer to complete,
get scored on a new scale, and be less convenient for students to take,” Wands
said. “That doesn’t mean it’s a more valid test. Quite
frankly we’re outraged that students have to suffer through a longer
test with new question types that have never been tested before just so ETS
can save a few bucks.”
These potentially critical changes won’t affect whether Kristin Pate,
23, decides to take the test sooner. Pate is seeking a multiple subject credential
and hopes to later get her master’s at Cal State Long Beach.
“
I probably wouldn’t take it before October 2006 since I probably won’t
go on to get my master’s for a couple of years,” Pate said.
However, Pate believes the test cost should decrease with the arrival of a
revised GRE.
“
If [ETS’s] are saving money in putting out the test, then we should save
money in taking the test,” Pate said. ”
She said a longer, more difficult test does not bother her though. However,
the fact that the new changes will affect the times the test will be offered
gives Pate cause for concern.
“
I am a working student, so some test dates I just wouldn’t be able to
get to,” Pate said.
The Princeton Review GRE comparison chart shows the GRE going from being offered
most weekends and weekdays year-round to only 30 fixed dates per year.
“
To me, if the test is a little bit more difficult, or a little more comprehensive
I don’t really think that’s a bad thing,” Pate said. She
said she believed the GRE general test still assessed essential knowledge and
comprehension.
“
I mean they’re not going to test you on aerospace engineering,” she
said.
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