2008 Woodie Awards
GRE Test Changes Coming
Students should take test before October, says Kaplan
Shina Neo
Issue date: 2/7/06 Section: Campus News
Students who are considering graduate school and are taking the GRE test may think of taking it now or face a tougher, more challenging test at the end of the year.
This October, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is officially changing. Though mentioned last year, new information has recently been released affecting important components of the test such as the types of questions, score range, and admissions officials' evaluation of scores.
According to Victoria Grantham of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, there are ten things to know about the new GRE:
1) Untried Question Types: There will be new questions that have never been seen on the GRE before, for example - sentence completion questions.
2) Scoring Delay: The scoring scale has not yet been finalized and as such the scores of the first three administrations of the exam will be held back.
3) More Expensive: The cost to take the exam will be higher.
4) Bar Raised For Foreign Students: It will be more challenging for international students as the verbal section will be more complicated.
5) Admissions X Factor: It will be difficult for admissions officials to compare new test scores with the old.
6) Longer: The exam is twice as long, from two and a half hours to at least four hours.
7) Less Scheduling Flexibility: The test will only be administered 30 times annually .
8) Analogies and Antonyms: Out, Critical Reading; In, the verbal section will become two 40-minute sections, instead of one 30-minute section.
9) Heavy On Data Interpretation, Light On Geometry: The new GRE will have two 40-minute sections focusing on data interpretation.
10) Access to Essays: Essay timing and prompts will be changing.
Educational Testing Services (ETS) is making these changes to better predict and test the skills and abilities of students wanting to go to graduate school.
Matt Fidler, GRE programs manager, mentioned the issue of students memorizing test questions and posting them online. The new GRE test will make students less susceptible to cheating.
"Once that day is over, it will retire those questions," says Fidler.
The changes means students should prepare. Kaplan recommends those students planning to go to graduate school should take the exam before it changes, as well as prepare for it three months in advance.
Kaplan will be coming to Greensboro and sponsoring a free GRE test on February 25 at 10a.m. on Market St. This will not be the new GRE test. It will be a chance for students to see how they score and get familiar with the exam itself.
This October, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is officially changing. Though mentioned last year, new information has recently been released affecting important components of the test such as the types of questions, score range, and admissions officials' evaluation of scores.
According to Victoria Grantham of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, there are ten things to know about the new GRE:
1) Untried Question Types: There will be new questions that have never been seen on the GRE before, for example - sentence completion questions.
2) Scoring Delay: The scoring scale has not yet been finalized and as such the scores of the first three administrations of the exam will be held back.
3) More Expensive: The cost to take the exam will be higher.
4) Bar Raised For Foreign Students: It will be more challenging for international students as the verbal section will be more complicated.
5) Admissions X Factor: It will be difficult for admissions officials to compare new test scores with the old.
6) Longer: The exam is twice as long, from two and a half hours to at least four hours.
7) Less Scheduling Flexibility: The test will only be administered 30 times annually .
8) Analogies and Antonyms: Out, Critical Reading; In, the verbal section will become two 40-minute sections, instead of one 30-minute section.
9) Heavy On Data Interpretation, Light On Geometry: The new GRE will have two 40-minute sections focusing on data interpretation.
10) Access to Essays: Essay timing and prompts will be changing.
Educational Testing Services (ETS) is making these changes to better predict and test the skills and abilities of students wanting to go to graduate school.
Matt Fidler, GRE programs manager, mentioned the issue of students memorizing test questions and posting them online. The new GRE test will make students less susceptible to cheating.
"Once that day is over, it will retire those questions," says Fidler.
The changes means students should prepare. Kaplan recommends those students planning to go to graduate school should take the exam before it changes, as well as prepare for it three months in advance.
Kaplan will be coming to Greensboro and sponsoring a free GRE test on February 25 at 10a.m. on Market St. This will not be the new GRE test. It will be a chance for students to see how they score and get familiar with the exam itself.
