GRE changes multiple choice to two essays

By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
Daily Bruin Contributor

As of Oct. 2002, the Graduate Record Examinations will replace
its current multiple choice section with a new writing section.

But the new test may pose a greater challenge for international
or non-native English speakers, who account for a large portion of
graduate applications each year.

According to the 1999 UCLA Graduate Programs Annual Report, 37.7
percent of the fall graduate applicants were international
students.

“It’s a big mistake. I don’t like it at
all,” said Robert Greene, the graduate vice chair of the
mathematics department. “I take the (GRE) quite seriously
except that it’s obviously, in some sense, prejudiced toward
native speakers of standard English.”

The change will require students to write two essays “”mdash; one
a personal argument and another analyzing an argument. This
analytical section is identical to the separate writing assessment
test. The math and verbal sections of the GRE will remain
unchanged.

Tom Ewing, director of communications at the Educational Testing
Service “”mdash; which designs the test “”mdash; said the change will
better assess critical thinking skills in graduate students rather
than how they correctly answer multiple choice questions.

“Test takers whose native language is not English would
find the analytical section more challenging but we’ve taken
steps to ensure the performance differences are not due to
cross-cultural accessibility of the topics,” he said.

Essay topics will range from opinions about government behavior
to the effectiveness of utilizing hi-tech innovations such as
videos and computers in schools.

Kaplan Executive Director Albert Chen said that the change, on a
scale from one to 10, rates a seven.

“For students, this is something very serious if they
haven’t written an essay in a long time,” Chen
said.

The change was possibly due to the objective questions becoming
too easy to train and prepare for, he added.

Students have the option of taking the old or new GRE until
October, said Kaplan Spokesperson Bonnie Eissner. Beginning Oct. 1,
test-takers will have to take the new GRE.

The change may appear to be an enhancement through the eyes of
ETS, but is considered unfair by some.

With about 80 percent of the Graduate School of Electrical
Engineering department’s applicants coming from China, India
and Iran, according to Sharron Bryant, the school’s student
affairs officer, students with a weaker English background may be
disadvantaged, she said.

For the essay section, graders will focus on whether candidates
have articulated their ideas clearly and coherently, rather than on
perfect grammar and spelling, Ewing said.

If the writing is so poor that the graders can’t
understand their argument, scores on the new writing section will
be affected, Ewing said.

“Like much of graduate education in the U.S., there are
certain skills and abilities that students should have to succeed
at the graduate level,” he added.

In addition to the GRE, the Medical College Admission Test is
also undergoing a major facelift.

In April 2003, the MCAT, a mandatory standardized test for
prospective medical school students, will feature three new biology
questions focused on DNA and genetics and a shorter reasoning
section, Chen said.