Revised GRE in effect by August 2011

Correction: The original version of this article contained an error. There is no last official testing date for the current version of the GRE; it will vary by location and availability. The first opportunity to take the new GRE is Aug. 2011. Students who wish to receive their scores before Nov. 2011 should register now to receive a testing time and location.

The Graduate Records Examination will be replaced by a revised version beginning in August 2011.

Educational Testing Service, the nonprofit testing organization that produces the GRE, announced last year that this new test contains some of the most significant changes in the exam’s 60-year history.

“We wanted to change the test so it would more accurately reflect the kind of thinking that is required of students in graduate school and business school,” said Dawn Piacentino, director of communications and client services for the ETS GRE program.

One of the most important changes in the test format is the inclusion of the ability to move backward and forward within a section. The computerized test currently utilizes adaptive difficulty, which means the difficulty of the later questions in the section adjust based on the test taker’s performance on the earlier questions. Adaptive difficulty prevents test takers from skipping and returning to questions, because questions must be answered in a predetermined order.

The new test will still be adaptive, but on a section-by-section basis, not question-by-question basis.

Stephanie Shellooe, a fourth-year economics student, is taking the test this fall and said she wishes that she had the ability to move back and forth between questions on the current test.

“The fact that I won’t be able to return to questions or skip them, it adds more pressure because you have to answer the question or guess,” Shellooe said. “You can’t go back to the question later and try to look for more easy questions.”

In addition to formatting changes, the scoring scale will be altered. Currently, students receive an essay score from one to six and a score out of 800 points for each of two other sections. Ten-point increments are used ““ similar to the SAT. The new exam will be scored out of 170 points, with one-point increments. Essay scoring will remain the same.

The main reason ETS adjusted the score scale was to signal to universities that the test’s content has significantly changed. Piacentino said some schools look at scores that vary by 10 points and assume there is a significant difference in achievement, but this is misleading.

Other changes include the elimination of the antonyms and analogies questions in the Verbal Reasoning section. These types of questions will be replaced by text completion questions and sentence equivalent questions. Reading comprehension skills will be tested instead of out-of-context vocabulary.

“Although they’re good question types, a graduate student doesn’t sit around and try to figure out analogies. Instead, they read and analyze lots of writing.” Piacentino said. “We want our test to better reflect these kind of skills.”

Some students are torn over which test to take. If they want to take the current GRE, there is less time to study as it will not be offered after Aug. 2011. If they choose to spend the summer studying, they will be the first round of students confronting a different, experimental test.

“With any kind of test change comes uncertainty,” said Russell Schaffer, senior communications manager for Kaplan Test Preparation. “Test scores go down after a test change. We’re telling students if they’re able to take the exam before the test changes next August, they should do so.”

This July, ETS released preparation software so students currently deciding which exam to take could check out the new version. The software is free and available for download on the ETS GRE Program website.

Some students said they would feel inadequately prepared for the new GRE even with preparation software.

Scott Kamino, a third-year mathematics and economics student, is applying for graduate school next fall and originally planned to take the GRE in September. He quickly changed his mind when he found out it would mean taking the new version of the test.

“I feel more comfortable taking the old test because there’s not much test preparation currently geared towards the new test,” Kamino said. “It’s unfortunate because if I take it in July and I’m unsatisfied with my score, then I have to start studying all over again for the new one. It’s a little frustrating.”

The final offering of the current version of the GRE will vary based on location and availability, but it will not be offered after August 2011.

Registration for the new GRE begins March 15, 2011. ETS offers a 50 percent discount on the test fee for people who take the test between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30, 2011. Those who want to submit graduate school applications by November 2011 should register now for the old GRE, because test results from the new test will not be released until late November, according to Piacentino.

“Once people see the functionality in the new test, I think they will like the new features that we think make it test-taker friendly,” Piacentino said.