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United States[1], in other English-speaking countries and for English-taught graduate and business programmes world-wide. Created and administered by Educational Testing Service (or ETS) in 1949,[2] the exam aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based, computer adaptive exam administered by selected qualified testing centers; however, paper-based exams are offered in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available. In the graduate school admissions process, the level of emphasis that is placed upon GRE scores varies widely between schools and between departments within schools. The importance of a GRE score can range from being a mere admission formality to an important selection factor. Critics of the GRE have argued that the exam format is so rigid that it effectively tests only how well a student can conform to a standardized test taking procedure.[3] ETS responded by announcing plans in 2006 to radically redesign the test structure starting in the fall of 2007; however, the company has since announced, "Plans for launching an entirely new test all at once were dropped, and ETS decided to introduce new question types and improvements gradually over time." The new questions have been gradually introduced since November 2007.[4] As a result of further research the GRE General Test is being revised, and will be launched in August 2011. The cost of the general test varies between US$160 and 210, depending on the country of taking the test, although ETS will reduce the fee under certain circumstances. They are promoting financial aid to those GRE applicants who prove economic hardship.[5] ETS erases all test records that are older than 5 years, although graduate program policies on the admittance of scores older than 5 years will vary.
Structure
The exam consists of four sections. The first section is a writing section, while the other three are multiple-choice style. One of the multiple choice style exams will test verbal skills, another will test quantitative skills and a third exam will be an experimental section that is not included in the reported score. The entire test procedure takes about 4 hours.[6]
640 620 600 580 560 540 520 500 480 460 440 420 400 380 360 340 320 300 280 260 240 220 200
92 89 86 82 77 72 67 62 57 52 46 40 35 29 24 19 13 8 5 2 1 0 0
57 52 48 44 39 35 31 28 24 21 18 16 13 11 9 7 6 4 3 2 1 0 0 586
mean 457 Analytical Writing score Writing % 6 98 5.5 92 5 81 4.5 63 4 41 3.5 23 3 10 2.5 3 2 1 1.5 0 1 0 0.5 0 mean 3.9
Comparisons for "Intended Graduate Major" are "limited to those who earned their college degrees up to two years prior to the test date." ETS provides no score data for "non-traditional" students who have been out of school more than two years, although its
own report "RR-99-16" indicated that 22% of all test takers in 1996 were over the age of 30.
Many graduate schools in English-speaking countries (especially in the United States) require GRE results as part of the admissions process. The GRE is a standardized test intended to measure the abilities of all graduates in tasks of general academic nature, regardless of their fields of specialization. The GRE is supposed to measure the extent to which undergraduate education has developed an individual's verbal and quantitative skills in abstract thinking. Unlike other standardized admissions tests (such as the SAT, LSAT, and MCAT), the use and weight of GRE scores vary considerably not only from school to school, but from department to department, and from program to program also. Programs in liberal arts topics may only consider the applicant's verbal score to be of interest, while mathematics and science programs may only consider quantitative ability; however, since most applicants to mathematics, science, or engineering graduate programs all have high quantitative scores, the verbal score can become a deciding factor even in these programs. Admission to graduate schools depends on a complex mix of several different factors. Schools see letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, GPA, GRE score etc. Some schools use the GRE in admissions decisions, but not in funding decisions; others use the GRE for the selection of scholarship and fellowship candidates, but not for admissions. In some cases, the GRE may be a general requirement for graduate admissions imposed by the university, while particular departments may not consider the scores at all. Graduate schools will typically provide information about how the GRE is considered in admissions and funding decisions, and the average scores of previously admitted students. The best way to find out how a particular school or program evaluates a GRE score in the admissions process is to contact the person in charge of graduate admissions for the specific program in question (and not the graduate school in general). Programs that involve significant expository writing require the submission of a prepared writing sample that is considered more useful in determining writing ability than the analytical writing section; however, the writing scores of foreign students are sometimes given more scrutiny and are used as an indicator of overall comfort with and mastery of conversational English.
In the past, subject tests were also offered in the areas of Economics, Revised Education, Engineering, Geology, History, Music, Political Science, and Sociology. In April 1998, the Revised Education and Political Science exams were discontinued. In April 2000, the History and Sociology exams were discontinued, and the other four were discontinued in April 2001.[5]
Harvard Business School: Official test scores for the GMAT or GRE tests no more than 5 years old. [20] UVA-Darden: Will also accept a GRE score in place of the GMAT. [21] MIT-Sloan:The GMAT or GRE is required of all applicants and must be taken before submitting your application. [22] Penn-Wharton School: Official test scores for the GMAT or GRE tests. Stanford: Finance - The GRE is preferred, although the GMAT will be accepted. NYU-Stern School: The GMAT is strongly preferred, but scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) will also be accepted. U Chicago: For Economics - the GRE is required. For Finance - the GRE is preferred; GMAT is acceptable. For all other areas - the GRE or the GMAT are accepted. Ohio State-Fisher - The GMAT is required however scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are eligible for review. Berkeley-Haas: Without exception, all applicants to the Haas Ph.D. Program must submit official scores of either the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Examination. Columbia Business School: Accepts GRE test scores in place of the GMAT, only if applicant has not taken the GMAT within the last 5 years.
In comparison with GMAT's emphasis on logic, GRE measures the test-takers' ability more in vocabulary. This difference is reflected in the structure of each test. Despite the Analytical Writing section in common, GRE has analogies, antonyms, sentence completions, and reading comprehension passages in Verbal section, while GMAT has sentence correction, critical reasoning and reading comprehension. Also, higher mathematical ability is required on the GMAT to get a good score. The GRE is more appealing to international MBA students and applicants from a non-traditional background. [23]
[edit] Preparation
A variety of resources are available for those wishing to prepare for the GRE. Upon registration, ETS provides preparation software called PowerPrep, which contains two practice tests of retired questions, as well as further practice questions and review material. Since the software replicates both the test format and the questions used, it can be useful to predict the actual GRE scores. ETS does not license their past questions to any other company, making them the only source for official retired material. ETS used to publish the "BIG BOOK" which contained a number of actual GRE questions; however, this publishing was abandoned. Several companies provide courses, books, and other unofficial preparation materials. ETS has claimed that content of the GRE is un-coachable[where?]; however, test preparation companies such as Kaplan and Princeton Review claim that the test format is so rigid that familiarizing oneself with the test's organization, timing, specific foci, and the use of process of elimination is the best way to increase a GRE score.[24]
[edit] Validity
An analysis of the GRE's validity in predicting graduate school success found a correlation of .30 to .45 between the GRE and both first year and overall graduate GPA. The correlation between GRE score and graduate school completion rates ranged from . 11 (for the now defunct analytical section) to .39 (for the GRE subject test). Correlations with faculty ratings ranged from .35 to .50.[25]
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Bias
Critics have claimed that the computer-adaptive methodology may discourage some test takers, because the question difficulty changes with performance.[citation needed] For example, if the test-taker is presented with remarkably easy questions half way into the exam, they may infer that they are not performing well, which will influence their abilities as the exam continues, even though question difficulty is subjective. By contrast standard testing methods may discourage students by giving them more difficult items earlier on.
Critics have also stated that the computer-adaptive method of placing more weight on the first several questions is biased against test takers who typically perform poorly at the beginning of a test due to stress or confusion before becoming more comfortable as the exam continues.[26] Of course standard fixed-form tests could equally be said to be "biased" against students with less testing stamina since they would need to be approximately twice the length of an equivalent computer adaptive test to obtain a similar level of precision.[27] The GRE has also been subjected to the same racial bias criticisms that have been lodged against other admissions tests. In 1998, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education noted that the mean score for black test-takers in 1996 was 389 on the verbal section, 409 on the quantitative section, and 423 on the analytic, while white test-takers averaged 496, 538, and 564, respectively.[28] The National Association of Test Directors Symposia in 2004 stated a belief that simple mean score differences may not constitute evidence of bias unless the populations are known to be equal in ability.[29] A more effective, accepted, and empirical approach is the analysis of differential test functioning, which examines the differences in item response theory curves for subgroups; the best approach for this is the DFIT framework.[30]
ETS with 150 questions, representing 70-80% of the GRE.[35] According to early news releases, ETS appeared grateful to Stanley H. Kaplan, Inc for identifying the security problem. However, on December 31, ETS sued Kaplan, Inc for violation of a federal electronic communications privacy act, copyright laws, breach of contract, fraud, and a confidentiality agreement signed by test-takers on test day.[36] On January 2, 1995, an agreement was reached out of court. Additionally, in 1994, the scoring algorithm for the computer-adaptive form of the GRE was discovered to be insecure. ETS acknowledged that Kaplan, Inc employees, led by Jose Ferreira, reverse-engineered key features of the GRE scoring algorithms. The researchers found that a test takers performance on the first few questions of the exam had a disproportionate effect on the test takers final score. To preserve the integrity of scores, ETS revised its scoring and uses a more sophisticated scoring algorithm.