The Observer, April 20, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 25
Students no longer to be overwhelmed by new GRE
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College students nationwide heaved a collective sigh at the news that plans for the new Graduate Record Examination (GRE) have been officially scrapped. The sudden change is surprising to many, because in February the Educational Testing Service (ETS) promised that the new version would be up and running in September.
The proposed changes included making the test Internet-based, which caused problems with test site availability, especially in countries outside the United States. The GRE was also set to almost double in length, from 2 hours and 45 minutes to a stunning 4 hours and 20 minutes. The verbal and quantitative parts of the exam were to be expanded. The plans called to get rid of antonyms and analogies on the exam. The number and variety of reading comprehension passages was to rise. There was also going to be an increase in data interpretation and a decrease in geometry. None of these changes are happening.
Many students were rushing to take the test before the changes set in, sacrificing precious preparation time. Now, there's time to relax and get ready for the test. Students are largely taking advantage of this and pushing their test dates back. "I'm absolutely going to take more time to study," said Karuna Patil.
With ETS' lack of preparation for the new test and the difficulty in finding appropriate testing centers, many graduate schools were questioning how helpful the GRE would be in fairly evaluating applicants.
"Many graduate admission professionals were looking at alternate means of evaluation to be sure that all applicants were applying to our institutions with a level playing field," said Thomas P. Rock, director of admission at Teachers College of Columbia University. "By limiting access to the GRE examination, a segment of our population was cut off from this standard for admission at many institutions. Had ETS gone ahead with this launch, I think we would have seen more schools opting out of the GRE as a measure of evaluation."
Even test preparation agencies, which make their money from frazzled students worried about new tests, were glad to see the test change halted. "Finally, a test so bad that even ETS pulled the plug," said John Katzman, CEO for the Princeton Review.
But many students are now planning to enroll in test preparation classes who previously wouldn't have had the time since they were rushing to take the test before the deadline. "I read in a lot of books that two months, if you're really dedicating a steady stream of time every day, is the correct amount [of time] to study," said Patil. "That for me is perfectly in line."
However, most important for students is the reduction in stress. Many students worried that things like curves and what the scores meant for graduate schools would not be set properly by the time they took the exam. "No one has any idea, until the test has taken several iterations [how to interpret the scores]," said Patil. But with the change, students are calming down.
