Although the new GRE has proved to be a more difficult test for aspiring graduate students, universities across the country — including this one — are now grappling with how to compare scores between the new and old test.
The revamped Graduate Record Examination — a test taken by aspiring graduate students — launched Aug. 1. In addition to a change in the question types — some questions now require test takers to choose multiple correct answers with no partial credit given — the scoring scale was altered and the length of the test increased from three to four hours.
But comparing the old GRE to the new one is not going to be an easy task for colleges and universities, according to officials. Kaplan Test Prep surveyed the top 50 graduate programs in psychology, engineering, business and public administration about the new examination and its results showed the majority — 83 percent — had no preference on whether applicants submitted the old or new GRE.
However, some said they are hesitant to accept the new test.
“Twelve percent of [surveyed graduate programs] said there’s actually an advantage to submitting scores from the old GRE, and that really shows that they’re not fully informed or really comfortable yet using new GRE scores,” said Lee Weiss, graduate studies director for Kaplan, noting only 5 percent claimed to prefer the new test to the old one.
Some graduate programs at this university said applicants who submitted scores from either the old or new GRE would not be at a disadvantage either way.
“I haven’t seen any scores from the new exam … but I don’t think we’d make a distinction between [the old and new GRE],” said Irwin Morris, director of government graduate studies. “We’re just going to have to see how things play out.”
And other graduate programs’ officials said it will take time for the university to acclimate itself to the new test.
“I don’t think if they took the old version they need to retake it,” said Melanie Prange, assistant director for graduate programs in electrical and computer engineering. “We’re more familiar with the old version, and we’ll just have to get familiar with the new version.”
Though the new GRE is expected to better gauge student aptitude, some admissions officials said it will be hard to determine right away.
“I think we’d need to see a few admission cycles before we can tell [how effective it is],” Prange said
The most difficult change students may have to consider, according to Weiss, is the exam time.
“What we’ve been hearing from the first batch of students that have taken the test is essentially one of the hardest things about it is that it’s a longer test,” Weiss said. “You really need to be able to build up that mental endurance to be able to take a four-hour test.”
And students who’ve taken the test said the timed sections — where test takers only have a certain amount of time to answer a number of questions — is exceptionally challenging.
“I would say the hardest part would be keeping pace,” said senior government and politics major Peter Bils, who took the new GRE last week. “You don’t want to have five questions to go and only 10 seconds left.”
Though this new exam is expected to be demanding for most students, some of the changes are welcomed.
“The old [test], you couldn’t stick around and go back to get to questions you skipped … whereas in the new one you can,” said senior psychology major Mallory Andrews, who is taking the exam Saturday. “It’s much better.”
For students hoping to take the GRE in the future, veteran test takers offered words of advice.
“Buy practice books and prepare the best you can,” Bils said.
Andrews, who took the old GRE and will soon take the new one, echoed similar views on thorough preparedness.
“Allocate enough time if possible, maybe even study with people … do a lot of practice and really keep focus,” she said.
marcot at umdbk dot com
