The Educational Testing Service (ETS) plan to launch a new version of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in August or September 2011. A new version of the test was due in 2007, but shortly before it was planned to launch ETS was forced to abandon this plan. They have now confirmed that they are 100 percent confident that this new test will be offered in 2011.
The new test aims to be beneficial for both the test taker and schools, with improved content, scoring and structure. Here are some of the key differences for the new test:
- The length of the test will increase from 3 hours to 3 hours, 45 minutes.
- The scoring system for the verbal and quantitative sections will change to be on a scale of 130 – 170 with score increments of 1 point, as appose to a scale of 200-800 with score increments of 10 points. ETS believes this new system will ensure schools see that someone with a score a few points higher than another applicant does not necessarily mean they have a significantly different ability.
- Those who take the test on a computer will be able to move around among questions, currently you have to give a final answer on each question before moving on to the next.
- Content changes:
- The section of antonyms and analogies in the verbal section will be removed and replaced by more reading comprehension questions.
- The geometry section in the quantitative section will be shortened and additional data analysis questions will be included.
- A calculator will be provided to allow mathematics questions to test comprehension of concepts rather than speed of basic calculations.
The changes in the content aim to make the GRE more appealing to business schools by including more questions relevant to the content of an MBA program.
ETS are trying to appeal to the business school market and compete with the GMAT by creating a test that is beneficial to schools and applicants. David Payne (a vice president and chief operating officer for ETS) stated they aim to make the test “much friendlier” and “the very best” option for graduate program admissions.
For more information on the GRE please visit the ETS website
Click here to read the ‘Inside Higher Ed’ article about the New GRE test.