Educational Testing Services has canceled plans to revise the format of the Graduate Record Exam, the test required for admission to most graduate programs.
Plans were made for the GRE to undergo several changes beginning September 10, but accessibility issues surfaced.
Russell Schaffer, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions spokesperson, said about 500,000 students take the exam each year. He said ETS could not guarantee GRE access to all students because the revised exam would be offered about 35 dates each year. The GRE will be available almost every day of the year as it currently is.
The revised GRE planned to convert to a linear format, change its time distribution for the sections and take twice as long to complete. None of these changes will be implemented during the 2007-2008 fiscal year.
Kaplan is an educational services company that prepares students for a variety of exams including the GRE, the Law School Admission Test, the American College Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Kaplan advises students to begin preparing for the GRE three months before their scheduled exam. Schaffer said the cancellation will not have a large impact on students preparing for the GRE.
Schaffer said the cancellation is good news for students because accessibility is no longer an issue. He said the revised the exam was supposed to be lengthier, more expensive and more challenging.
Tom Ewing, ETS spokesman, said ETS, a nonprofit organization, invested about $12 million in research to create the revised test.
“It’s not lost money, just delayed,” he said.
Ewing said ETS plans to eventually revise the GRE.
“We will make improvements to the test in coming years, but it will be done very gradually, not all at once,” he said.
Schaffer said Kaplan will host a free GRE strategy seminar May 15 in CEBA to help students prepare for the exam.
—–Contact Angelle Barbazon [email protected]