The Graduate Record Examinations are changing to become more comprehensive, effective in 2008, including changing the computer-adaptive exams and adding on experimental questions.
The exams were computer-adaptive last year and will remain that way this year, where the computer picked the route the test-taker would take based on his or her answers to the questions, according to Duane Larick, senior associate dean of the graduate school and member of the council of the graduate schools.
In 2008, Larick said the exams will still be computer-based, but all users will be able to take the same route in answering questions and will be able to go back and review their answers.
“Since [the Educational Testing Service Advisory Committee] has changed to the computer-based test, one of the problems … or complaints was that if you have a question response that you want to come back to, you couldn’t go back to it,” he said.
Larick said the GREs only change drastically when the committee feels these changes are necessary.
“In the revised format, you would have the opportunity to go back whereas you wouldn’t have that before … the test will be virtually the same for grad students until 2008,” he said.
Alice Ballenger, a graduate student in international studies, said she thinks the educational testing service should have variations of the GREs similar to the ACT and SAT for undergrads.
“The format of the GRE should appeal to different types of learners … I thought that the [current] test, being on the computer was very difficult and could be revised,” she said.
According to Ballenger, the people who wrote the GRE should have addressed these concerns.
Ballenger suggested that a more effective means of examining graduate students on their knowledge base is to test students based upon more than the typical verbal, quantitative and written format.
She said different formats of the GREs should be taken into consideration
“Colleges take both SAT and ACT scores. Maybe they should change the entire format of the GRE and come up with an entirely new one just like the ACT [in regards to the SAT].”
Larick said the computer adaptive system is for the sake of the administration, and therefore, further measures are being made to make the test more comprehensive for students.
He also said there have been proposals to alter the point scale and better evaluate student performance on the GREs.
In November, the GREs will incorporate a few experimental test questions, complete and numeric entry questions, to eliminate guessing and better evaluate students on the materials.
Randy Wilson, a senior in computer engineering and potential GRE test taker, said as long as the educational testing service advisory committee has the intent of making the GREs more comprehensive for students, he supports changes being made to the GREs.
“It sounds like from the improvements that they’re helping to make it more like a paper test … so I think it’s helpful in comparison to past tests,” he said. “I feel it’s fair.”
