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The Daily Tar Heel

Changes ahead for the GRE

Structure and content to switch in ‘11

Correction (Jan. 21 12:59 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misquoted Mark McNutt, spokesman for the Educational Testing Service. McNutt actually said, “This is the largest revision of the test ever. It was time to do it.” The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

College seniors typically dread the tightly structured Graduate Record Examinations, but forthcoming changes to the test could ease their fears.

The Educational Testing Service is hoping to make the exam friendlier and more flexible for students by implementing changes to the structure and content of the exam that will go into effect in fall 2011.

“This is the largest rendition of the test ever. It was time to do it,” said Mark McNutt, spokesman for the Educational Testing Service.

GRE changes

The Educational Testing Service will be making these changes to the Graduate Record Exam in hopes of making a more flexible exam for students:

New question types to the verbal and quantitative sections

The ability to move freely throughout the exam and mark questions to go back to

A new scoring scale

“We wanted to take the GRE, which is an excellent measure of what students need to excel in grad school, and make it better.”

The goal of these changes is to make the testing process easier for students, not to impact the way admissions representatives view graduate school candidates, McNutt added.

The computer-based Graduate Record Examinations will change to allow students to move freely through the exam by skipping ahead or returning to questions. Students will also have the ability to mark the questions they wish to return to.

There will also be a new scoring scale, and electronic calculators will be provided for the math section.

Changes to the content of the GRE include new question types and formats to the verbal and quantitative sections, including the removal of questions with analogies.

For example, there will be text completion questions that will require students to fill in a series of blanks within a short paragraph.

Some questions will also require numeric entry, asking students to type their answers into a box instead of choosing an answer from multiple-choice options.

The Educational Testing Service took suggestions from a jury board composed of independent university graduate admissions deans when determining what the exam should include.

“The response from the graduate community has been overwhelmingly favorable,” McNutt said.

McNutt said the changes should not impact the way students prepare for the exam.

“I would imagine the basic preparation would not be different at all compared to the current GRE,” he said.

“They are both very important exams, and you need a lot of preparation. We would continue to encourage juniors and seniors to take the current and the 2011 test as well.”

Students are also taking note of the changes being made. Senior Sarah Yancey took the exam in the fall and said she thinks the changes will have a significant impact for test-takers.

“It completely changes it, especially the part where you can skip ahead,” she said.

“You have to be really good at spacing out your time for the test.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.

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