College Reviews

The revised Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®) General Test will be offered for the first time worldwide in September. The first test dates will be September 10, 15 or 16 (depending upon location), and 29, 2007. With the new test, the GRE® Program will introduce a significantly revised and improved GRE General Test. The primary reasoning for the revisions to the test are to (1) address current and potential future security challenges associated with continuous testing, and (2) increase the validity of the test by reducing the possible effects of memorization in the Verbal and Analytical Writing sections of the test. Revisions to the test are also being made to provide faculty with better information on applicants' performance, and measure skills more directly related to graduate study. Revisions to the test include revisions to the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Critical Thinking and Analytical Writing measures; modifications to test structure and administration, and new Verbal and Quantitative score scales.

Value of the Revised General Test

The value of the revised General Test includes the following:

Improved security – An administration plan that directly addresses current and potential future security challenges over the long term
Improved predictive validity – The revised test reduces the possible effects of memorization.
Improved construct validity – The revised test measures skills more directly related to graduate study
The linear testing format of the revised test is more test taker friendly than the current computer adaptive General Test. The test format is more familiar to test takers, and it allows test takers to review, omit, go back and change an answer, etc., which means that test takers can better allocate their time according to their personal test-taking approach.

Test Content Revisions
The revised General Test will measure the same general skills that are measured on the current General Test: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing. However, each of the sections will be revised to better focus on skills that are necessary for success in graduate school.

The New Verbal Reasoning Section

It measures the ability to understand the meanings of words, sentences, and entire texts; understand relationships among words and among concepts select important points; distinguish major from minor or irrelevant points; summarize text; understand the structure of a text analyze and draw conclusions from discourse; reason from incomplete data; identify author’s/speaker’s assumptions and/or perspective; understand multiple levels of meaning (such as literal, figurative, text’s intent, etc.)
Emphasis on skills related to graduate work, such as complex reasoning
increased emphasis on inferential reasoning
increased emphasis on verbal reasoning in context
increased number of reading comprehension questions based on a greater variety of reading passages
reduced emphasis on vocabulary out of context (no Antonyms or Analogies)
Inclusion of new question formats other than traditional multiple choice (e.g., highlighting a sentence in a passage that serves the function described in the question)
Two 40-minute sections

The New Quantitative Reasoning Section

It measures the ability to:
Understand quantitative information
Interpret and analyze quantitative information
Solve problems in a quantitative setting
Apply basic mathematical skills and elementary mathematical concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics
Quantitative reasoning skills that are similar to skills generally used in graduate school
increased emphasis on questions involving real-life scenarios
increased emphasis on data interpretation
reduced emphasis on Geometry
On-screen four-function calculator with square root (reduced emphasis on computation)
Inclusion of new question formats other than multiple-choice (such as entering a numeric answer via a keyboard)
Two 40-minute sections

The New Critical Thinking and Analytical Writing Section

A new name to more accurately reflect the skills being measured
A performance-based measure that integrates the assessment of critical thinking and analytical writing
Measures the ability to
articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively
examine claims and accompanying evidence
support ideas with relevant reasons and examples
sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion
control the elements of standard written English
New, more focused prompts
Requires a more specific response from the test taker
Will reduce the possibility of reliance on memorized materials
The Issue and Argument tasks are each 30 minutes in length
Essay responses will be made available electronically to institutional score recipients

Test Administration Revisions
The revised Verbal and Quantitative sections are being revised from an adaptive test format, where the questions presented to each examinee vary according to his or her performance, to a linear test format, where all examinees testing at the same time receive the same questions.
The GRE General Test will be administered on computer on approximately 30 test dates worldwide. The number of administrations in any given region will be based on the test volume in that region.
To address possible security concerns, starting times for the test will be staggered across time zones.
An expanded Internet-based testing network with about 3,500 test sites will be available worldwide.

The New Verbal and Quantitative Score Scale
New Verbal and Quantitative score scales are being introduced for the following reasons:
Sound measurement practice and professional standards (developed by AERA, APA, and NCME) recommend a new score scale when significant revisions to test specifications are made.
The ways in which we are measuring the verbal and quantitative reasoning skills (i.e., question types) and the relative emphasis among the component skills in the revised Verbal and Quantitative sections are sufficiently different from those on the current test, so that it is appropriate to use a new scale for the revised test.
The mean of the new score scales will be 150 with an expected range will be 130 to 170, in 1-point increments. Final specification of the precise score scales will be determined based on data from the initial revised General Test administrations, before scores are reported.
This range was selected in order to maintain a 3-digit score scale for IT systems, avoid confusion between scores on the revised General Test and the current test, and avoid overlap of the new scale with the Subject Test scales.
The GRE Board and Program realize that new score scales present many challenges for score users accustomed to the 200 to 800 score scales. The decision to introduce new score scales was not made lightly.

The following information will be available to assist GRE score recipients:
Percentiles for Verbal and Quantitative scores will be reported on score reports and available on the GRE Web site beginning in early November 2007.
In mid-November 2007, a concordance table will be available on the GRE Web site to assist score users in determining the relationship between old and new Verbal and Quantitative scores. The concordance table will present information on Verbal and Quantitative scores on the old 200 to 800 score scale and the corresponding approximate equivalents on the new 130 to 170 score scale.
Shortly after the concordance table is available, approximate score equivalents on the new scale will be included on GRE score reports for Verbal and Quantitative scores earned prior to September 2007.
In early January 2008, broad major field score distributions will be available on the GRE Web site.
The new scales will allow us to address 2 situations that have developed over the life of the current test:
First, the score scales for the Verbal and Quantitative measures have slowly separated over time such that the means for these two scales for the total group of test takers are now quite different (mean Verbal = 470 and mean Quantitative = 593). These differences are even more pronounced when one considers International test takers only (mean Verbal = 439, mean Quantitative = 686).
Second, scores for the current Quantitative measure have tended to cluster at the top of the scale.
Advantages of the new score scales include:
The Verbal and Quantitative means will be aligned which will allow score users to see relative strengths for a particular candidate.
Score users will be less likely to interpret small score differences as meaningful differences between candidates.
The new scales will help facilitate more appropriate comparisons between candidates.
The new score scales are compatible with backend systems in most graduate schools.
The new score scales will not be easily confused with scores from the current General Test or the Subject Tests.
The score scale for the Analytical Writing section will continue to be 0 to 6, in half-point increments.
Scores will continue to be available for reporting for 5 years following the examinee’s test administration.

General Tips:

1. Carefully read all the directions and questions. If you do not read the questions and directions carefully you will end up rereading and wasting the time.

2. Answer each question carefully. First use the scracth paper to answer the questions before committing to the final answer unless you are absolutely sure about it. If you correctly answer the initial questions you may get higher scores. Do not skip any questions and make a quality guess by eliminating some of the choices. Do not spend too much time on a single question.

3. Practice Practice Practice. This is the key to taking any test successfully. You should take several mock up tests at home before attempting it a real test. Test taking is an art and more you practice better you will master it.


Verbal Section:

1. For the sentence completion part, try to complete the sentence with words that make sense to you and then view the possible answers. The evaluate each and every answer and see if you sentence makes sense and select one of the answers accordingly. Remember, haste is waste. Take you time.

2. For analogies, eleminate all answer pairs that are clearly wrong. Then create a sentence in your mind that uses the two capitalized words. Watch for the possibly correct answers that appear in the reverse order. Do not jump at the obvious answer as it can mislead you.

3. For antonyms, use word parts to figure out the meaning of unknown words. Look for the clues by thinking of similarly constructed words. Evaluate all options before answering the question.

4. For the reading comprehension, you should select your answers to the questions solely on what is stated or implied in the passages. Starting and ending sentences of the paragraph can be critical to the entire question. Read the entire passage carefully but do not waste time on memorizing details. Search for the answers in the paragraph as you go through the questions.


Math Section:

1. For the multiple chocie section, carefully read the question and then select the answer. You should have a good understanding of the critical definitions, formulas, and concepts that appear in common questions. Do not spend too much time one detailed cacluations. Look for a shortcut if the question seems to be time consuming.

2. For the quantitative comparisons, questions are usually simpler and should take less time than the standard multiple choice. Always take into the account the factions, zeroes, negitave and non-integer numbers. Don't get carreid away because you are simply trying to make the relative comparisons.

Analytic Section:

1. Read the entire question first and then read the entire arguement. You should pay attention to crtical keywords For example, always, never, almost etc. Consider eliminating the answers which go beyond the scope of the question itself.