Graduate Record Examination
Encyclopedia
The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test
that is an admissions requirement for many graduate school
s in the United States
, in other English-speaking countries and for English-taught graduate and business programs world-wide. Created and administered by Educational Testing Service
(ETS) in 1949, the exam aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based, computer adaptive exam administered by selected qualified testing centers; however, paper-based exams are offered in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available.
In the graduate school admissions process, the level of emphasis that is placed upon GRE scores varies widely between schools and between departments within schools. The importance of a GRE score can range from being a mere admission formality to an important selection factor.
Critics of the GRE have argued that the exam format is so rigid that it effectively tests only how well a student can conform to a standardized test taking procedure. ETS responded by announcing plans in 2006 to radically redesign the test structure starting in the fall of 2007; however, the company later announced, "Plans for launching an entirely new test all at once were dropped, and ETS decided to introduce new question types and improvements gradually over time." The new questions have been gradually introduced since November 2007.
The GRE has been revised as of August 2011.
The cost to take the test varies between US$130 and $210, depending on the country in which it is taken, although ETS will reduce the fee under certain circumstances. They are promoting financial aid to those GRE applicants who prove economic hardship. ETS erases all test records that are older than 5 years, although graduate program policies on the admittance of scores older than 5 years will vary.
skills, another will test quantitative
skills and a third exam will be an experimental section that is not included in the reported score. The entire test procedure takes about 4 hours.
section consists of text completions, sentence equivalence and reading comprehension
passages. Multiple-choice response sections are graded on a scale of 130 - 170, in 1-point increments (Before August 2011 this was on a scale of 200 – 800, in 10-point increments). This section primarily tests vocabulary, and average scores in this section are substantially lower than those in the quantitative section. In a typical examination, this section may consist of 20 questions, and 30 minutes may be allotted for it.
section, the other multiple-choice section, consists of problem solving and quantitative comparison questions that test high-school level mathematics. Multiple-choice response sections are graded on a scale of 130–170, in 1-point increments (Before August 2011 this was on a scale of 200 – 800, in 10-point increments). In a typical examination, this section may consist of 28 questions, and test takers may be given 45 minutes to complete the section. This section typically includes 14 quantitative comparison questions, 10 discrete quantitative questions (multiple-choice) and 4 data interpretation questions.
While questions within each section are not adaptive, performance on the first Verbal and Quantitative section influences the difficulty in the second section of the same topic. This approach to administration yields scores that are of similar accuracy while using approximately half as many items. However, this effect is moderated with the GRE because it has a fixed length; true CATs are variable length, where the test will stop itself once it has zeroed in on a candidate's ability level.
The actual scoring of the test is done with item response theory
(IRT). While CAT is associated with IRT, IRT is actually used to score non-CAT exams. The GRE subject tests, which are administered in the traditional paper-and-pencil format, use the same IRT scoring algorithm. The difference that CAT provides is that items are dynamically selected so that the test taker only sees items of appropriate difficulty. Besides the psychometric benefits, this has the added benefit of not wasting the examinee's time by administering items that are far too hard or easy, which occurs in fixed-form testing.
An examinee can miss one or more questions on a multiple-choice section and still receive a perfect score of 170. Likewise, even if no question is answered correctly, 130 is the lowest possible score.
! Scaled score !! Verbal Reasoning % !! Quantitative Reasoning %>
170
99
99
169
99
98
168
98
96
167
98
95
166
97
94
165
96
93
164
94
91
163
93
88
162
90
87
161
89
86
160
86
84
159
84
82
158
79
79
157
77
77
156
72
74
155
69
69
154
64
67
153
62
65
152
56
61
151
51
56
150
48
53
149
42
49
148
40
44
147
36
40
146
31
36
145
28
32
144
26
26
143
21
22
142
18
19
141
16
16
140
13
12
139
10
10
138
8
7
137
6
6
136
5
4
135
4
3
134
3
2
133
2
1
132
1
1
131
1
1
130
1
1
! Analytical Writing score !! Writing % Below>
6
99
5.5
96
5
87
4.5
72
4
48
3.5
29
3
11
2.5
4
2
1
1.5
1
1
1
0.5
1
The percentiles for the former test are as follows:
! Scaled score !! Verbal Reasoning % !! Quantitative Reasoning %>
800
99
94
780
99
89
760
99
84
740
99
80
720
98
75
700
97
70
680
96
66
660
94
61
640
92
57
620
89
52
600
86
47
580
85
43
560
77
38
540
72
34
520
67
30
500
62
27
480
57
23
460
52
20
440
46
17
420
40
15
400
35
12
380
29
10
360
24
8
340
19
7
320
13
5
300
8
4
280
5
3
260
2
2
240
1
1
220
0
1
200
0
0
mean
456
590
standard deviation
120
150
! Analytical Writing score !! Writing % Below>
6
99
5.5
94
5
84
4.5
67
4
45
3.5
26
3
10
2.5
4
2
1
1.5
0
1
0
0.5
0
mean
3.8
standard deviation
0.9
Comparisons for "Intended Graduate Major" are "limited to those who earned their college degrees up to two years prior to the test date." ETS provides no score data for "non-traditional" students who have been out of school more than two years, although its own report "RR-99-16" indicated that 22% of all test takers in 1996 were over the age of 30.
Unlike other standardized admissions tests (such as the SAT
, LSAT
, and MCAT), the use and weight of GRE scores vary considerably not only from school to school, but from department to department, and from program to program also. Programs in liberal arts topics may only consider the applicant's verbal score to be of interest, while mathematics and science programs may only consider quantitative ability; however, since most applicants to mathematics, science, or engineering graduate programs all have high quantitative scores, the verbal score can become a deciding factor even in these programs. Admission to graduate schools depends on a complex mix of several different factors. Schools see letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, GPA, GRE score etc. Some schools use the GRE in admissions decisions, but not in funding decisions; others use the GRE for the selection of scholarship and fellowship candidates, but not for admissions. In some cases, the GRE may be a general requirement for graduate admissions imposed by the university, while particular departments may not consider the scores at all. Graduate schools will typically provide information about how the GRE is considered in admissions and funding decisions, and the average scores of previously admitted students. The best way to find out how a particular school or program evaluates a GRE score in the admissions process is to contact the person in charge of graduate admissions for the specific program in question (and not the graduate school in general).
Programs that involve significant expository writing require the submission of a prepared writing sample that is considered more useful in determining writing ability than the analytical writing section; however, the writing scores of foreign students are sometimes given more scrutiny and are used as an indicator of overall comfort with and mastery of conversational English.
; Biology; Chemistry; Computer Science; Literature in English
; Mathematics
; Physics
; and Psychology
. The length of each exam is 170 minutes.
In the past, subject tests were also offered in the areas of Economics, Revised Education, Engineering, Geology, History, Music, Political Science, and Sociology. In April 1998, the Revised Education and Political Science exams were discontinued. In April 2000, the History and Sociology exams were discontinued, and the other four were discontinued in April 2001.
Business schools commonly use the test as one of many selection criteria for admission into an MBA program. However, there are many business schools that also accept GRE scores.
The following are criteria of certain business schools:
In comparison with GMAT's emphasis on logic, GRE measures the test-takers' ability more in vocabulary. This difference is reflected in the structure of each test. Despite the Analytical Writing section in common, GRE has analogies, antonyms, sentence completions, and reading comprehension passages in Verbal section, while GMAT has sentence correction, critical reasoning and reading comprehension.
Also, higher mathematical ability is required on the GMAT to get a good score.
The GRE is more appealing to international MBA students and applicants from a non-traditional background.
ETS has claimed that content of the GRE is un-coachable; however, test preparation companies such as Kaplan
and Princeton Review claim that the test format is so rigid that familiarizing oneself with the test's organization, timing, specific foci, and the use of process of elimination
is the best way to increase a GRE score.
Critics have also stated that the computer-adaptive method of placing more weight on the first several questions is biased against test takers who typically perform poorly at the beginning of a test due to stress or confusion before becoming more comfortable as the exam continues. On the other hand, standard fixed-form tests could equally be said to be "biased" against students with less testing stamina since they would need to be approximately twice the length of an equivalent computer adaptive test to obtain a similar level of precision.
The GRE has also been subjected to the same racial bias criticisms that have been lodged against other admissions tests. In 1998, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education noted that the mean score for black test-takers in 1996 was 389 on the verbal section, 409 on the quantitative section, and 423 on the analytic, while white test-takers averaged 496, 538, and 564, respectively. The National Association of Test Directors Symposia in 2004 stated a belief that simple mean score differences may not constitute evidence of bias unless the populations are known to be equal in ability. A more effective, accepted, and empirical approach is the analysis of differential test functioning, which examines the differences in item response theory
curves for subgroups; the best approach for this is the DFIT framework.
(now of Oklahoma State University–Stillwater
; working at Yale University
at the time of the study), a long-time critic of modern intelligence testing in general, found the GRE general test was weakly predictive of success in graduate studies in psychology. The strongest relationship was found for the now-defunct analytical portion of the exam.
The ETS published a report ("What is the Value of the GRE?") that points out the predictive value of the GRE on a student's index of success at the graduate level. The problem with earlier studies is the statistical phenomena of restriction of range. A correlation
coefficient is sensitive to the range sampled for the test. Specifically, if only students accepted to graduate programs are studied (in Sternberg & Williams and other research), the relationship is occluded. Validity coefficients range from .30 to .45 between the GRE and both first year and overall graduate GPA in ETS' study.
In December 1994, prompted by student reports of recycled questions, then Director of GRE Programs for Kaplan, Inc and current CEO of Knewton
, Jose Ferreira
led a team of 22 staff members deployed to 9 U.S. cities to take the exam. Kaplan, Inc then presented ETS with 150 questions, representing 70-80% of the GRE. According to early news releases, ETS appeared grateful to Stanley H. Kaplan, Inc for identifying the security problem. However, on December 31, ETS sued Kaplan, Inc for violation of a federal electronic communications privacy act, copyright laws, breach of contract, fraud, and a confidentiality agreement signed by test-takers on test day. On January 2, 1995, an agreement was reached out of court.
Additionally, in 1994, the scoring algorithm for the computer-adaptive form of the GRE was discovered to be insecure. ETS acknowledged that Kaplan, Inc employees, led by Jose Ferreira, reverse-engineered key features of the GRE scoring algorithms. The researchers found that a test taker’s performance on the first few questions of the exam had a disproportionate effect on the test taker’s final score. To preserve the integrity of scores, ETS revised its scoring and uses a more sophisticated scoring algorithm.
On April 2, 2007, ETS announced the decision to cancel plans for revising the GRE. The announcement cited concerns over the ability to provide clear and equal access to the new test after the planned changes as an explanation for the cancellation. The ETS stated, however, that they do plan "to implement many of the planned test content improvements in the future", although specific details regarding those changes have not yet been announced.
Changes to the GRE took effect on November 1, 2007, as ETS started to include new types of questions in the exam. The changes mostly center on "fill in the blank" type answers for both the mathematics and vocabulary sections that require the test-taker to fill in the blank directly, without being able to choose from a multiple choice list of answers. ETS currently plans to introduce two of these new types of questions in each quantitative or vocabulary section, while the majority of questions will be presented in the regular format.
Since January 2008, the Reading Comprehension within the verbal sections has been reformatted, passages' "line numbers will be replaced with highlighting when necessary in order to focus the test taker on specific information in the passage" to "help students more easily find the pertinent information in reading passages."
In December 2009, ETS announced plans to move forward with significant revisions to the GRE in 2011. Changes include a new 130-170 scoring scale, the elimination of certain question types such as antonyms and analogies, the addition of an online calculator, and the elimination of the CAT format of question-by-question adjustment, in favor of a section by section adjustment. The Revised GRE General test replaced General GRE test on August 1, 2011. The revised GRE is said to be better by design and gives better test taking experience. The new types of questions in the revised pattern are supposed to test the skills needed in graduate and business schools programs
Standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...
that is an admissions requirement for many graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in other English-speaking countries and for English-taught graduate and business programs world-wide. Created and administered by Educational Testing Service
Educational Testing Service
Educational Testing Service , founded in 1947, is the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization...
(ETS) in 1949, the exam aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. The GRE General Test is offered as a computer-based, computer adaptive exam administered by selected qualified testing centers; however, paper-based exams are offered in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available.
In the graduate school admissions process, the level of emphasis that is placed upon GRE scores varies widely between schools and between departments within schools. The importance of a GRE score can range from being a mere admission formality to an important selection factor.
Critics of the GRE have argued that the exam format is so rigid that it effectively tests only how well a student can conform to a standardized test taking procedure. ETS responded by announcing plans in 2006 to radically redesign the test structure starting in the fall of 2007; however, the company later announced, "Plans for launching an entirely new test all at once were dropped, and ETS decided to introduce new question types and improvements gradually over time." The new questions have been gradually introduced since November 2007.
The GRE has been revised as of August 2011.
The cost to take the test varies between US$130 and $210, depending on the country in which it is taken, although ETS will reduce the fee under certain circumstances. They are promoting financial aid to those GRE applicants who prove economic hardship. ETS erases all test records that are older than 5 years, although graduate program policies on the admittance of scores older than 5 years will vary.
Structure
The exam consists of four sections. The first section is a writing section, while the other three are multiple-choice style. One of the multiple choice style exams will test verbalEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
skills, another will test quantitative
Quantitative property
A quantitative property is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measured with a number. Measurements of any particular quantitative property are expressed as a specific quantity, referred to as a unit, multiplied by a number. Examples of physical quantities are distance,...
skills and a third exam will be an experimental section that is not included in the reported score. The entire test procedure takes about 4 hours.
Verbal section
The verbalEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
section consists of text completions, sentence equivalence and reading comprehension
Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text. ....
passages. Multiple-choice response sections are graded on a scale of 130 - 170, in 1-point increments (Before August 2011 this was on a scale of 200 – 800, in 10-point increments). This section primarily tests vocabulary, and average scores in this section are substantially lower than those in the quantitative section. In a typical examination, this section may consist of 20 questions, and 30 minutes may be allotted for it.
Quantitative section
The quantitativeMathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
section, the other multiple-choice section, consists of problem solving and quantitative comparison questions that test high-school level mathematics. Multiple-choice response sections are graded on a scale of 130–170, in 1-point increments (Before August 2011 this was on a scale of 200 – 800, in 10-point increments). In a typical examination, this section may consist of 28 questions, and test takers may be given 45 minutes to complete the section. This section typically includes 14 quantitative comparison questions, 10 discrete quantitative questions (multiple-choice) and 4 data interpretation questions.
Analytical writing section
The analytical writing section consists of two different essays, an "issue task" and an "argument task". The writing section is graded on a scale of 0-6, in half-point increments. The essays are written on a computer using a word processing program specifically designed by ETS. The program allows only basic computer functions and does not contain a spell-checker or other advanced features. Each essay is scored by at least two readers on a six-point holistic scale. If the two scores are within one point, the average of the scores is taken. If the two scores differ by more than a point, a third reader examines the response.Issue task
The test taker is given a topic upon which to write an essay. The time allowed for this essay is 30 minutes if taken after August 1 2011. Issue topics are selected from a pool of questions.Argument task
The test taker will be given an "argument" and will be asked to write an essay that critiques the argument. Test takers are asked to consider the argument's logic and to make suggestions about how to improve the logic of the argument. Test takers are expected to address the logical flaws of the argument, not to provide a personal opinion on the subject. The time allotted for this essay is 30 minutes. Arguments are selected from a pool of topics.Experimental section
The experimental section, which can be either a verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing task, contains new questions that ETS is considering for future use. Although the experimental section does not count toward the test-taker's score, it is unidentified and appears identical to the real (scored) part of the test. As test takers have no clear way of knowing which section is experimental, they are forced to complete this section. This section does not appear on all GRE examinations. Furthermore, an identified and unscored section of such experimental questions, asked for research purposes, can appear at the end of the test.Computerized adaptive testing
The common (Verbal and Quantitative) multiple-choice portions of the exam currently uses a section-based computer-adaptive testing (CAT) format that automatically changes the difficulty of the sections as the test taker proceeds with the exam, depending on the number of correct or incorrect answers that are given. Currently, the GRE revised General Test allows the test-taker to move forth and back, and change answers within a section, and thus the questions in a given section are not adaptive.While questions within each section are not adaptive, performance on the first Verbal and Quantitative section influences the difficulty in the second section of the same topic. This approach to administration yields scores that are of similar accuracy while using approximately half as many items. However, this effect is moderated with the GRE because it has a fixed length; true CATs are variable length, where the test will stop itself once it has zeroed in on a candidate's ability level.
The actual scoring of the test is done with item response theory
Item response theory
In psychometrics, item response theory also known as latent trait theory, strong true score theory, or modern mental test theory, is a paradigm for the design, analysis, and scoring of tests, questionnaires, and similar instruments measuring abilities, attitudes, or other variables. It is based...
(IRT). While CAT is associated with IRT, IRT is actually used to score non-CAT exams. The GRE subject tests, which are administered in the traditional paper-and-pencil format, use the same IRT scoring algorithm. The difference that CAT provides is that items are dynamically selected so that the test taker only sees items of appropriate difficulty. Besides the psychometric benefits, this has the added benefit of not wasting the examinee's time by administering items that are far too hard or easy, which occurs in fixed-form testing.
An examinee can miss one or more questions on a multiple-choice section and still receive a perfect score of 170. Likewise, even if no question is answered correctly, 130 is the lowest possible score.
Scaled score percentiles
The percentiles for the current revised General test are as follows. Means and standard deviations for the measures on the new score scale are not yet available:The percentiles for the former test are as follows:
Comparisons for "Intended Graduate Major" are "limited to those who earned their college degrees up to two years prior to the test date." ETS provides no score data for "non-traditional" students who have been out of school more than two years, although its own report "RR-99-16" indicated that 22% of all test takers in 1996 were over the age of 30.
Use in admissions
Many graduate schools in English-speaking countries (especially in the United States) require GRE results as part of the admissions process. The GRE is a standardized test intended to measure the abilities of all graduates in tasks of general academic nature, regardless of their fields of specialization. The GRE is supposed to measure the extent to which undergraduate education has developed an individual's verbal and quantitative skills in abstract thinking.Unlike other standardized admissions tests (such as the SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
, LSAT
Law School Admission Test
The Law School Admission Test is a half-day standardized test administered four times each year at designated testing centers throughout the world. Administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates, the LSAT is designed to assess Reading Comprehension,...
, and MCAT), the use and weight of GRE scores vary considerably not only from school to school, but from department to department, and from program to program also. Programs in liberal arts topics may only consider the applicant's verbal score to be of interest, while mathematics and science programs may only consider quantitative ability; however, since most applicants to mathematics, science, or engineering graduate programs all have high quantitative scores, the verbal score can become a deciding factor even in these programs. Admission to graduate schools depends on a complex mix of several different factors. Schools see letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, GPA, GRE score etc. Some schools use the GRE in admissions decisions, but not in funding decisions; others use the GRE for the selection of scholarship and fellowship candidates, but not for admissions. In some cases, the GRE may be a general requirement for graduate admissions imposed by the university, while particular departments may not consider the scores at all. Graduate schools will typically provide information about how the GRE is considered in admissions and funding decisions, and the average scores of previously admitted students. The best way to find out how a particular school or program evaluates a GRE score in the admissions process is to contact the person in charge of graduate admissions for the specific program in question (and not the graduate school in general).
Programs that involve significant expository writing require the submission of a prepared writing sample that is considered more useful in determining writing ability than the analytical writing section; however, the writing scores of foreign students are sometimes given more scrutiny and are used as an indicator of overall comfort with and mastery of conversational English.
GRE Subject Tests
In addition to the General Test, there are also eight GRE Subject Tests testing knowledge in the specific areas of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular BiologyGRE Biochemistry Test
GRE Subject Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology is a standardized exam provided by ETS . It is a paper-based exam and there are no computer-based versions of it. ETS places this exam three times per year: once in April, once in October and once in November...
; Biology; Chemistry; Computer Science; Literature in English
GRE Literature in English Test
The GRE Literature in English Test is a standardized test administered by the Educational Testing Service. It is intended to evaluate applicants seeking admission to a graduate program in English Studies...
; Mathematics
GRE Mathematics Test
The GRE subject test in mathematics is a standardized test created by the Educational Testing Service, and is designed to assess a candidate's potential for graduate or post-graduate study in the field of mathematics. It contains questions from many fields of mathematics...
; Physics
GRE Physics Test
The GRE physics test is an examination administered by the Educational Testing Service . The test attempts to determine the extent of the examinees' understanding of fundamental principles of physics and their ability to apply them to problem solving. Many graduate schools require applicants to...
; and Psychology
GRE Psychology Test
GRE Psychology subject test is a standardized test used in admission decisions by some graduate programs in psychology in several English-speaking countries, especially in the U.S.-Structure:...
. The length of each exam is 170 minutes.
In the past, subject tests were also offered in the areas of Economics, Revised Education, Engineering, Geology, History, Music, Political Science, and Sociology. In April 1998, the Revised Education and Political Science exams were discontinued. In April 2000, the History and Sociology exams were discontinued, and the other four were discontinued in April 2001.
GRE and GMAT
The GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is a computer adaptive standardized test in mathematics and the English language for measuring aptitude to succeed academically in graduate business studies.Business schools commonly use the test as one of many selection criteria for admission into an MBA program. However, there are many business schools that also accept GRE scores.
The following are criteria of certain business schools:
- Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
: Official test scores for the GMAT or GRE tests no more than 5 years old. - UVA-DardenDarden Graduate School of Business AdministrationThe University of Virginia Darden School of Business is the graduate business school associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs...
: Will also accept a GRE score in place of the GMAT. - MIT-SloanMIT Sloan School of ManagementThe MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
:The GMAT or GRE is required of all applicants and must be taken before submitting your application. - Penn-WhartonWharton School of the University of PennsylvaniaThe Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
: Official test scores for the GMAT or GRE tests. - Stanford GSBStanford Graduate School of BusinessThe Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
: The GMAT is required for admission. We will accept the GRE—including the GRE revised General Test—as an alternative - NYU-SternNew York University Stern School of BusinessThe Leonard N. Stern School of Business is New York University's business school. It was established in 1900 as the NYU School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance. In 1988 it was named after Leonard N. Stern, an alumnus and benefactor of the school...
: The GMAT is strongly preferred, but scores from the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) will also be accepted. - Chicago-Booth: For Economics - the GRE is required. For Finance - the GRE is preferred; GMAT is acceptable. For all other areas - the GRE or the GMAT are accepted.
- Ohio State-FisherMax M. Fisher College of BusinessFisher College’s MBA curriculum allows students to customize their focus. After learning the core functions of business, students can select from over 100 elective courses to refine their knowledge.Students may concentrate in:...
- The GMAT is required however scores from the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) are eligible for review. - Berkeley-HaasHaas School of BusinessThe Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as the Haas School of Business or simply Haas, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley....
: Without exception, all applicants to the Haas Ph.D. Program must submit official scores of either the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). - Columbia Business SchoolColumbia Business SchoolColumbia Business School is the business school of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students...
: Accepts GRE test scores in place of the GMAT, only if applicant has not taken the GMAT within the last 5 years. - Johns Hopkins-CareyCarey Business SchoolThe Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, also referred to as Carey Business School or JHCBS, is one of the academic schools of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland...
: Accepts either GRE or GMAT scores.
In comparison with GMAT's emphasis on logic, GRE measures the test-takers' ability more in vocabulary. This difference is reflected in the structure of each test. Despite the Analytical Writing section in common, GRE has analogies, antonyms, sentence completions, and reading comprehension passages in Verbal section, while GMAT has sentence correction, critical reasoning and reading comprehension.
Also, higher mathematical ability is required on the GMAT to get a good score.
The GRE is more appealing to international MBA students and applicants from a non-traditional background.
Preparation
A variety of resources are available for those wishing to prepare for the GRE. Upon registration, ETS provides preparation software called PowerPrep, which contains two practice tests of retired questions, as well as further practice questions and review material. Since the software replicates both the test format and the questions used, it can be useful to predict the actual GRE scores. ETS does not license their past questions to any other company, making them the only source for official retired material. ETS used to publish the "BIG BOOK" which contained a number of actual GRE questions; however, this publishing was abandoned. Several companies provide courses, books, and other unofficial preparation materials.ETS has claimed that content of the GRE is un-coachable; however, test preparation companies such as Kaplan
Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc. is a for-profit corporation headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. Kaplan provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and other services for various levels of education...
and Princeton Review claim that the test format is so rigid that familiarizing oneself with the test's organization, timing, specific foci, and the use of process of elimination
Process of elimination
Process of elimination is a method to identify an entity of interest among several ones by excluding all other entities.-In education testing:...
is the best way to increase a GRE score.
Testing locations
While the general and subject tests are held at many undergraduate institutions, the computer-based general test is only held at test centers with appropriate technological accommodations. Students in major cities in the United States, or those attending large U.S. universities, will usually find a nearby test center, while those in more isolated areas may have to travel a few hours to an urban or university location. Many industrialized countries also have test centers, but at times test-takers must cross country borders.Validity
An analysis of the GRE's validity in predicting graduate school success found a correlation of .30 to .45 between the GRE and both first year and overall graduate GPA. The correlation between GRE score and graduate school completion rates ranged from .11 (for the now defunct analytical section) to .39 (for the GRE subject test). Correlations with faculty ratings ranged from .35 to .50.Bias
Critics have claimed that the computer-adaptive methodology may discourage some test takers, because the question difficulty changes with performance. For example, if the test-taker is presented with remarkably easy questions half way into the exam, they may infer that they are not performing well, which will influence their abilities as the exam continues, even though question difficulty is subjective. By contrast standard testing methods may discourage students by giving them more difficult items earlier on.Critics have also stated that the computer-adaptive method of placing more weight on the first several questions is biased against test takers who typically perform poorly at the beginning of a test due to stress or confusion before becoming more comfortable as the exam continues. On the other hand, standard fixed-form tests could equally be said to be "biased" against students with less testing stamina since they would need to be approximately twice the length of an equivalent computer adaptive test to obtain a similar level of precision.
The GRE has also been subjected to the same racial bias criticisms that have been lodged against other admissions tests. In 1998, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education noted that the mean score for black test-takers in 1996 was 389 on the verbal section, 409 on the quantitative section, and 423 on the analytic, while white test-takers averaged 496, 538, and 564, respectively. The National Association of Test Directors Symposia in 2004 stated a belief that simple mean score differences may not constitute evidence of bias unless the populations are known to be equal in ability. A more effective, accepted, and empirical approach is the analysis of differential test functioning, which examines the differences in item response theory
Item response theory
In psychometrics, item response theory also known as latent trait theory, strong true score theory, or modern mental test theory, is a paradigm for the design, analysis, and scoring of tests, questionnaires, and similar instruments measuring abilities, attitudes, or other variables. It is based...
curves for subgroups; the best approach for this is the DFIT framework.
Weak predictor of graduate school performance
The GREs are criticized for not being a true measure of whether a student will be successful in graduate school. Robert SternbergRobert Sternberg
Robert Jeffrey Sternberg , is an American psychologist and psychometrician and Provost at Oklahoma State University. He was formerly the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University and the President of the American Psychological...
(now of Oklahoma State University–Stillwater
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater is a land-grant, sun-grant, coeducational public research university located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. OSU was founded in 1890 under the Morrill Act...
; working at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
at the time of the study), a long-time critic of modern intelligence testing in general, found the GRE general test was weakly predictive of success in graduate studies in psychology. The strongest relationship was found for the now-defunct analytical portion of the exam.
The ETS published a report ("What is the Value of the GRE?") that points out the predictive value of the GRE on a student's index of success at the graduate level. The problem with earlier studies is the statistical phenomena of restriction of range. A correlation
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
coefficient is sensitive to the range sampled for the test. Specifically, if only students accepted to graduate programs are studied (in Sternberg & Williams and other research), the relationship is occluded. Validity coefficients range from .30 to .45 between the GRE and both first year and overall graduate GPA in ETS' study.
Historical susceptibility to cheating
In May 1994, Kaplan, Inc warned ETS, in hearings before a New York legislative committee, that the small question pool available to the computer-adaptive test made it vulnerable to cheating. ETS assured investigators that it was using multiple sets of questions and that the test was secure. This was later discovered to be incorrect.In December 1994, prompted by student reports of recycled questions, then Director of GRE Programs for Kaplan, Inc and current CEO of Knewton
Knewton
Knewton is an adaptive learning company that has developed a platform to personalize educational content. The Knewton platform allows schools, publishers, and developers to provide adaptive learning for any student. Knewton recently announced a partnership with Pearson Education to power the...
, Jose Ferreira
Jose Ferreira
Jose Ferreira is an American entrepreneur and Founder and CEO of Knewton.-Education:Ferreira graduated from Carleton College in 1991 and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997.-Professional career:...
led a team of 22 staff members deployed to 9 U.S. cities to take the exam. Kaplan, Inc then presented ETS with 150 questions, representing 70-80% of the GRE. According to early news releases, ETS appeared grateful to Stanley H. Kaplan, Inc for identifying the security problem. However, on December 31, ETS sued Kaplan, Inc for violation of a federal electronic communications privacy act, copyright laws, breach of contract, fraud, and a confidentiality agreement signed by test-takers on test day. On January 2, 1995, an agreement was reached out of court.
Additionally, in 1994, the scoring algorithm for the computer-adaptive form of the GRE was discovered to be insecure. ETS acknowledged that Kaplan, Inc employees, led by Jose Ferreira, reverse-engineered key features of the GRE scoring algorithms. The researchers found that a test taker’s performance on the first few questions of the exam had a disproportionate effect on the test taker’s final score. To preserve the integrity of scores, ETS revised its scoring and uses a more sophisticated scoring algorithm.
2011 Revision of the GRE
In 2006, ETS announced plans to enact significant changes in the format of the GRE. Planned changes for the revised GRE included a longer testing time, a departure from computer-adaptive testing, a new grading scale, and an enhanced focus on reasoning skills and critical thinking for both the quantitative and qualitative sections.On April 2, 2007, ETS announced the decision to cancel plans for revising the GRE. The announcement cited concerns over the ability to provide clear and equal access to the new test after the planned changes as an explanation for the cancellation. The ETS stated, however, that they do plan "to implement many of the planned test content improvements in the future", although specific details regarding those changes have not yet been announced.
Changes to the GRE took effect on November 1, 2007, as ETS started to include new types of questions in the exam. The changes mostly center on "fill in the blank" type answers for both the mathematics and vocabulary sections that require the test-taker to fill in the blank directly, without being able to choose from a multiple choice list of answers. ETS currently plans to introduce two of these new types of questions in each quantitative or vocabulary section, while the majority of questions will be presented in the regular format.
Since January 2008, the Reading Comprehension within the verbal sections has been reformatted, passages' "line numbers will be replaced with highlighting when necessary in order to focus the test taker on specific information in the passage" to "help students more easily find the pertinent information in reading passages."
In December 2009, ETS announced plans to move forward with significant revisions to the GRE in 2011. Changes include a new 130-170 scoring scale, the elimination of certain question types such as antonyms and analogies, the addition of an online calculator, and the elimination of the CAT format of question-by-question adjustment, in favor of a section by section adjustment. The Revised GRE General test replaced General GRE test on August 1, 2011. The revised GRE is said to be better by design and gives better test taking experience. The new types of questions in the revised pattern are supposed to test the skills needed in graduate and business schools programs
GRE prior to October 2002
The earliest versions of the GRE tested only for verbal and quantitative ability. For a number of years prior to October 2002, the GRE had a separate Analytical Ability section which tested candidates on logical and analytical reasoning abilities. This section was replaced by the Analytical Writing portion.See also
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