Now, the most trusted assessment of graduate-level skills is even better. For you. And for your potential students.
For more than 60 years, the graduate community has accepted the GRE General Test as a proven measure of a candidate's readiness for graduate-level work and of their potential for success. Now ETS, creator of the GRE General Test, has enhanced the content and delivery of the test in several significant ways. The GRE revised General Test, launching in 2011, is even more closely aligned with the skills needed in today's demanding graduate and business school programs. And it can help you make more informed admissions decisions. Featuring a new level of sophistication in psychometric design and delivery, the GRE revised General Test is a friendlier, more technically advanced test that's been updated to provide you with even more reliable results.
The Verbal Reasoning measure places a greater emphasis on higher cognitive skills, making it a truer, deeper assessment of the test taker's ability to understand what they read and how to apply their reasoning skills. Learn more about the Verbal Reasoning measure. The Quantitative Reasoning measure tests the same basic mathematical concepts, but emphasizes the data interpretation and reallife scenarios a test taker will encounter, to better gauge their skills. Learn more about the Quantitative Reasoning measure.
The Analytical Writing measure asks test takers to provide more focused responses to questions, so they can more accurately demonstrate their skill in directly responding to the task presented. Learn more about the Analytical Writing measure. Changes to the test design that provide your candidates a friendlier, more flexible test-taking experience: Now they'll find new features that allow them to change their answers, skip questions and more giving them the freedom to use their own personal test-taking strategies. Learn more about test design changes. Changes to scoring that deliver more simplicity in distinguishing performance differences between your candidates: The revised test features a new score scale that reports the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures on a 130 170 score scale, in 1-point increments (vs. 200 800 in 10-point increments). Compressing the reporting metric means producing scores that won't exaggerate small performance differences between examinees. Learn more about score changes. While several key areas of the GRE General Test are changing, one thing will not: Our commitment to maintaining the trusted validity, security and fairness that are hallmarks of ETS and the GRE program. Learn more about test fairness and validity. Important: To help the graduate community prepare for the 2011 launch, we'll send out information on the tips and timing you need throughout the year. We highly recommend that you sign up to receive these emails for your institution. Sign up now.
Start Preparing for the Launch in 2011. Here Are Important Dates You Need to Know:
MONTH MILESTONE
2010
JULY
2011
August 1: First day of testing for revised test For tests administered in August September, scores will be reported starting in early November For tests administered in October, scores will be reported starting in mid-November* For tests administered in November, scores will be reported starting in late November* Score reporting returns to the regular reporting period (10 15 days after test date)*
AUGUST SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Table with important dates about the GRE revised General Test
Dates reflect scores sent through SCORELINK Internet Delivery Service. Scores reported on paper reports will be sent approximately one week later. Check back for a more detailed reporting schedule in early 2011. *Score reports for paper-based administrations will continue to be reported six weeks after test date.
The Verbal Reasoning measure: more complex reasoning, no vocabulary out of context
To more closely align with the type of work students do in graduate school, the GRE revised General Test places a greater emphasis on higher level cognitive skills, as a truer, deeper assessment of their ability to understand what they read and how they apply their reasoning skills. Measures a candidate's ability to:
analyze and draw conclusions from discourse; reason from incomplete data; identify author's assumptions and/or perspective; understand multiple levels of meaning such as literal, figurative and author's intent select important points; distinguish major from minor or relevant points; summarize text; understand the structure of a text understand the meanings of words, sentences and entire texts; understand relationships among words and among concepts
An emphasis on complex reasoning skills: greater emphasis on higher cognitive skills more text-based materials, such as reading passages less dependence on vocabulary knowledge alone broader selection of reading passages
New question types and new computer-enabled tasks, such as highlighting a relevant sentence to answer a question
The Quantitative Reasoning measure: same basic mathematical concepts, more real-life scenarios
The mathematical knowledge expected of test takers remains unchanged. The difference, however, is the emphasis on the data interpretation and real-life scenarios the candidates will encounter, to better gauge their skills. Measures a candidate's ability to:
Understand quantitative information Interpret and analyze quantitative information Solve problems using mathematical models Apply basic mathematical skills and elementary mathematical concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability and statistics
An emphasis on quantitative reasoning skills: Increased proportion of questions involving real-life scenarios and data interpretation An on-screen calculator for use in this section to reduce the emphasis on computation*
New question types and new computer-enabled tasks, such as entering a numerical answer *For those taking the paper-based GRE revised General Test, calculators will be provided at the test center for use during the test.
articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively support ideas with relevant reasons and examples examine claims and accompanying evidence sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion control the elements of standard written English
Integrates the assessment of critical thinking and analytical writing Introduces topics that require a more focused response, reducing the possibility of reliance on memorized materials These key content enhancements will help give you a better understanding of each candidate's potential for success. To receive important information, tips and timing to help you get ready, sign up now.
Throughout the development process of the GRE revised General Test launching in 2011 we've taken significant measures to ensure the test upholds the highest standards for fairness by incorporating reviews and checkpoints. These measures include:
Pilot-testing question types to identify and eliminate those that tend to produce group differences in performance Employing specially-trained fairness reviewers to ensure test questions meet rigorous standards Pre-testing and ongoing statistical analysis to further ensure fairness of test questions
To learn more about the revised test, go to the GRE revised General Test section.
Fairness
Fairness concerns are an integral part of the development and scoring of all tests. The many activities that ensure fairness include:
Validity
involvement of minority educators and representative committees in every phase of the development and scoring processes multiple fairness evaluations by trained reviewers routine analyses of test questions to establish that questions do not unfairly contribute to group differences. rigorous training for all persons involved in the development or scoring of test questions to ensure that all examinees have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities. appropriate accommodations (e.g., Zoom text, extra time) for examinees who may need them
Validity research and analyses establish that the test measures what it is supposed to measure. The types of validity support that the GRE Program has documented include:
construct validity (the test measures the skills/abilities that should be measured) content validity (the test measures appropriate content) predictive validity (the test predicts success) consequential validity (the test demonstrates that adverse consequences are minimal) external validity (the test has the expected relationship with other measures of the same construct).
Although ETS works to accumulate validity evidence at each stage of the delivery and scoring process, the initial direction for validity research derives from feedback from members of the graduate community, who provide information about the skills and abilities that they consider essential for success in graduate school.
We've undertaken a variety of rigorous activities to ensure the validity of the upcoming GRE revised General Test, involving external and ETS experts in the development of the revised test specifications to ensure test appropriateness at every stage. To learn more about the revised test, go to the GRE revised General Test section.
Quantitative Measure
The Quantitative measure of the General Test measures quantitative reasoning skills. The skills assessed are consistent with capabilities outlined in the Mathematical Association of America'sQuantitative Reasoning for College Graduates: A Complement to the Standards and are based on feedback from faculty surveys. The capabilities that are assessed in the GRE quantitative measure include:
interpreting and analyzing quantitative information, including drawing inferences from data using mathematical methods to solve quantitative problems
Verbal Reasoning scores will be reported on a new 130170 score scale, in 1-point increments (versus 200800 in 10-point increments). Quantitative Reasoning scores will be reported on a new 130170 score scale, in 1-point increments (versus 200800 in 10-point increments). Analytical Writing scores will continue to be reported on the same 06 score scale, in half-point increments.
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Accepting new and old scores Using percentile ranks Comparing candidates
Watch Get Ready webinars and What to Expect videos, which will be released periodically to give you guidance on the score scale changes and what they will mean for your institution.
For tests administered in AugustSeptember, scores will be reported starting in early November
OCTOBER
For tests administered in October, scores will be reported starting in mid-November* For tests administered in November, scores will be reported starting in late November* Score reporting returns to the regular reporting period (1015 days after test date)*
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Dates reflect scores sent through SCORELINK Internet Delivery Service. Scores reported on paper reports will be sent approximately one week later. Check back for a more detailed reporting schedule in early 2011. *Score reports for paper-based administrations will continue to be reported six weeks after test date. Tell your applicants who need their GRE scores before November 2011 that they should take the GRE General Test before August 1, 2011.