The Graduate Record Examinations
RUNNING HEAD: TEST REVIEW AND CRITIQUE: GRE
Test Review and Critique: Graduate Record Examinations: General Test (GRE)
Julie L. Braley
Park University
I. General Information
The Graduate Record Examinations: General Test (GRE) is an intelligence and general aptitude test created and administered by the nonprofit organization Educational Testing Service (ETS). The GRE is a result of a study on college education funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the 1930s. It gained widespread use after World War I as a way for graduate program admissions boards to assess the intellectual ability of applicants that attended various higher education institutions (ETS, 2008a). Today, the GRE is administered to over 550,000 prospective graduate students annually. More than 3,100 institutions or fellowship committees receive test results (ETS, 2008c). It serves as an objective measure of intellectual aptitude, while striving to be fair and equal, for all prospective graduate students.
The GRE’s latest revision includes new question types (text completion and numeric entry) and gradual improvements (highlighted excerpts instead of numbered line references), rather than a completely revised test. The Educational Testing Service concluded that its’ testing centers could not accommodate a new GRE on its’ current testing network without jeopardizing ease and availability of testing and accuracy of reporting test scores (ETS, 2009b).
II. Test Description
Test Content The GRE is a multidimensional test that measures “general scholastic ability (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009)” along three scales: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing. These skills are considered to have developed over the course of the student’s academic career, not over a short, intense period of preparatory study before taking the GRE (ETS, 2008b). These developed skills have been identified as the most pertinent to graduate
Test Review and Critique: Graduate Record Examinations: General Test (GRE)
Julie L. Braley
Park University
I. General Information
The Graduate Record Examinations: General Test (GRE) is an intelligence and general aptitude test created and administered by the nonprofit organization Educational Testing Service (ETS). The GRE is a result of a study on college education funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the 1930s. It gained widespread use after World War I as a way for graduate program admissions boards to assess the intellectual ability of applicants that attended various higher education institutions (ETS, 2008a). Today, the GRE is administered to over 550,000 prospective graduate students annually. More than 3,100 institutions or fellowship committees receive test results (ETS, 2008c). It serves as an objective measure of intellectual aptitude, while striving to be fair and equal, for all prospective graduate students.
The GRE’s latest revision includes new question types (text completion and numeric entry) and gradual improvements (highlighted excerpts instead of numbered line references), rather than a completely revised test. The Educational Testing Service concluded that its’ testing centers could not accommodate a new GRE on its’ current testing network without jeopardizing ease and availability of testing and accuracy of reporting test scores (ETS, 2009b).
II. Test Description
Test Content The GRE is a multidimensional test that measures “general scholastic ability (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009)” along three scales: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing. These skills are considered to have developed over the course of the student’s academic career, not over a short, intense period of preparatory study before taking the GRE (ETS, 2008b). These developed skills have been identified as the most pertinent to graduate
References: Buckingham, W. (n.d.). Lecture: Basic statistics of tests and measurements. Retrieved November 26, 2009, from PS302 Classroom, http://parkonline.org Burton, N.W., Turner, N Celis, W. (1994, December 16). Computer admissions test found to be ripe for abuse [Electronic version]. The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service. (2008a). Factors that can influence performance on the GRE General Test. Retrieved November 26, 2009, from http://www.ets.org/Media/ Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0809_factors_2006-07.pdf[->1] Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service. (2009b). GRE – Graduate record examinations. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from www.ets.org/gre[->4] Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service. (2009d). Interpreting your GRE scores. Retrieved November 27, 2009, from http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0910_interpreting_scores.pdf Frantz, D Kaplan, R. M., & Saccuzzo, D. P. (2009). Psychological testing: Principles, applications, and issues (7th ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions Prometric Services. (2009, November 17). Careers: Test center administrator. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from http://prometric.submit4jobs.com/index.cfm?fuseaction= 85328.viewjobdetail&JID=79475&cid=85328[->6] Steinberg, J Sternberg, R. J., Torff, B. & Grigorenko, E. L. (1998). Teaching triarchically improves school achievement. Journal of Education Psychology, 90(3), 374-384. Sternberg, R. J. & Williams, W. M. (1997). Does the Graduate Record Examination predict meaningful success in the graduate training of psychology? A case study. American Psychologist, (52)6.