"significant changes" to GRE in autumn 2007

[kate_g]

Maybe test prep books and Kaplan courses and whatnot are already dealing with this, but it was news to me: http://************/j75hd (EDIT: OK... The direct link was really long so I made a tinyurl, but I guess SDN blocks them. Weird. So, go to http://www.ets.org/gre and look for the "significant changes" news item in the right-hand column.)

There's a major revision of the GRE general test, with no more specific introduction date than "autumn 2007". Among other things the verbal section will rely more on reasoning and reading comprehension and less on esoteric vocabulary, which is probably a big plus for almost everyone. But if you've been preparing for the *current* version of the GRE, you might want to hurry up and take it rather than hope that what you studied will be applicable to the new test.

The prep material available on the website is still all geared toward the current version of the test. Hopefully they'll have prep material available for the new test some time *before* they actually start administering it...

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[HorseyVet]

There's a major revision of the GRE general test, with no more specific introduction date than "autumn 2007". Among other things the verbal section will rely more on reasoning and reading comprehension and less on esoteric vocabulary, which is probably a big plus for almost everyone. But if you've been preparing for the *current* version of the GRE, you might want to hurry up and take it rather than hope that what you studied will be applicable to the new test.

It will be interesting to see if vet schools change the weight of the GRE score in evaluating applicants. They may value it more if the new exam actually now begins to test the intelligence of the applicant rather then how many words they've crammed into their head. Sometimes though schools do the opposite with anything "new" b/c they're not certain about how the score will correlate to future performance in school. I think a few schools still don't know what to do with/care about the analytical writing portion b/c it's relatively "new."

I hoping the change is a good one....I think I've posted this before, but I knew a girl who was applying to graduate school in philology (at the time she'd had 4+ years of italian, greek, latin, german, and I belive dutch also)....she couldn't crack (or barely) cracked a 600 on the verbal....to me that's really ridiculous....it's really like they find the weirdest words .... right now it's definitely a test that indicates how well you studied for the test rather then any indication of "what you learned" in college.

 

[PAThbrd]

I took the new version of the GRE as part of the field trials for ETS in the fall (Nov 2005). (Scores didnt count and they paid me to do it ) On a whole I thought it was easier, especially the verbal, you got a little calculator on the screen for the math, and it wasn't on the ladder system (you get it right and the test gets harder and vice versa) which I felt makes the current version of the GRE very stressful. It is still testing the same general principles, its just a little more test taker friendly and reflects your intelligence a little better. It should be a very good thing for future GRE test takers. They didnt tell me what I scored (I dont think they really had a scale out at that point) but I felt like I did better on the verbal and about the same on the math as I did before. The writing (analytical) was the same format, though I probably scored worse as I didnt put as much effort into it knowing my score was going to be reported Hopefully this info is all still accurate and they dont change it again before the new test goes into circulation but they may so please take this info with a grain of salt!

 

[kate_g]

It's 2006. It will still be 2006 this fall, even though it's a new school year. So, I should not have been shocked and horrified to find that there was a change to the test scheduled for a *year* from now and they didn't yet have the prep material available or a specific change-over date noted. What can I say, it was a really long day...

Well, so there's some advance notice for you, anyway...

 

[ReinaDeLuz]

I hoping the change is a good one....I think I've posted this before, but I knew a girl who was applying to graduate school in philology (at the time she'd had 4+ years of italian, greek, latin, german, and I belive dutch also)....she couldn't crack (or barely) cracked a 600 on the verbal....to me that's really ridiculous....it's really like they find the weirdest words .... right now it's definitely a test that indicates how well you studied for the test rather then any indication of "what you learned" in college.

I don't know...to be honest I don't think being fluent in foreign languages is such a big help in the GRE. Spanish was my first language, and I've taken 5+ years of Italian and I didn't find myself thinking "huh, well thats helped in the GRE verbal section". I also disagree that it doesnt show "what you learned" at all, from my experiences with friends who've taken it (and crammed crazily for the verbal section) it seems to me that the GRE verbal section reflects that you've either spent years being an avid reader (who looks up words you don't know) or you havn't. I'll grant that some people will manage to cram the right words, and they'll get a good score, but amazing scores come from years of developing a good vocabulary. I was the nerd that spent every spare second in high school/college reading every kind of book I could lay my hands on, and I got a 760, most of my friends simply aren't that kind of person...and no matter how hard they crammed, simply couldn't get that kind of score.

 

[quakk]

stupid test. it's the same as the SAT. don't see how it's useful in determining an applicant's qualification for vet school. even if they change it. unless they start to ask about biology and biochemistry.

and while we're at it, you can study for it and learn how to improve your score, even though your vet aptitude hasn't changed a bit.

and i took that stupid test three times. i took it for grad school in 1993. i took it again for grad school in 1998. and i took it for vet school in 2005. my score was nearly identical each time. why do we have to take it within the last 5 years? guess we get stupider with time, eh?

 

[ReinaDeLuz]

stupid test. it's the same as the SAT. don't see how it's useful in determining an applicant's qualification for vet school. even if they change it. unless they start to ask about biology and biochemistry.

Some schools actually do ask you to take GRE "subject" tests like I think Oklahoma State required the GRE Biology subject test.
But I should think that the GRE's purpose would not be improved by asking you about biology and biochemistry, I mean, you are supposed to have taken those classes in undergrad ;-) the grades you receive for those should be relatively reliable indicators of how well you know those subjects.


I think the purported use of the GRE exam is to determine your logical thinking/reasoning ability? Who knows ;-)

 

[verbal_kint]

the way i look at it is like this. regardless of whether the test is accurate or not, it really doesn't matter. all that matters is that if i score well on the GRE than my application is that much stronger. if that means memorizing a bunch of words, so be it. the GRE is not perfect, but it's an attempt to have a standardized way of evaluating applicants. it's part of the application process, so deal with it. there's no point in being bitter about it or whining about how the test is not fair. i suppose if it was really that important to you, you could voice your opinion to the test makers.

but hey, don't get me wrong. it's sometimes nice to vent about things and it's probably healthy considering how stressful the application process can be. however, you gotta keep in mind that you could really in theory pick apart the whole process not just the GRE. For instance, look at GPA. Is that really fair or a good indicator? One bad grade can really affect your average. What about the degree of difficulty at different colleges/universities? What about grade inflation? What about social economic status? It goes on and on.

So really, I guess what i'm trying to say is... just do your best.

 

[Olddodger]

stupid test. it's the same as the SAT. don't see how it's useful in determining an applicant's qualification for vet school. even if they change it. unless they start to ask about biology and biochemistry.

and while we're at it, you can study for it and learn how to improve your score, even though your vet aptitude hasn't changed a bit.

and i took that stupid test three times. i took it for grad school in 1993. i took it again for grad school in 1998. and i took it for vet school in 2005. my score was nearly identical each time. why do we have to take it within the last 5 years? guess we get stupider with time, eh?

Lol, the last time I took the GRE was in 1989. I walked in cold with nothing but a #2 pencil wearing my flipflops, and scored an 1150. I'm fairly certain that with some preparation, I can do a bit better.

Oldie

 

[spikey]

i just retook it today. uggh, such a pain in the butt X/

first time i got 630Q and 480V
second time after kaplan i got 730Q and 450V

so so so very happy about the math, so so so very angry about the verbal. i mean, seriously? i think i may have to do it again.

 

[youthman]

congrats on the excellent math score!

how did you end up scoring lower on verbal, especially after Kaplan? do you think the test got harder, or did Kaplan not prepare you well?

 

[ginkogirl]

i just retook it today. uggh, such a pain in the butt X/

first time i got 630Q and 480V
second time after kaplan i got 730Q and 450V

so so so very happy about the math, so so so very angry about the verbal. i mean, seriously? i think i may have to do it again.

Hey Spikey,

Again, congrats on the math score. For vet schools that's probably the more important of the two anyway (or at least for average stats it's generally a higher # than verbal.) I just took the GRE yesterday for the first time and am thrilled not to need to take it again. (Yay for knowing your scores the day of the test!)

Just a thought...did you memorize the vocab that Kaplan supplied? I did my studying through a Princeton Review book and I found memorizing the vocab helped me out SO much on the verbal. I was a bit skeptical about how many of the words would actually show up on the test, but it turned out that just about every question had at least one of the Princeton Review's vocab words in it. If you do decide to take the GRE again and did not memorize the vocab yet, it may be a (semi) easy way to raise your verbal score a bit.

Best of luck,
Lisa

 

[verbal_kint]

well... what was your score?

 

[JIKJen124]

Took it today... I did about 30 points lower than I had hoped for in a dream world, but I'm not sure whether it's really worth trying again. 6 months ago, I would have been thrilled with my score but success on practice tests had me hoping for higher.

AMEN to Kaplan for the verbal help - the vocab cards and reading comp. technique definately helped.

well... what was your score?

 

[spikey]

congrats on the excellent math score!

how did you end up scoring lower on verbal, especially after Kaplan? do you think the test got harder, or did Kaplan not prepare you well?

i have no idea how that happened. i felt so confident that i would do much better.

i didnt get to know all the words, but many of them.

i'm afraid to retake it, and get a lower math score. what do you guys think?

 

[tygris]

i have no idea how that happened. i felt so confident that i would do much better.

i didnt get to know all the words, but many of them.

i'm afraid to retake it, and get a lower math score. what do you guys think?

that depends on if the schools you're applying to average the scores or take the highest score. you should find that out first and if they take the highest, there's no harm in taking it again

i took the GREs three times and found that the third time, i honestly didn't care anymore because i had done it so many times... so i was extremely relaxed. that did a lot to raise my grade, as lame as it may sound.
also - i skipped the essays entirely on the third time. i got 6's on all of the essays for the first 2 takes of the GRE's... so i called ETS and asked what it shows up as if i leave it blank. they said it shows up that you didn't write anything, and not as a zero. so i was like... awesome! i called the schools i was applying to and asked if they'd care particularly that i didn't have essay grades for my last GRE, since all my other essays were 6's across the board... and they couldn't care less.
skipping the essays made the GRE *so* *much* *less* *stressful*. so if you can afford to skip them (i would suggest calling ETS and making sure it still doesn't show up at zeros, since this was a couple years ago)... then i strongly suggest it

 

[spikey]

that depends on if the schools you're applying to average the scores or take the highest score. you should find that out first and if they take the highest, there's no harm in taking it again

i took the GREs three times and found that the third time, i honestly didn't care anymore because i had done it so many times... so i was extremely relaxed. that did a lot to raise my grade, as lame as it may sound.
also - i skipped the essays entirely on the third time. i got 6's on all of the essays for the first 2 takes of the GRE's... so i called ETS and asked what it shows up as if i leave it blank. they said it shows up that you didn't write anything, and not as a zero. so i was like... awesome! i called the schools i was applying to and asked if they'd care particularly that i didn't have essay grades for my last GRE, since all my other essays were 6's across the board... and they couldn't care less.
skipping the essays made the GRE *so* *much* *less* *stressful*. so if you can afford to skip them (i would suggest calling ETS and making sure it still doesn't show up at zeros, since this was a couple years ago)... then i strongly suggest it

thanks for the info, tygris. i in fact did skip them this last time and it helped. but i apparently just cannot do well on the verbal section. im afraid that retaking them and not doing better this next time wont look good on my application.