Change in GRE Format from August

From August 1 this year, Graduate Record Examination (GRE), conducted by the Educational Testing Services (ETS) for admission into MS programmes mainly in the US and other English speaking countries, will witness a change. Previously to take admissions into various MS programmes, GRE score was important. However from August, score will also be considered for admissions into MBA programmes by Yale, Wharton, Stanford and MIT. The change will  be applicable in verbal ability section, with less importance on non-contextual vocabulary.

As per the proposal, antonym and analogies section will be removed and more attention will be given on reading comprehension and cognitive skills.

In the new format the verbal part is being divided into two sections. The old format had only one section. Both the sections in the new format will have 20 questions each. Most importantly the students can now move within section. They can scroll up and down, edit, skip and correct. Students can even highlight a sentence in a passage to answer a question. It will be more user-friendly with lot of flexibility.

GRE Format Changes encompasses the quantitative aptitude section, which is segregated into two sections with 20 questions each, which includes data interpretation and real life scenario analysis. The change also encompasses numeric entry type questions and this will be for first time that ETS will be providing an on screen calculator.

As per the new GRE Format Changes, all the students writing the test between August 1 and September 30 2011, can enjoy a discount of 50 per cent on the fees. The new scoring pattern will based on a total marks of 340 (170+170) contrary to the old system where it was 1600 (800+800). The band will also range from 130- 170, instead of 200-800. The analytical writing scores will remain on the same 0 - 6 score level, in half-point increments.

The scores will be valid for a period of five years and students will have adequate time to choose between MS programme or a B-School.

The nine test centres, selected by Educational Testing Services are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Chennai, Trivandrum, Allahabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The test will be held in shifts of 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. respectively.

Apart from the above changes, for the first time in India, ETS will also be conducting a paper-based GRE test. This particular format will be the same as of computer-based and the examination is scheduled to be held on November 12. The centres allotted are Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, BITS-Pilani and BIT-MESRA, Ranchi.

Over 6.75 lakh students from about 230 countries, take up the GRE exam every year. The admissions are done into different universities in the US and in other English speaking countries.

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Source: Prachi Srivastava (Shiksha Team)
Date: 20^th May, 2011