gre new delhi
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.
While the verbal section tests vocabulary and verbal reasoning, the vocabulary employed is not specifically relevant to any particular area of study, and (in the case of analogies and antonyms) is presented without context. The quantitative portion of the test covers topics that are far too elementary for any program in the fields of mathematics or science, as well as being irrelevant for the study of most liberal arts topics. The Analytic Writing section (derived from ETS’ unpopular Writing Assessment Test) may be less useful in assessing writing ability than a prepared writing sample, or than a “personal statement” or “statement of purpose” relevant to the appropriate field (which is also required for admissions by many programs).
Robert Sternberg of Tufts University found that the GRE general test was weakly predictive of success in graduate studies in psychology. The weak predictability may be related to the mathematics portion of the GRE general test because a good foundation of mathematics is important in understanding advanced statistics. However, in some branches of psychology, the application of statistics is only a small part.
The mathematical portion of the GRE general test is the only area of the GRE general test that may have predictive ability in the natural sciences. The natural sciences require a strong foundation in mathematics for success in both core courses and in statistical analysis related to research. However, it is not clear whether the GRE accurately assesses mathematical skills required for success in graduate school.
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.[23]
[edit] Historical susceptibility to cheating
In May of 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.[24]
In December of 1994, prompted by student reports of recycled questions, former 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. to cities to take the exam. Kaplan, Inc then presented ETS with 150 questions, representing 70-80% of the GRE.[25] 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 violating a federal electronic communications privacy act, copyright laws, break of contract and fraud, and a confidentiality agreement signed by test-takers on test day. [26] 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.
[edit] Plans for the revised 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.[27]
On April 2, 2007, ETS announced the decision to cancel plans for revising the GRE.[28] The announcement cited concerns over the ability to provide clear and equal access to the new test after the planned change as an explanation for the cancellation. They did state, however, that they do plan “to implement many of the planned test content improvements in the future”, although exact 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 presented in the regular format.[29]
On 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.”[30]
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/gre-new-delhi-1050584.html
