Becoming Familiar with the GRE® General Test GRE® Test Preparation Workshop for Campus Educators March 22, 2010 Becoming Familiar with the GRE® General Test John Hawthorn Educational Testing Service Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Structure of the General Test Section Number of Questions Time Analytical Writing 1 Issue task 45 min. 1 Argument task 30 min. Verbal Reasoning 30 questions Quantitative Reasoning 28 questions Unscored* (Position varies) Varies Research** (At end of test) *Questions in this section are either being tried out for possible use in future tests or are being used to ensure that scores on new editions of the test are comparable to scores on earlier test editions. **Identified research section that is not scored may also be included. ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Information It Is Important For Test Takers To Know Before They Register For The Test Registration and appointment scheduling Date, time and test center location ID requirements Cost Score reporting procedures Availability of special testing arrangements This information is available in the GRE® Information and Registration Bulletin and on the GRE website at www.ets.org/gre. ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Become Familiar with the Content of the Analytical Writing Section Test takers should review the following: Skills measured Issue and Argument scoring guides Score Level Descriptions Sample topics Scored Sample Essay Responses and corresponding reader commentary Issue and Argument pools of topics ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Become Familiar with the Content of the Verbal and Quantitative Sections Test takers should review the following: Skills measured Types of questions and directions Approximate numbers of questions in each section Amount of time for each section How the sections are scored Strategies for each of the question types Answer the sample questions ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Scratch Paper Test takers will receive a supply of scratch paper before they begin their test Test takers will be able to replenish their supply of scratch paper, as necessary, throughout the entire test administration Scratch paper may not be taken from the test center ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081

Breaks There is a 10-minute break following the Analytical Writing section, and a one-minute break between the other test sections Test takers might want to replenish their supply of scratch paper during each scheduled break Section timing will not stop if the test taker takes an unscheduled break, so they should proceed with their test without interruption once it begins ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081

Linear (Traditional) Tests Broad range of ability to be assessed — test questions to match this range Some very easy and very difficult questions, but most questions are of middle/moderate difficulty All questions typically selected in advance of test administration At a given admininstration of a linear test, many or all examinees receive the same set of questions Test scores are derived from the number of correct answers Advantage: Familiar testing format Disadvantage: Longer testing time ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) Each examinee receives a set of questions targeted to his/her specific ability Questions are not chosen in advance but selected by the computer algorithm, as examinee goes through test, based in part on test design factors of preceding questions and on whether these questions were answered correctly/incorrectly Test design factors include: the statistical characteristics (including difficulty level) of the questions already answered the required variety of question types the appropriate coverage of content Advantage: Shorter testing time Disadvantage: Unfamiliar testing format ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081

Building An Adaptive Test TEST DESIGN ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Mean score Ability / Difficulty Number of Questions Answered 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Number of Questions Answered ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Some CAT Rules You cannot go back and revise a previous answer You cannot skip ahead to fill in answers to questions you know You must answer each question as it is presented — by posting a guess if necessary ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

CAT Strategy: Answer Questions! Learn to identify the point at which it is best to post a guess. There are no time outs once a section has begun. It is normal in CAT to answer several questions incorrectly, even for high scorers ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Do Not Get Hung Up on a Question Pacing is critical to success in the GRE® General Test. It is important not to leave questions unanswered, or to finish with a string of guesses If you see a possible error, note its location and report it to the test center supervisor at the end of the test. Actual errors are very rare It is important to focus on just one thing: answering the current question on the screen ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Strategies to Use During the Analytical Writing Section Be attentive to time, but do not rush Organize your thoughts and prepare outlines for the two essays In the Issue task, you will have 45 minutes to choose a topic, think about the issue, plan a response and compose a response In the Argument task, you will have 30 minutes to analyze the argument, plan a critique and compose a response Save a few minutes at the end of each time section to check for obvious errors ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Computer-based Test Familiarization Use the Powerprep® tutorial to learn how to interact with the computer You may return to any part of the tutorial during the timed testing sessions, but this reduces the amount of time available If you exit a section, you cannot return to it Clicking on the “Test Quit” icon at the bottom of the screen ends the test session. If you quit a test, you will not receive scores, even for completed sections. ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Don’t Take the Actual GRE® Tests for Practice All scores earned in official GRE test administrations become part of your official record for five years It is more economical to use GRE practice materials to take earlier editions of actual GRE tests under timed conditions Practice tests for the paper-based and computer-based versions of the GRE General Test and the GRE Subject Tests are available at www.ets.org/gre/greprep ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

Scores Reported Three scores are reported on the General Test: a Verbal Reasoning score reported on a 200 – 800 score scale, in 10-point increments a Quantitative Reasoning score reported on a 200 – 800 score scale, in 10-point increments an Analytical Writing score reported on a 0 – 6 score scale, in half-point increments Any section in which the examinee answers no questions at all will be reported as an “NS” (No Score). ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.

GRE® Score Reporting Policies Score reporting is cumulative. Scores are reportable for five testing years following the testing year in which the examinee tested. All scores earned during this time will be reported to institutions the examinee designates. Test taker options: Send only General Test scores Send only Subject Test scores Send General Test and Subject Test scores Examinee may not choose to have only those scores from a specific test date reported ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081

Questions? ETS — Listening. Learning. Leading.® Copyright © 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. , GRE and POWERPREP are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). 14081 Copyright © 2008 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS.