Introduction to the GRE My presentation today is on the GRE testing program. I’d like to give you an overview of the GRE tests and information on how to prepare for the tests so you can do your best. You can maximize your chances of doing your best on the GRE if you Know what skills and knowledge are required ahead of time Take advantage of the numerous resources that are provided to allow you to practice before you take the test for real Be careful with how you manage your time when you actually take the test There will be time at the end of my presentation for questions, although if you need to ask a question during the presentation, please do so.

GRE Testing Program (Scores last 5 years) I. The General Test GRE Testing Program (Scores last 5 years) I. The General Test Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Writing Offered on computer 6 days/week Limit once per calendar month, 5 times/year. II. Subject Tests Paper and pencil, offered 3 times/year Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology Biology Chemistry Computer Science Literature in English Mathematics Physics Psychology The General Test has 3 sections: verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing. Examinees receive individual scores on each section. The General Test is a measure of reasoning skills. It measures how well examinees can reason with verbal materials or with quantitative materials, and how well they can construct an argument and critique one. In addition to the GT, there are Subject Tests offered in 8 fields (which appear on this slide). The Subject Tests measure content knowledge and skills in particular academic areas. Because they have different emphases, the two types of tests are often used to complement each other in admissions decisions.

GRE General Test Scores (Aptitude Test ) Analytical Writing: Score range: 0 – 6 Mean: 4.1 Verbal and Quantitative: Score Range: 200 – 800 Verbal Mean: 465 Quantitative Mean: 584

GRE Subject Test Scores (Achievement Tests) Possible Score Range: 200 – 990 Actual score ranges vary by test subject. See the website for score distributions for your subject area.

Subject Test Registration Test Date 10/9/10 11/13/10 4/9/11 Registration Deadline* 9/3/10 10/8/10 3/4/11 * Note this is a receipt date: allow 7 days for mail.

How to Prepare for a Subject Test Review the Subject Test practice booklet for the test, which includes Content specifications for the test, including the weight assigned to each topic Practice test The practice book will be mailed to you when you register for the Subject Test, free at www.ets.org/gre. Let me begin by talking about how to prepare for a Subject Test. The best way to prepare is to become familiar with the topics that are assessed in the test, including how much weight is given to each. You can find this out by reviewing the Subject Test practice book for the test you plan to take. The practice book contains the content specifications for the test, advice on preparing for the test, and an actual practice test. The practice test is an actual test that was given in the past. You can take the practice test under the suggested timing (which is 2 hours and 50 minutes) and get a sense of your overall score as well as which topic areas from your undergraduate career you might want to review. So to do your best: Know what’s emphasized on the test Take an actual test under timed conditions Use the results to focus on any areas you’ve studied that might need review The practice book will be sent to you automatically when you register to take the ST. If you would like to review it sooner, you can download it from the GRE Web site at anytime at no charge.

Registering for the GRE Call the test center directly and register by phone to be sure the date you request is available. You may also register on-line or by mail. General test: $160 Subject test: $140 4 reports free; $23 for each additional.

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Fee Reductions Those eligible for a limited number of 50% fee waivers must be US citizens or resident aliens who are: enrolled in college on financial aid, dependents on parents’ taxes, whose parents contribute no more than $1400/year to education, or independent and contributing personally no more than $1800/year to education costs or an unenrolled college graduate whose Institutional Student Information Report indicates self-supporting status and a contribution of not more than $1,800. Get a form at Financial Assistance Office; you must register for GRE in writing.

The Computer-Adaptive GRE General Test The verbal and quantitative sections of the General Test are adaptive tests. I’d like to say a little about how adaptive tests work because adaptive testing is different than the paper-and-pencil tests that you’ve taken in the past and there are some test-taking strategies that are important in adaptive testing. In adaptive testing each examinee receives a set of questions targeted to his/her ability. This is different from the traditional paper-and-pencil tests you’ve probably taken where everyone at an administration receives the same test questions. In the traditional test examinees who are of a high ability get lots of questions that are very easy for them and examinees who are of a low ability get lots of questions that are too hard for them. In either case, you don’t learn very much new information about their ability. In an adaptive test, questions are targeted to the specific ability of the examinee. This means you can give the very able examinee more challenging questions so that you can get new and more precise information about their ability. Similarly, you don’t keep frustrating the lower ability examinee with a series of questions they can’t answer; instead you deliver them questions they have a good chance of answering correctly. Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved. Mean score ability / difficulty This process continues until, in this example after the ninth item, the confidence interval is small enough that we are fairly certain that the examinee’s ability is within a small range. GRE Tests are much longer than this – 28 to 30 questions. But the principle is the same. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 number of questions answered Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

CBT Practical Advice: 1. Answer Questions You must answer each question in the order it is presented. There’s no going back. Learn to identify the point at which it is best to post a guess. First, given the way the test works, you must answer each question in the order it’s presented to you. For the same reason, once you select and answer and press confirm, you can’t see the question again and change your answer. Second, given that this is a timed test and you don’t want to run out of time – you should not spend too long on a given question. If you don’t know the answer, try to eliminate some of the options and then select one of the remaining options and move on. Even if you can’t eliminate any options, select whichever option you think is best and move on.

Answer Questions (continued) It is normal in computer adaptive testing to answer several questions incorrectly, even for high scorers. [In 2008 HC student guessed on last 5 questions of Quantitative and got 770.] Scores are based on the difficulty of the questions you get right. Because the adaptive test is probing your ability, delivering you questions a little bit harder as you answer previous questions correctly, you will likely answer a number of questions incorrectly. I want to emphasize that answering some questions incorrectly is normal, even for high scorers. Scores on the adaptive test are based not only on how many questions you answer correctly, but on a number of other factors, such as the difficulty levels of the questions answered correctly. This makes some intuitive sense since someone who can answer difficult questions correctly in a knowledge area can be assumed to have more of the knowledge than someone who answers such questions incorrectly or who can answer only easier questions.

Practical Advice: 2. Timing There are no “time-outs” once a test section has begun. Pacing is critical. Don’t leave questions unanswered or finish with a string of guesses. There is a penalty for unanswered questions. Besides knowing you need to select an answer for each question and move on, the second piece of practical advice is to understand that this is a timed test and that once the clock starts with question 1 of a section it doesn’t stop. That makes it critical that you pace yourself as you move through the test. Always be aware of how many questions you have left to do and how much time is left. This information is available on screen during the test. You don’t want to end up with questions unanswered or to finish with a string of guesses because you’ve run out of time. Remember that the computer is building up an estimate of your ability as you go through the questions. If you don’t pace yourself, run out of time, and begin to guess at the end of the test, your score/ability estimate can drop off very sharply at the end of the test. This can result in a low test score.

Overview of the Day I will now explain the day’s procedures and review each section of the GRE in the order that you will encounter it as you take the test.

Prometric Centers or Universities Computer stations, Other tests going on, Security measures, Demographic information, Numbered scratch paper, Clocks on computer. Setting On-screen clocks count down and can be turned off until last 5 minutes, when they automatically reappear.

The Analytical Writing Measure Assesses critical thinking and analytical writing skills, including the ability to: articulate complex ideas clearly examine claims and evidence support ideas with relevant reasons and examples sustain a well-focused coherent discussion control the elements of standard written English This slide lists the skills measured by the Analytical Writing measure. The analytical writing section tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills. It assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas, analyze an argument, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. It does not assess specific content knowledge.

The Analytical Writing Measure “Present your Perspective on an Issue” You will be able to choose 1 of 2 essay topics. You will have 45 minutes to write your essay. “Analyze an Argument” You will have 30 minutes to critique a one-paragraph argument. No spell-check or grammar-check is provided. The AW measure is the newest part of the GRE General Test. It was added to the General Test in October 2002 and replaced the old analytical measure that you may have heard about. The AW measure contains two writing tasks: “Present your Perspective on an Issue” and “Analyze an Argument”. I’ll show you a sample of each in a few minutes. The 2 analytical writing tasks are delivered on the computer, and you must word process your responses. The testing software uses an elementary word processor developed by ETS so that individuals familiar with a specific commercial word processing software do not have an advantage or disadvantage. This software contains the following functionalities: inserting text, deleting text, cut and paste, undoing the previous action, and scrolling. Tools such as a spelling checker and grammar checker are not available in the software, in large part to maintain fairness with those examinees who handwrite their essays at paper-based administrations in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available. The AW measure, unlike the rest of the GT, is not a multiple-choice test scored by machine. The responses that examinees write are read by trained readers. Typically, readers teach college- or university-level courses in any field or discipline in which writing and/or critical thinking skills are important. Each essay response receives a score using a 6-point holistic scale. In holistic scoring, readers are trained to assign scores on the basis of the overall quality of a response to the assigned task. The primary emphasis in scoring the analytical writing section is on your critical thinking and analytical writing skills rather than on grammar and mechanics. While readers pay attention to grammar and mechanics, they do so only to the extent that lack of control of these elements weakens the quality of the thinking and the argumentation in essays. Scoring guides for each task are available on the GRE Web site.

How the AWM is Scored Each essay is scored by two trained readers, using a 6-point holistic scale; two scores that differ by more than one point are adjudicated by a third reader. Scores from the two readings of an essay are averaged. The final scores on the two essays are then averaged and rounded up to the nearest half-point interval. A single score is reported for the section. Scoring guides and score level descriptions are available on the GRE Web.

Preparing for the Analytical Writing Measure All possible topics at www.ets.org/gre You can practice typing a timed essay using GRE POWERPREP Get your essays scored at the Career Center ScoreitNow! Online Writing Practice for machine scoring of your practice essay There are several ways to prepare for the AW measure. All involve practice writing essay responses. First, all of the tasks are published so that examinees can practice with them. Second, you can practice typing an essay response under timed conditions in the PowerPrep software. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, for $10 you can submit your essay responses to the ScoreItNow! Online Writing Practice service and receive scores on each essay response, general suggestions for improvement, and sample essay responses in the topic you select.

Break Following the Analytical Writing section, there is an optional 10-minute break.

The Verbal Measure Knowledge of vocabulary words, Ability to use them in context, and Knowledge of the relationships between words. Requires reading about topics and ideas in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and answering questions about them. The verbal measure assesses verbal reasoning skills. It requires knowledge of vocabulary words, the ability to use them appropriately in context, and knowledge of the relationships between words. There is a balance among the passages across different subject matter areas, such as the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. To become familiar with this measure you should review the verbal questions in the GRE PowerPrep software. PowerPrep software will be sent to you automatically when you register to take the computer-based General Test. However, you can download the software from the GRE Web site at any time at no charge. I’ll be talking more about what’s in PowerPrep later.

The Verbal Measure You will have 30 questions in 30 minutes: Antonyms Analogies Sentence completions Reading comprehension (budget your time!) All question types for all difficulty levels.

Preparing for the Verbal Measure

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Educational Testing Service, 2005. All rights reserved.

Reading Comprehension The passage contains all information necessary to answer questions, and remains on screen throughout. Passages may be drawn from natural sciences, social sciences or humanities. On average, 2 short passages (2-3 questions); 1 long (4-5).

Two new question types Text completion, with 2 or 3 blanks Numeric Entry Test takers may see ONE new Verbal question or ONE new Quantitative question on the test they receive. Previous field trial results indicate questions are functioning as intended. Questions will count toward scores as soon as an adequate sample of data from the operational testing environment is available. See sample questions and other information at www.ets.org/gre/newquestiontypes.html.

Text Completions

The Quantitative Measure You will have 28 questions in 45 minutes: A test of quantitative reasoning skills Key knowledge areas include basic concepts and procedures related to arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics The quantitative measure assesses your quantitative reasoning skills – skills like estimating an answer, and deciding if enough information is available to get an answer. There is a balance among the questions requiring arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis. These are content areas usually studied in high school. Since you may not have take a math course in awhile, a really good way to refresh your skills is to read the “Math Review” – a review of basic concepts, with sample problems. The Math Review can be downloaded from the GRE Web site and it is available as part of the PowerPrep software..

Preparing for the Quantitative Measure

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Numeric Entry The total amount of Judy’s water bill for the last quarter of the year was $40.50. The bill consisted of a fixed charge of $13.50 plus a charge of $0.0075 per gallon for the water used in the quarter. For how many gallons of water was Judy charged for the quarter? _____________ gallons Click on the answer box and type in a number. Backspace to erase.

Experimental Question Section Additional Verbal or Quantitative section with questions in development for future test administrations Experimental section may fall first, second or third Treat all sections as if they count: you can’t tell which two do and which one doesn’t!

Keeping Your Scores The test is geared toward your highest level of difficulty, so you can’t judge accurately how you did! In general, if you finish the test, keep your scores.

Timing your GRE Preparation That’s the end of my presentation. Do you have any questions?

Grad School Application Timeline Find application deadline for targeted programs, Subtract one month to determine your deadline, Subtract two more months to request letters of recommendation, Take GRE at least two – three months before published deadlines, Mail in application, and arrange for transcripts to arrive by no later than one month before deadline.

Take a pre-test to identify your approximate beginning level GRE Prep Timeline Take a pre-test to identify your approximate beginning level Find target scores on PowerPrep Study areas that need improvement Practice to increase speed Take a post-test to track your improvement

GRE Bottom Line: Practice!!