Seniors scramble to take GRE before format changes are implemented

As of yesterday, seniors preparing for the graduate school admissions process face a reformatted Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test. The exam now includes an analytical writing section and has eliminated the analytical section. The content of the test's verbal and quantitative sections remains unchanged.

Until now, the test has consisted of the verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections. A separate writing assessment has been an option for the past two years. The newly-incorporated analytical writing section is identical to the writing assessment.

The change comes at a time when more Tufts students, and undergraduates nationwide, are showing interest in applying to graduate schools, according to the Tufts Career Services office.

Test adjustments are a result of feedback acquired over the past few years by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) about "the kinds of information that is valued in graduate admissions decisions," said Dawn Piacentino, program director in the GRE program office.

ETS gathered information from graduate school deans and faculty through surveys and interviews held on various campuses, which indicated that analytical writing skills are valued in admissions decisions, according to Piacentino.

The name of the segment was changed from "Writing Assessment" to "Analytical Writing" to reflect that it is not simply aimed at testing knowledge of the English language, such as grammar usage, syntax, and spelling. The segment, she said, attempts to better "provide an assessment of a person's ability to make and critique arguments," highly pertinent skills for graduate school candidates.

Although many institutions approved of the standalone writing assessment, ETS found that some were hesitant to require it in addition to the general test. But because feedback about the format and contents of the writing assessment were positive, Piacentino said, the segment was not altered when added to the General Test.

The writing assessment will be particularly useful when looking at international students' applications. "For somebody whose first language is not English the score is helpful because if they have trouble understanding English they don't do well" in the graduate program, said Computer Science professor Anselm Blumer, who is in charge of graduate admissions for the Computer Science department. Even in technical disciplines like computer science, "writing and communication skills are still central."

Validity of an applicant's GRE results is especially important because admissions departments have no way of verifying the authenticity of personal statements, according to Tufts economics professor Yannis Ioannides, who is in charge of graduate admissions to the economics department.

The new format is also a move in "a desirable direction because writing skills are very important at every level," Ioannides said.

Universities have reacted positively to the changes, according to the ETS, especially in the wake of debate over the ease of cheating on entirely multiple choice tests. In China and India, the GRE Computer Science subject test was cancelled this year because of numerous reports of cheating. The test has been limited in its administration worldwide. The standard GRE test will continue to be given in India and Asia.

The GRE is now given completely by computer, which many have said facilitated the cheating scandals in Asia. But, the new format allows for more testing dates to be offered and tests to be graded quicker, helping students meet varying application deadlines.

But many students chose to take the test before yesterday's changeover so as to avoid the changes. There were "higher than expected test volumes up through the end of September," Piacentino said. She attributed this trend in part to the simple fact that students were more familiar with the previous version and therefore felt more comfortable taking it.

"It really depends on what a person thinks about how they write," Piacentino said. "From an examinee's point of view, if I was going to take the test and I was a good writer, I may think it was to my benefit to take the new test because it would reflect my ability."

But some students, such as Tufts senior Sharon Milewits, say they were more comfortable taking the strictly multiple choice test. "I felt like [the analytical multiple-choice section] would play to my strengths more than writing," said Milewits, who took the test Sept. 30 to avoid the new format.

The video cameras monitoring all test takers heighten the pressure on students who might already feel uncomfortable writing the two essays required in the new section, Milewits said. "I would prefer to not have to sit down and write a whole paper but to just answer questions," she said.

Some test takers have also voiced concern about the subjectivity of essays and essay scoring. "I don't really know how they are going to grade it," Milewits said.