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ETS / GRE was planning to introduce significant changes to the format of the GRE General Test since September 2007. However, they decided to cancel the new format and the Old pattern stays.

The following changes to the GRE General Test were planned as reported in the official GRE website.

The New Verbal Reasoning Section

• Emphasis on skills related to graduate work, such as complex reasoning
  • Greater emphasis on higher cognitive skills and less dependence on vocabulary knowledge alone
  • More text-based materials, such as reading passages
  • A broader selection of reading passages
• Expansion of computer-enabled tasks (e.g., highlighting a sentence in a passage that serves the function described in the question)
• Two 40-minute sections
• Verbal Reasoning Sample Questions on the Official Site

The New Quantitative Reasoning Section

• Quantitative reasoning skills that are closer to skills generally used in graduate school
  • Proportion of questions involving real-life scenarios and data interpretation increased
  • Proportion of Geometry questions decreased
  • On-screen four-function calculator with square root
• Inclusion of question types other than multiple-choice, including computer-enabled tasks such as entering a numerical answer via a keyboard
• Two 40-minute sections
• Quantitative Reasoning Sample Questions on the Offical Site

Test Administration Changes

• The revised Verbal and Quantitative sections are changing from an adaptive test format, where the questions presented to each examinee vary according to his or her performance, to a linear test format, where all examinees testing at the same time receive the same questions.
• The GRE General Test will be administered on computer on approximately 30 test dates worldwide. The number of administrations in any given region will be based on the test volume in that region.
• To address possible security concerns, starting times for the test will be staggered across time zones.
• An expanded Internet-based testing network with about 3,500 test sites will be available worldwide.

Changes to the Verbal and Quantitative Score Scale

• The mean of the new score scale will be 150 with an expected range will be 130 to 170, in 1-point increments. Final specification of the precise score scale will be determined based on data from the initial revised General Test administrations, before scores are reported.
• The score scale for the Analytical Writing section will continue to be 0 to 6, in half-point increments.
• GRE Scores will continue to be available for reporting for 5 years following the examinee’s test administration.

1. What are the Revisions to the Computer-based GRE® General Test?
2. What are the areas that are tested in the GRE General Test?
3. What is the GRE Computer Based Test? What is a Computer Adaptive Test?

 

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