In a surprise move welcomed by the Princeton Review, the Educational Testing Service postponed controversial changes intended to drastically alter the Graduate Record Examination until fall of 2007.
ETS suggested these changes, which include a revamping of format, cost, length and frequency of the exam and will affect approximately 500,000 college students across the nation who must take the GRE in order to attend graduate school.
Liz Wands, a GRE expert from the Princeton Review, said that she was not surprised by the delay and believed the suspension of the alterations was directly related to the sheer magnitude of the changes.
"The change to the GRE is really the largest change that has ever been done to a standardized test," Wands said. "We are not surprised that ETS has delayed this because it is a gigantic change. They are essentially revamping the entire exam."
Although ETS claims the changes, originally intended to be implemented in the fall of 2006, are an attempt to make the test a more valid assessment of student ability, there has been vocal opposition to these adjustments, led by the Princeton Review.
Wands said she is concerned with the motivations behind the modifications.
"ETS, the company which administers the GRE, claims they are making these changes, because they want the test to be more valid," Wands said. "We at the Princeton Review don't think this is the case."
Wands added that the clients of ETS are graduate school admissions officers and that she believes the changes were sparked not by a desire to improve the quality of the test but by financial concerns.
According to Wands, the current test, administered on a computer, is convenient for students but very expensive to maintain. The test offered today is adaptive, which means the difficulty level of the next question depends on the response to the previous one.
The proposed change would make the test a flat test, much like the SAT, in which all students would see the same questions. This format would decrease the cost of maintenance by reducing the number of questions test-makers must create.
Wands said that in addition to the change in format, other modifications will make the experience less convenient for students.
"Quite frankly, we're outraged that students have to suffer because ETS is making these changes," Wands said. "They're saying the students' interest is at the core of their changes but that is not the case."
Wands enumerated the changes in the exam: it will be more expensive, four hours rather than two, offered less frequently and include what she called "esoteric questions" never before seen on any standardized test.
Some Dartmouth students who have taken the GRE expressed concern over the added inconvenience of the proposed alterations.
Alana Finley '06, who took the exam last month, said she appreciated the convenience of the current format.
"I think the format that they are proposing would be more stressful just because it's a longer test," she said. "That was one thing that I really liked about the format they had -- it was pretty painless in terms of time constraints. I liked that I could take it according to my schedule."
Despite the added stress and hassle the new format will bring to the GRE come 2007, advisors and students at the College said they believe those applying to graduate school will continue to take the exam.
Karen Whittet, assistant director of Career Services at Dartmouth, expressed her hope that the benefits of the changes will outweigh its costs and said she has not seen any major differences in trends of students applying for graduate school since the ETS proposal was released.
"The challenge is, no matter what, the GRE is going to be required to enter certain graduate programs," Whittet said. "Students are bound by that. I don't foresee any trends occurring as far as students not applying because of the changes. From my understanding the ETS is really working to make the test more valid, and I'm hoping that it will be a good test for students."
Wands said that during the next two years the Princeton Review will be vigilant in their oversight of ETS and its development of the changes.
She added that students should be prepared for more delays and that the cited release date of fall of 2007 is probably flexible.
"If it were delayed longer, we would absolutely not be surprised -- we really wouldn't be shocked," Wands said.
