Sylvia Bradshaw
Staff Writer
The Graduate Record Examination has been redesigned.
The test, which is used by graduate schools to help determine admissions, is shifting from paper and pencil to a computer-formatted test.
Albert Ramirez, chairman of the Graduate Record Examinations Board, presented to University of Houston administrators Wednesday a new format that will dramatically change the way students take the GRE.
"In light of the new technology available, we feel the change is both necessary and (will) create a more efficient test," Ramirez said.
Presently students take the General Test using paper and pencil with the option of using the computerized version.
However, the GRE Board plans to eliminate the paper test after April 1999.
Rob Durso, associate program director for GRE, was also involved in the presentation. He said the changes will require many students to alter their test-taking strategies.
"The computerized test requires that students focus on one question at a time," Durso said.
This means students will not have the option of skipping hard questions to answer easier ones first. The test is designed so that test-takers must answer each question before moving on to the next one.
"Once they have selected an answer and confirmed it as their choice, they cannot go back and change it, " Durso said.
Similar to law schools' LSAT and medical schools' MCAT, the GRE is a national test measuring verbal, quantitative and analytical skills.
Other changes to the GRE include the addition of two portions that measure mathematical reasoning and writing.
The Mathematical Reasoning Test will measure students' abilities to reason using techniques of calculus and other college-level mathematics, Durso said.
Students pursuing degrees in engineering, physics, chemistry and