New GRE Gets an F
April 5th, 2007
73. Which of the following best describes the proposed new version of the Graduate Record Examination, the necessary standardized test for graduate school?
a) Twice as long, 50% more expensive, just as inane.
b) Already delayed a year despite four years of development.
c) Accused of being a”flawed product designed to increase test-maker income…”
d) A massive failure that has been shelved indefinitely.
Of course the answer is that all of these are true!
Educational Testing Services, the company that designs the exam and dozens of others, has thrown out its new GRE, claiming a lack of testing centers able to handle the redesigned test. Nearly 600,000 people take the GRE every year, paying $130 each for something that is a glorified SAT – a test, I should mention, nearly everyone already took to get into college.
The standardized testing industry is big business not because it delivers a fair and just service but because the SAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, and GMAT have hammerlocks on their respective admissions processes. Millions of students, without any other option, spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours for what? A poorly printed number on a sheet of paper?
Link to Yale Daily News
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