10 Things Students Should Know About the GRE Revised General Test

July 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Accepted by thousands of graduate schools and now more than 500 business schools worldwide, the GRE General Test can open up a world of opportunity for students looking to earn an MBA or other graduate degree. Prospective test takers have even more reason to take the test this coming August, when the GRE revised General Test makes its debut. Here are 10 things you should know about the GRE revised General Test:

1.    Knowing when you need your test scores will help you decide whether to take the current GRE General Test or the GRE revised General Test. ETS reminds candidates to pay close attention to application deadlines. Candidates who need score reports before November should take the current test before August.

2.    Test takers can save 50 percent on the GRE revised General Test if they take the test in August or September 2011. ETS is offering a limited-time 50 percent discount to all students who take the GRE revised General Test between August 1 and September 30, 2011. Scores will be sent by mid-November.

3.    The GRE revised General Test will be more test-taker friendly. The GRE revised General Test will include new design features making it a friendlier test-taking experience. Featuring advanced technology that lets test takers move back and forth, edit or change answers, and skip and return to questions within a section, candidates will now have the freedom to use more of their own test-taking strategies. Candidates will also have access to an on-screen calculator for the Quantitative Reasoning section.

4.    The GRE revised General Test will feature new question types. Questions in the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections now more closely reflect the kind of thinking you’ll do in today’s demanding graduate and business school programs. New question types will better measure your ability to understand what you’ve read and how you apply your reasoning skills, and will put more emphasis on data interpretation and real-life scenarios. The Analytical Writing section will require more focused responses based on the tasks presented.

5.    The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections of the GRE revised General Test will be scored on a scale of 130-170. The new score scale will make it easier for schools to compare your scores with the scores of other candidates. The new score scale makes small differences in scoring look like small differences, while bigger differences will continue to stand out.

6.    Students have access to free GRE revised General Test preparation materials from ETS. The GRE website offers free test preparation materials, including sample questions for the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing sections of the test; free POWERPREP II Software, which is downloadable and gives students a simulated test-taking experience of the computer-based GRE revised General Test and more. Those who want additional practice can purchase The Official Guide to the GRE revised General Test from McGraw Hill.

7.    Students can use Facebook or TaketheGRE.com to get information and learn more about the GRE revised General Test. The GRE page on Facebook gives those considering graduate or business school an opportunity to share advice and get clear information about the GRE revised General Test. The GRE Program also recently introduced a new TaketheGRE.com website, which provides information about the GRE General Test and the GRE revised General Test, plus access to free, official GRE test preparation software and materials.

8.    Students can use their GRE scores for applying to both graduate and business school programs. As the most widely accepted graduate-level admissions test you can take, the GRE General Test has helped test takers get into thousands of graduate and business school programs all over the world. And GRE scores are valid for five years.

9.    The GRE revised General Test takes 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete. The computer-based GRE revised General Test will last about 3 hours 45 minutes and consists of separately timed sections: Verbal Reasoning, two 30-minute sections, approximately 20 questions each; Quantitative Reasoning, two 35-minute sections, approximately 20 questions; and Analytical Writing, two separately timed 30-minute tasks.

10.    Registration is now open for the GRE revised General Test. Students can register now or learn more about the GRE revised General Test.