“This is a ‘money maker’ and has nothing to do with what one knows or how one is able to get through graduate school,” wrote a disgruntled student regarding the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). However the Educational Testing Service, the organization that develops and administers standardized tests, disagrees. According to them, the GRE is intended to measure “verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills.”The stinging critique was part of a longer comment posted in response to a blog entry entitled “I hate the GRE.”

But a student doesn’t have to visit the blogosphere to hear complaints about the GRE, a test that serves as a requirement for admittance into graduate school, or about standardized testing in general. They have come from all over. In the 1990s the ETS made several changes to the GRE partially because of intense criticism from education experts and others claiming that its structure and content was discriminatory based on gender and race.

Anika Fontaine, a columnist for The Diamondback, the student newspaper at the University of Maryland at College Park, wrote in a Nov. 29 piece: “Standardized testing does not actually test someone’s intellect, creativity or critical thinking ability. It simply measures how well someone can do on standardized tests.”

She added that the price to take the GRE is $130, which is why she only took it once.

All criticisms aside, a good score is a necessary for admittance into many post-graduate institutions. Fontaine, who plans to study public policy, said that every program she looked into required the test and enrolled in a Kaplan course to prepare.

Companies such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review offer courses and study materials to aid in standardized testing, but often at a high price. Fontaine said she paid $1,149 for her service.

She said the course helped her improve her math score but was not necessarily helpful in the other areas, including reading comprehension, writing and vocabulary.

The Breakdown:

The GRE has three basic parts: a verbal section, a quantitative (math) section and an analytical writing section.

There are 30 multiple-choice questions in the 30-minute verbal section. The questions are similar in structure to those of the SAT verbal section, but the vocabulary words used are much more advanced. The math section is also similar to its corresponding section in the SAT and lasts 45 minutes. A calculator is not allowed.

The writing section consists of a 30-minute Issue essay, which instructs test takers to give their opinion on an issue, and a 45-minute Argument essay, which provides an argument that test takers are supposed to analyze and critique.

The GRE is usually (though not always) taken during an undergraduate’s senior year, several months before the application to graduate school is due. It can be taken up to five times in a calendar year.

Moving Forward:

The new GRE, set to launch in fall 2007, will eliminate the use of the computer-adaptive testing method, which adjusts the difficulty of test questions based on right and wrong answers, and change the content of the test significantly. For a comparison of the two versions, visit http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=880&TYPE=GR

Tips for Success:

Research the Test: Check out www.ets.org
Start Preparing Early: The GRE “a test that really can determine your future” is not the kind of thing you can start studying for the night before. There is a lot to cover, so get started early.
Pace Yourself: Cramming is not the answer. Devote an hour to studying every night and 3-4 hours on the weekend. With a test this important, you don’t want to burn out early.
Have patience: The vocabulary may take awhile to learn, but stick with it.
Don’t Freak Out: You can take the test up to five times in a calendar year, with good scores replacing not-so-good scores, so don’t sweat it if you mess up the first time.
Take a Prep Course: If you can afford it, that is. These are especially helpful for the math section. Check out www.kaptest.com or www.princetonreview.com
Or Buy a Book: If you can’t afford to shell out $1100, peruse your local bookstores for practice books and strategy manuals.