ACET, Inc. Blog

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE), owned and implemented by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), is the most commonly used standardized test when applying to graduate school. Made up of sections for quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, and writing, the test covers a variety of questions meant to show an individual’s knowledge on specific subjects in preparation for graduate school.

ETS has revised the GRE General Test to better capture student readiness for graduate level course work. The revised GRE also resulted in changes in the scoring system. Originally, an individual score would fall between 200 and 800 points in 10-point increments; however, starting in November of 2011, scores will fall between 130 and 170 in 1-point increments. The adjusted score scale allows reviewers to compare candidates more simply; 1-point increments may more accurately represent how far apart candidates are on the score scale. The new score scale should also allow for a better distribution of scores and more aptly show candidate abilities. Percentile scores, which have always reflected where an individual tested in comparison with other test takers over the previous three years, will remain on the scorecard.

To learn more about the score scale revisions, check out this video from ETS:
http://www.ets.org/s/gre/swf/gre_score-scale-video/GRE_ScoreScale_Video.html

Cassie