Princeton, N.J. (April 2, 2007) —
ETS has cancelled plans to launch the revised Graduate Record Examinations&re
g; (GRE®) General Test. The decision was made in consultation with the Ex
ecutive Committee of the GRE Board.
While ETS and the Board remain committed to improving the test, on balance, G
RE officials said they believe problems guaranteeing complete access to the n
ew Internet-based test outweighed the benefits of immediately moving to the n
ew format.
ETS originally planned to launch the revised GRE General Test worldwide in Se
ptember. Instead, the company will continue to offer the test worldwide in it
s current computer-based, continuous testing format. Registrations in India,
China and Japan, which had been closed, will be reopened in the near future t
o accommodate application deadlines. Likewise, registrations for the current
GRE General Test will continue elsewhere.
"The decision to cancel the revised GRE General Test best serves the interest
s of test takers and the graduate institutions that use those scores to make
admissions decisions," says David Payne, Executive Director of the GRE Progra
m at ETS. "After much debate and evaluation, it became clear that the current
format offers students more convenient and flexible opportunities to test wh
en and where they choose, while still providing score users with valid predic
tors of test takers' preparedness for graduate school study."
The primary reason for cancelling the launch of the revised GRE General Test
was test taker access. Plans called for the revised test to be delivered over
the new worldwide network of 3,200 Internet-based testing centers. Despite t
he network's size, ETS officials did not believe that full access to the Gene
ral Test for all students could be confidently assured.
"As the launch approached, ETS determined that, despite the aggressive develo
pment of our Internet-based testing network, we could not guarantee complete
access to all students needing to take the exam" Payne explains. "While the g
raduate community supports, and in fact helped develop and pilot the revised
GRE General Test, they have also stated that they are satisfied with the curr
ent GRE General Test, until such time as improvements can be gradually implem
ented. ETS is being responsive to their best interests."
ETS officials will work with the GRE Board to implement many of the planned t
est content improvements in the future without the access issues associated w
ith changing to an entirely new test delivered over a brand new testing netwo
rk.
Administering the GRE General Test in two testing sessions in The People's Re
public of China (including Hong Kong), The Republic of Korea and Taiwan will
also continue for the immediate future.
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Frequently Asked Questions for Test Takers
ABOUT ETS
ETS is a nonprofit institution with the mission to advance quality and equity
in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related s
ervices for all people worldwide. In serving individuals, educational institu
tions and government agencies around the world, ETS customizes solutions to m
eet the need for teacher professional development products and services, clas
sroom and end-of-course assessments, and research-based teaching and learning
tools. Founded in 1947, ETS today develops, administers and scores more than
30 million tests annually in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 location
s worldwide.
