There will not be a new Graduate Record Exam (GRE) this September. Educational Testing Services (ETS), the organization that administers the GRE, has cancelled all plans to introduce a revamped test.
According to David Payne, executive director of the GRE program at ETS, "The decision to cancel the revised GRE General Test best serves the interests of test takers and the graduate institutions that use those scores to make admissions decisions." Payne reported that, after much deliberation, the current format offers students more convenient opportunities to take the test when and where they choose.
The inability to ensure test-taker access was the main reason for calling off the revised GRE. Three-thousand, two-hundred Internet-based testing centers were to be used to take the revised test. However, ETS was not certain that full-access to the Internet-based GRE could be guaranteed for all students.
Payne also emphasizes that the graduate community is satisfied with the current GRE, but ETS will continue to develop improvements for the future. These improvements will be gradually incorporated into the test without changing to an entirely new format.
Some students are relieved that the new GRE has been called off. The familiarity of the old test is comforting for anxious test-takers. "If the system works with the old GRE, don't change it!" said sophomore John Finn.