GRE Is Not an Effective Measurement for Graduate Admission Persuasive Essay

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Introduction

Many universities conduct some kind of common tests for the students to decide their exact eligibility for admission. Questions have been raised by many people for and against conducting these kinds of tests. GRE is a typical example of such tests. The purpose of this essay is to check whether GRE is an effective measurement of graduate admission or not.

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Origin of GRE

The ancestor form of GRE originated at the time of the First World War. During the recruitment process of the US army, the authorities needed to check the efficiency of the candidates. They conducted alpha tests for evaluating candidates. Later the organizers of SAT exams had to follow the way of this army recruiting system under unexpected circumstances. After that most of the well-known universities began to follow the same way. In the book ‘Rethinking the SAT: The future of standardized testing in university admissions’ Rebecca Zwick says, ”The first SAT consisted of questions included the questions similar to those included in the army alpha test, which had been developed by a team of psychologists for use in selecting and assigning military recruits in world war I.” (Zwick, 2004, p.xi-xii).

Peculiarities of subjects

GRE derived from the way we already mentioned. In this kind of exam, instead of evaluating the real abilities of candidates importance is given to the command of candidates over subjects like English, Math, etc. besides the general subjects. These candidates also have to face questions from other GRE subjects like Engineering, literature, etc. The main problem arises when candidates who are well at GRE subjects like engineering, fail in subjects like English.

There are many points to justify standardized tests. Pro GRE people say that it doesn’t evaluate the candidates’ scores in their academic examinations. Only a minimum mark is necessary for attending the test. During the tests, the real thing which is counted would be the knowledge the candidate would have acquired during their academic years and their analytical ability. But things happen in another way. The organizers of the questions derive questions from a collection of conventional questions. So, naturally, candidates just prepare only those particular questions. There are a number of versions for GRE tests (now known as CAT – computer adaptability test) like GSAT, MSAT, LSAT, etc. The basic form of all these exams is similar. The difference is only on a few papers and the way they are conducted.

The importance of keeping time limit

Most of the exam organizers advise the universities to consider the results of these kinds of exams as one of the many criteria that should be assessed. But commonly this instruction is violated. Many institutions take the test result as the only parameter to evaluate the student for making admission as well as grading them throughout the academic years. All GRE tests are time-bound. The candidates must complete the exam within the specified time limit. They must be able to write the answers keeping the time limit. But the time required for doing a specific work may change from person to person. So there are chances for brilliant students to be expelled for breaking the specified time limit. Studies about exams like GRE reveal some interesting facts. Even if a student is brilliant, he cannot make sure that he would pass the exam without studying the questions of previous years. Here we can find that what is really tested during examination is the skill of candidates to pass the exam and not just his efficiency.

The attitude of the student towards GRE

Even if one candidate passes the GRE exam we cannot make sure that he would be perfect in all GRE subjects. The book “perception of international students toward GRE” written by Emily E Mupinga says: like any other multiple choice type of exam, there are a lot of GRE test-takers who pass through guesswork. A case in point, according to one female student from a commonwealth country, “I have an example of an Asian friend/classmate who scored at least 500 on the verbal section of GRE [the minimum required by the graduate school], but she hardly could speak a correct English sentence.” (Mupinga, E E., & Mupinga, D M., 2005, The structure of the exam, para.1).

The mental pressure during the preparation for the exam is very high. There are many reasons for that. A study by Verena H. Menec Raymond P. Perry C. Ward Struthers quotes “college Students are faced with a variety of experiences that can interfere with their learning and achievement in future situations. Personal concerns such as failing a test or experiencing financial difficulties can be sufficiently distracting to hinder studying efforts and, consequently, can result in poor performance on future tests.” (Menec, Perry & Struthers, 1995, p.281).

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The need for alternative for GRE

We cannot ignore the fact that every university needs some parameter to evaluate its applicants. Now the problem with these kinds of exams is that it is not sufficient to count the different abilities of candidates. Each and everyone is blessed with certain qualities. An IQ test or analytical ability test with a time limit would not be enough to measure it. After all, the authenticity of the GRE has been questioned many times. An article written by Walter a William says “poor black performance on standardized tests is frequently dismissed as owing to cultural bias of the test.” (Williams, 1989, p.1, para.13). He mentions the effect of making these kinds of questions.

Conclusion

The challenges that today’s people have to face are different. University education is supposed to make candidates face these new challenges. They are responsible for creating the leaders.

Thomas Alva Edison, the scientist who changed this world with his discoveries had said that once he was very poor in math, it would be funny to imagine making him write the GRE exams. We even cannot make sure that he would score the minimum.

So, the main disadvantages with the exams like GRE are that it is not enough for measuring the candidates from different countries, races, mindsets, economic backgrounds, abilities, etc. The drawbacks of this kind of standardized admission test are quite serious. These kinds of exams still exist only because there are no alternatives; so it is high time to make the serious debate on this topic and find a sophisticated alternative.

Now GRE test has become an area of mere competition. Many institutions try to make students prepare for GRE. Some of them are big companies that make a huge turnover. These institutions make the candidate prepare to deal with the subjects in which they are not good. The teachers in these institutions would be well aware of the pattern of the questions asked during the exams. But it would be difficult for a student who stays away from cities to access these kinds of facilities also. Even very brilliant students in villages and inner parts of the city would fail to score well. The time required for completing a specific work may vary from person to person. So, it is almost impossible to evaluate one’s ability based on the answers they give within a short time period. So when we take the entire thing into consideration, we can conclude that GRE is just a matter of preparation, not an ability test. So, whole debates for replacing GRE should be serious.

Reference

Menec, V H., Perry, R P., & Struthers, C W. (1995). The effect of adverse learning conditions on action-oriented and state-oriented college students. Journal of Experimental Education, 63 (4), 281. Web.

Mupinga, E E., & Mupinga, D M. (2005). Perceptions of International students towards GRE: The structure of the exam. College Student Journal, 39 (2), 402+. Gale Group. Web.

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Williams, W E. (1989). Campus racism. National review, 41 (8), 36+, Gale Group. Web.

Zwick, R. (2004). Rethinking the SAT: The future of standardized testing in university admissions. Routledge. xi-xii.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "GRE Is Not an Effective Measurement for Graduate Admission." May 19, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gre-is-not-an-effective-measurement-for-graduate-admission/.

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IvyPanda. "GRE Is Not an Effective Measurement for Graduate Admission." May 19, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gre-is-not-an-effective-measurement-for-graduate-admission/.

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