[nabs-l] taking the GRE

[Loew, Ruth]

Hi, everybody.  I'm sorry I've been slow to respond.  I was at a BANA meeting last week, and now I'm on vacation.  For most of this week, I'm going to be accessing email primarily via a mobile device (BlackBerry) that doesn't give me very good access to long emails, such as listserv digests.  So if you have an urgent question about the GRE (or anything else related to ETS testing), please email me offlist at rloew at ets.org<mailto:rloew at ets.org>.  I can read short individual emails much more easily than the listserv.  Anything that's less urgent, I'll answer once I'm back in the office (June 4 and thereafter).  And I'll be at Convention all week.

You've asked some great and complicated questions about the GRE General Test.  Here are answers to some of them:

1.      The self-voicing test is still available.  It is true that right now, it's still a self-voicing version of the "old" GRE, the one that was offered until the revised GRE went live late last summer.  But scores are statistically converted to the new scale, so there's no way for grad schools to know that you took the self-voicing test (or any other accommodation, for that matter).  For more information on score conversion, see http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/how.
2.      The self-voicing version of the revised GRE General Test is being created now.  I'm not sure of the exact time frame; I believe the goal is to have the practice test and tutorial ready sometime this summer and the test itself soon thereafter.  When I have firm dates, I'll let you know.
3.      The "old" GRE was dynamic in the way Arielle described: Questions were selected based on performance on previous questions.  The revised GRE, however, is much less dynamic in that sense.  After a certain point in the Verbal section, and again at some point in the Quant (math), there's a branching to easy, medium, or high difficulty questions, based on performance; but that's it.  So there's less difference between the "static" test formats (self-voicing, braille, large print, reader's script, recorded audio) and the standard computer-based test than was formerly the case.
4.      In the self-voicing test, and also in recorded audio and reader's script, the figures are fully described, and tactile or enlarged graphics (your choice) are provided.
5.      Here's some information on accessible practice materials for the GRE General Test: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/disabilities.  If you need more information, or want to request specific practice materials, please contact Nora Hallenbeck: nhallenbeck at ets.org<mailto:nhallenbeck at ets.org>.  She's a customer service representative with a lot of experience with blind and low-vision test takers, and she's responsible for shipping hard-copy GRE practice materials.

I hope this is helpful.  Feel free to contact me off-list or after my vacation.  If there's demand, I'd be happy to arrange an informal Q & A session at Convention or by phone.

Enjoy the holiday weekend, at least what's left of it!

Ruth C. Loew, Ph.D.
Assistant Director
Office of Disability Policy, ETS
phone: 609-683-2984
fax: 609-683-2220