Students applying to graduate schools can thank their lucky stars. The Educational Testing Service - which designs and administers the Graduate Record Examination, the standardized test most often required for graduate school admission - on Monday called off plans to redesign the exam.
One of the planned changes to the GRE was to lengthen it by 65 minutes. Other alterations were to include more data analysis, less geometry, more reading comprehension and fewer analogies. All of those changes are now indefinitely on hold.
ETS announced in February that the new GRE would be ready by September, but as graduate school admission committees expressed frustration with the revised test - especially with its lack of availability overseas - the testing service ultimately decided to cancel the revisions.
ETS officials said the non-profit company planned to administer the GRE electronically through 3,200 testing centers around the world, but since it could not guarantee access, it decided to hold off on any changes for now.
"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," said David Payne, executive director of the GRE program, in a press release. "After much debate and evaluation, it became clear that the current format offers students more convenient and flexible opportunities to test when and where they choose, while still providing score users with valid predictors of test takers' preparedness for graduate school study."