As students grin and bear the grueling test-taking process for graduate schools, they will have to accept some new changes heading their way.

The Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, will have a completely different format starting Aug. 1, 2011. The GRE is an entrance exam for most graduate schools across the country.

Lee Weiss, GRE instructor and director of graduate programs at Kaplan Test Prep, said the new GRE is a sweeping change.

The new GRE will be different in terms of timing, the scoring scale, the type of test, the question types and how often a potential graduate student can take the test, Weiss said.

While the former GRE has a computer adaptive test, or CAT type, the new GRE will be a multi-stage test, or MST type, where there will be 20 questions of mixed difficulty in each section. Based on how well the test-taker does on that portion, the next 20 question section will be easier or harder, according to Weiss.

He added that the scoring scale will also be changed from the 200 to 800-point range in 10-point increments to a 130 to 730-point range in one-point increments. Weiss said the scoring scale needed to be changed “to make small differences look like small differences in the scores and big differences look like big differences in the scores.”

“The scoring scale needs to be reset,” he said. “There isn’t a good match-up between your scores and the percentile you get in.”

Weiss said an applicant can currently take the GRE every 30 days, while the new GRE allows applicants to take the exam every 60 days.

“You need to prepare early to get the scores you need,” he said.

In a Kaplan survey of 108 of the top graduate programs conducted in August, Weiss said 81 percent of the schools do not have a transitional policy to go from old scores to the new scores.

“Schools are going to have to have a transitional policy. You want to be fair to applicants who took both tests,” Weiss said. “It’s really hard to compare old GRE scores with new ones if a transitional policy is not in place.”

When schools were asked what factor is most important in graduate school admission, 30 percent of the schools said it is the GRE, 26 percent said it is the applicant’s undergraduate GPA and 16 percent of the schools said it is work experience, according to Weiss.

Kim Rattigan, sophomore in AHS, said grades play a vital role in getting into graduate schools. Apart from academics, she added that admission officers may possibly look at how active an applicant is in terms of involvement in clubs and organizations.

Elizabeth Kibler, director of graduate and professional admissions, said the University’s graduate college does not require the GRE for admissions. However, certain departments do require the entrance exam.

Kibler said the two main components of a strong application for graduate school consists of a comparable bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and an acceptable B average.

There are positives and negatives to both versions of the GRE exam, yet the new GRE might usher in a new era of test-taking for graduate admissions.

“We believe that it’s definitely a trade-off,” Weiss said. “We do believe that this is a unique opportunity for test-takers.”