getting into graduate school

 

Visit the GRE website to find out all you need to know - including information on practice tests, but here is a brief presentation…

 

overview

 

The GRE, or Graduate Record Exam is a test that is used by Graduate Schools in many different fields as a means of selecting students to admit into their program.

 

Highlights

What is the test like?

 

  • There are two types of tests.

 

    • The General Test measures verbal, quantitative, and analytical skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. The test consists of three scored sections:

 

      • Verbal (V): 30-minute section (30 questions)
      • Quantitative (Q): 45-minute section (28 questions)
      • Writing: 1 issue task (45 minutes), 1 argument task (30 minutes)

 

Click here to take some practice questions

 

 

      • Experimental or natural science oriented (about 40% of the questions), including learning, language, memory, thinking, sensation and perception, physiological psychology, ethology.
      • Social or social science oriented (about 43% of the questions), including clinical and abnormal, developmental, personality, and social psychology.
      • General (about 17% of the questions), including the history of psychology, applied psychology, measurement, research designs, and statistics.

 

Where do I go and what do I do?

 

  • Most students take the exam online, at a specific testing location.  The address for the nearest location to UIS is:

 

Prometric Testing Center
319 Chatham Road
Springfield, Illinois 62704
United States
(217) 546-0381

 

    • Click here to find other locations in Illinois.
    • The Educational Testing Service has found that scores from computer based testing are equivalent to the paper-based test.

 

  • When you show up to the testing center, you'll need:

 

    • A photo ID
    • Authorization Voucher (see the website to determine if you need an Authorization Voucher).

 

getting into graduate school

 

This following site is found on the American Psychological Association's website.  It's brief, but very informative.

 

WHAT CRITERIA DO GRADUATE SCHOOLS USE?

 

I've summarized the results of a couple of empirical investigations that rank the relative importance of dimensions graduate schools use to make their admission decisions (e.g., GPA, volunteer work, etc…).