DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Kaplan instructor Jeff Halford gives criminal justice major Jessica Flatt some advice on how to do well on the LSAT yesterday at the Kaplan Center, 845 E. University Blvd. The GRE - which is akin to the SAT for graduate school - is changing its format to be more like the LSAT, which includes a writing sample.

Change may make it more difficult for international students to compete

The GRE will soon require students to write an essay, a change that could make it more difficult for international students to get into graduate school.

On Oct. 1, the analytical section of the Graduate Record Examination - a graduate-level exam similar to the SAT - will be replaced with two essays. Until Oct. 1, students can choose whether to take the old or new version of the test.

The change will allow graduate schools to refine the admissions process, said Bonnie Eissner, a Kaplan spokeswoman, but she noted that it "could have a very negative impact on people unfamiliar with the English language."

As of last fall, about 1,700 international graduate students were enrolled at UA, but not all of them were required to take the GRE for acceptance, because different colleges have different application requirements.

Maria Theresa Velez, associate dean of the UA Graduate College, said the requirements for different academic disciplines vary dramatically, and that not all the departments place equal importance on the essay.

"Some disciplines require communication skills but not a perfect command of the language," she said.

Colleges that are more scientific in nature, such as engineering or math, do not place as large an emphasis on the written portion of the exam.

In the GRE, the scores on the math, verbal and essay sections will be recorded separately so universities can look at a student's performance on different parts of the test, Eissner said.

The test's new essay portion will focus more on one's ability to structure an argument than on writing style.

One essay will require students to take a position on an issue and support that position. The other will require students to critique another argument. This change will make the GRE resemble the Law School Admission Test, which also asks for a writing sample.

"The ability to make and communicate a cohesive argument is a key skill in grad school," Eissner said.

Studying at the graduate level "requires an amazing amount of writing," said Graduate and Professional Student Council President Kirsten Copeland.

She said international students should not be negatively affected by the change as long as the grading of the essay concentrates on the organization of thoughts and ideas.

If the focus were on the word choice and grammar of the essay, she said there would definitely be an impact.

"There is no such thing as a perfect test, but this one may place more emphasis on communication skills," Copeland said.

Velez said research has shown the purely multiple-choice version of the GRE is not a reliable way to assess potential graduate students.

Since the version with the essay is new, there is no research to show if it will be an effective test or not, she said.

Avnish Kapoor, a plant science doctoral student, said he doesn't think he would have done as well on the GRE if it had included an essay.

Kapoor, a newly elected GPSC representative, was raised in India.

He said his school taught in English and used English-language textbooks, but the average international student probably has a poorer grasp of the language than a student born and raised in the United States.

"I feel that I would have not been able to compete against an American if our essays were evaluated by the same person, who was probably going to be an American," he said.

Kathryn Leonard, director of outreach for the Princeton Review, said the new test format could cause some problems for students who do not have a very strong English vocabulary.

"Writing skills are very important to graduate education," she said.

Leonard recommends that students study vocabulary before taking the test. She said non-native English speaking students may want to begin studying vocabulary two or more years before taking the test.

"The GRE is just one component of graduate admission," Leonard said.

She said colleges typically use the GRE as a sort of tiebreaker, so the test is not the only way a student can be admitted into a graduate program.

However, the GRE is important when colleges decide which students should receive funding for teaching assistant and research assistant positions, as well as graduate fellowships, Leonard said.

She said the Princeton Review will be changing the courses they offer to accommodate the new exam format.

More information about the GRE will be available at Kaplan's "GRE is Changing" Seminars on Tuesday and May 13 at 6 p.m.

Both seminars will be held at Kaplan, located on 845 E. University Blvd., Suite 175. Students can register for the seminars at 1-800-KAP-TEST.