Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993 TAG: 9311170230
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Officials at Virginia Tech and Hollins College, where the Educational Testing Service administers the test, said they're not aware of any immediate plans to provide the test by computer.
The nearest place to take it is at a Sylvan Learning Center in the state capital.
The Educational Testing Service began administering the test by computer at Sylvan on Monday. Sylvan has proposed setting up one of its franchises in Roanoke by April, said Joanna Bell, a customer service representative with the Columbia, Md.-based company.
Until then, unless testers want to travel to Richmond, Washington, Norfolk or Manassas, it's the normal No. 2 pencil-and-paper routine.
"Right now it's not affecting our students a lot, although it is an option," say, for a student who missed a test deadline but wants to take it near home in those areas, said Sherry Lynch, coordinator for testing at Virginia Tech.
From June 1992 to April 1993, about 1,450 people took the general test at Virginia Tech, she said. Only a handful of students had shown interest in taking the computerized test.
There may be more demand for it in the spring as graduate school application deadlines draw closer and students don't feel like waiting the normal six weeks for test results, Lynch said.
"There haven't been any takers at Hollins," where only one person picked up information on the computerized test at the most recent session in October, said Faye Ivanhoe, supervisor for GRE testing.
At approximately 150 centers across the country, the computerized tests will be given three or more times a week - instead of the traditional five times a year, said Kevin Gonzalez, a spokesman with the New Jersey-based ETS. Other major exams are expected to convert.
The computerized GRE provides immediate scoring results, can be worked on at one's own pace, is administered to smaller groups and is supposedly quicker to take, he said.
However, it costs $93, as opposed to $48 for the regular test, and students still have to take their specific subject tests the old-fashioned way.
Critics have said it could exacerbate problems in a test they say already is biased against minorities and women by introducing a need for computer familiarity, although ETS says that familiarity can be taught in the minutes before the test.
More than 400,000 students applying to graduate schools took the test last year. The next test date is Dec. 11.
by CNB