GRE® Board Statement Regarding The Fair And Appropriate Use of GRE Scores

GRE test scores are appropriately used as one factor in the selection of graduate students, graduate fellowship recipients, or graduate teaching and research assistants. Scores may also be used diagnostically for guidance and counseling.

Scores are most effectively used when validation evidence is available to document the relationship of different score levels to success in the graduate program. Such evidence may be obtained from a single program or may be based on combined evidence from similar programs.

Validity studies can be used to determine which GRE test scores yield the greatest information about applicants' future success and can lead to a formulaic combination of scores. Programs interested in conducting a validity study may contact the GRE Program (gretests@ets.org or 1-609-683-2002) for assistance with the technical aspects of conducting such a study.

The following principles should be adhered to in the use of GRE scores:

• Test scores should always be used along with other sources of information such as course grades, letters of recommendation, personal statements, samples of academic work or professional experience.
• Cut-off scores (i.e., setting a minimum score) should not be used as the sole criterion for making a decision about graduate admission, fellowship awards or selection of graduate assistants.
• The Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Writing scores should be treated as three separate and independent pieces of information. They should not simply be combined into a single score^1, because the scales for the measures differ greatly.
• Scores on the Analytical Writing measure should be expressed on the 1-6 scale on which the measure is scored. They should not be equated to the scores on the Verbal and Quantitative measures, because the scales are not comparable.
• Decisions about applicants should not be based on small score differences, due to the inherent uncertainty in all forms of measurement. Standard errors of measurement vary by test and are available in the GRE Guide to the Use of Scores.
• Departments using GRE Subject Test scores should periodically review the test content description in order to verify the appropriateness of content for their programs. Scores from Subject Tests in different fields are not comparable, and no conclusion should be drawn from comparing scores from tests in different fields.
• GRE scores should not be used as a credential to grant a degree, to offer course credit by examination, for advancement to candidacy, or for employment decisions in a non-educational setting.

This statement was adopted unanimously by the GRE Board on May 4, 2004 and endorsed by the Council of Graduate Schools Advisory Committee on Minorities
on April 4, 2004.

¹An exception to this principle is justified if the formula for combining scores was derived as the result of an empirically-based validity study.