Effects of Calculator Availability on GRE Quantitative Questions GRE
- Author(s):
- Bridgeman, Brent; Cline, Frederick; Levin, Jutta
- Publication Year:
- 2014
- Source:
- Wendler, Cathy; Bridgeman, Brent (eds.) with assistance from Chelsea Ezzo. The Research Foundation for the GRE revised General Test: A Compendium of Studies. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service, 2014, p1.5.1-1.5.5
- Document Type:
- Chapter
- Page Count:
- 5
- Subject/Key Words:
- Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Revised GRE, Quantitative Reasoning, Quantitative Tests, Calculators, Item Difficulty, Test Revision
Abstract
Describes a study that looked at the impact of calculator availability on the Quantitative measure. The study determined if an adjustment was needed for Quantitative questions that were pretested without a calculator and evaluated the effects of calculator availability on overall scores. Two Quantitative question types were examined: standard multiple-choice and quantitative comparisons. Results indicated that there was only a minimal calculator effect on most questions in that a greater percentage of test takers who used a calculator did not get the question correct when compared to test takers who did not use a calculator. However, questions that were categorized as being calculator sensitive were generally answered more quickly by students who used a calculator. Results also indicated that the use of a calculator seemed to have little impact on test takers’ scores on the Quantitative measure.