Kuwaiti student leader campaigns against using GRE as prerequisite

Kuwaiti student leader campaigns against using GRE as prerequisite

By Faten Omar

KUWAIT: The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is commonly required for admission to graduate programs in universities in the United States and many other countries. The GRE measures a student’s readiness for graduate-level academic work through a variety of question types.  But according to student Abdulghaphor Hajjieh, calling GRE test a math and verbal test is quite deceiving, as it tests some general knowledge, but then gets too technical, needing obscure math properties to solve some questions that have no use in real-life applications.

Speaking to Kuwait Times, the graduate student on a scholarship from Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, who was elected to the University of Kansas’ student senate as a single-issue candidate, said most prospective students either do well in the math section or the verbal section, depending on which program they’re applying to.

“GRE requires an extensive time investment, and most often private tutoring, as you do well depending on how much time you put in. Therefore, it’s not a math and verbal test, but a test of commitment, where this exam favors affluent individuals who can afford tutoring services, young people that have minimum to low social commitments such as marriage or