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PREFACE
Quite a number of people have written requesting
information detailing the mechanics of the GRE subject exams and their
application in earning credit toward an accredited bachelor degree. Much of
the contents of this section was culled from other parts of the series. It
is gathered together here to assist readers who hitherto may have
experienced difficulty locating relevant information.
ABOUT THE GRE SUBJECT EXAMS
Graduate record advanced subject examinations are
offered in a variety of disciplines. Their primary purpose is to test the
readiness of candidates for graduate study in a particular field. Most
examinees writing these exams are bachelor degree graduates in the specific
field or in a related discipline.
Excelsior College is the only assessment institution to award enough credit for a GRE
subject exam, to meet all requirements of a major or to trigger
conferral of a second degree based solely on one's performance in that
exam. Empire State College (not an assessment college) requires that 30+
credits be earned “in-house”, and will award up to 36 semester hours credit
for a suitable performance in the GRE subject exam.
GRE subject exams are not the same animal
as the GRE general exam. They are a different species. Knowledge of basic
algebra, geometry, or synonyms and antonyms, will not be enough to cut it
in these tests.
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No academic credit is
awarded for any score in the GRE General Exam.
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Although the majority of GRE subject test examinees may
be graduates in the field, this does not mean examinees who are neither
graduates in the discipline or indeed graduates at all, cannot pass these
tests at the required level. They can and frequently do. I used the GRE
subject test in Political Science to provided all the necessary
major/concentration credit for my first University
of the State of New York / Regents degree1. I later wrote
another GRE subject exam, garnering an additional 30 semester hours credit.
Augmented by a single 3-credit hour ECE (formerly ACT/PEP) test, I thus
completed requirements for another degree major, this time in
Psychology2.
1The
administering entity, Regents College, later split from USNY, becoming the
independent “Excelsior College”.
2Alas,
although requirements for a second degree in Psychology were met in full,
USNY regulations prohibited conferral of a second degree in the same
liberal arts degree program. This issue is discussed in detail in the
Second Degree guide and elsewhere in BA in 4 Weeks. I went on to earn a
third major, and a second degree, this time in Business.
A DWINDLING RESOURCE
GRE subject examinations are an endangered species, and
it seems that with every passing exam diet there are fewer from which to
choose. So if you're toying with the idea of doing this, don't hang about
too long. Remember, you can earn a degree major by taking just one
exam for about $130.
GRE DETAILS TO CONSIDER
Excelsior College awards credit for GRE subject exams on
a sliding scale. A score above the 80th percentile will net you 30 semester
hours credits. A score above the 35th percentile will net you 3 semester
hours. In between, credits are accumulated in 3 credits per 5 percentile
point increments.
Charter Oak State College (COSC) Awards 18 or 24 credits
for GRE subject exams for any score above the 40th percentile. 24 credits
are awarded for quantitative exams, 18 credits are awarded for non
quantitative exams.
Thomas Edison State College (TESC) does not
award credit for GRE subject exams.
In addition to the above, it should be noted that
Excelsior awards the first 12 credits as lower division (LD) credits. That
is, a pass above the 50th percentile will yield 12 LD credits. All
additional credits awarded are upper division credits (UD). So, a score
above the 80th percentile yields 12 LD and 18 UD semester hour credits, for
a total of 30 credit hours.
COSC awards 15 LD credits + 9 UD credits in the
quantitative GREs, and 15 LD credits + 3 UD credits in the non
quantitative GREs, for a total of 24 and 18 credit hours respectively.
COSC breaks LD credits into basic level and advanced
level, but to all intents and purposes they are LD credits so far as I can
establish. COSC graduates may know better
COMPLETING A DEGREE MAJOR
Majors in some subjects can be completed by Excelsior
College students by scoring above the 80th percentile in an appropriate GRE
subject examination.
As noted, in the case of Excelsior College, credit is
awarded on a sliding scale, from 3 credits for a score above the 35th
percentile to 30 credits for a score above the 80th percentile.
The minimum requirement for a major is 30 credits
with a minimum of 15 in the upper division. Therefore, passing a GRE
subject exam above the 80th percentile satisfies the degree major
requirements, except where the discipline requires a
laboratory component (in Biology, Chemistry or Physics).
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Special lab requirements for the certain Science
majors
Biology
: 2 courses,
at least one upper division
Chemistry : 4
courses, at least one upper division
Physics
: 2 courses,
at least one upper division
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or, where the major’s requirements include a
subject deemed to have inadequate coverage in the GRE subject exam. For
example, the Psychology major requires, among other things, a course in
“Research Methods in Psychology”. While the Psych GRE satisfies most
concentration requirements, it does not fulfill this one.
Coincidentally, Excelsior offer their own proprietory
exam in exactly that subject! Sitting this ECE exam will cost an additional
$155.
Here is a snippet of Excelsior College’s take on the
issue of credit accumulation and the concentrations/majors:
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You may
demonstrate knowledge in a specific area of concentration in one or a
combination of three ways:
1.
Submission of appropriate and sufficient college course credits and
sucessful performance on proficiency examinations in the sybject area
2.
Sucessful performance on an Excelsior College Special Assignment
examination
3.
Successful completion of an appropriate Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
Subject Test
Excelsior College Liberal Arts program catalog, Page 20
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A list of acceptable GRE subject exams and their current
required scaled scores can be found at Excelsior.edu. Detailed specification
of individual concentration requirements can be found in the Liberal Arts Catalog
EXAM MATERIALS
Best are the "Practicing to take [Economics/Physics
etc.]" book series from ETS, who produce the actual GRE advanced
subject exams. These are not study guides but past examination papers. They
are the best indicator of what you know, what you don't know, and
where you should concentrate your efforts within the relevant discipline.
They are starting to go out of print, but often there are remainders.
GRE subject exams official practice test books
· Biochemistry,
Cell and Molecular Biology
· Biology
· Chemistry
· Computer
Science
· Literature
in English
· Mathematics
· Physics
· Psychology
Another great resource, is an abbreviated version of the
above publications, available free for download in PDF format from ETS . .
. . .
GRE subject exams free
practice materials in pdf format
· Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular
Biology
· Biology
· Chemistry
· Computer Science
· Literature in English
· Mathematics
· Physics
· Psychology
Most
of the study guides from other publishers are of limited value. One notable
exception is the series from The Princeton Review called "Cracking
the GRE"... (Biology, Literature, Psychology, etc.). I've used the
Psychology offering and found it useful. The study notes are directly
applicable to the GRE subject exam. The test questions are very close in
level of difficulty and in scope to that of the actual exam. There are full
answers to the questions in a subsequent section. Unfortunately, only 35
questions are included.
Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE - subject exams - offerings . .
. . .