Prospective grad students can find GRE preparation

October 29, 2008
By Greta Myers
Staff Reporter

UIS offers help to undergraduates who must take the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) to be admitted to certain graduate degree programs.  The Career Development Center, located in the Student Affairs Building, offers in-depth, online programs geared toward preparing students for the GRE, as well as the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) and Law School Admissions Test (LSAT).  The center is partnering with Cambridge Educational Services to provide these courses, which are accessible 24 hours a day, for  4 months and cost $400.  

Jennifer Jenkins, Office Supervisor and Testing Manager said that the Career Development Center is a user-friendly and comprehensive resource for all of UIS’ students. “The way we set up our Web site is to help from when you go to college, to when you are looking for a job,” Jenkins said. 

The Center for Teaching and Learning, located on the fourth floor in the Brookens building, offers assistance for the writing and math sections of the GRE, in the form of on-campus and online workshops.  An online workshop focusing on the verbal, vocabulary, and essay portions of the GRE will be on November 7, from 11:30 a.m.- 1:00p.m. 

The local GRE testing center is at Prometric, which is located near the County Market store, in the 5th Street shopping mall in Southern View.  Interested students should call Prometric at 546-0381 to set a test appointment.  On testing day, they need to bring their ID and should allow up to four hours for the exam.  Though there is a $140 fee for the exam, vouchers are sometimes available, based on financial need.  Test takers can see the preliminary results immediately after the test, and can have the results sent to up to four schools.

UIS Senior Joe Datolli took the exam at Prometric in August in plans for graduate school, for his dream, ultimately, of becoming a psychologist in a public school.  Datolli prepared for the exam by using a $35 study GRE guide, he purchased at Barnes and Noble.  The book included a CD-ROM and 2 full length tests, which Datolli said he studied for  5 to 6 hours a week for 2 months.

“I’m all about distributive practices,” Datolli said about test taking preparations.  The quantitative math section was the most challenging, said Datolli, because it had been awhile since he had done that type of math.  But overall, the test was reasonable, “A lot of people think it will be more overwhelming than it is,” he said.

For more information about preparing for the GRE, call the Career Development Center at 206-6508, the Center for Teaching and Learning, at 206-2503, or go online to www.ETS.org/gre for more information.