Field Test of a Computer-Based GRE General Test. GRE Board Report No. 88-08P

This report contains results of a field test conducted to determine the relationship between a Graduate Records Examination (GRE) linear computer-based test (CBT) and a paper-and-pencil (P&P) test with the same items. Recent GRE examinees participated in the field test by taking either a CBT or the P&P test. Data from the field test indicated that examinees were able to navigate through the CBT with very little difficulty and that their overall reaction to the CBT was favorable. No substantive item-level mode effects were detected. No test-level mode effects were found for the verbal and analytical measures, but a small test-level effect was found for the quantitative measure. The raw-to-scale equating conversions of the CBT nearly matched those of the P&P version of the CBT for each measure, and therefore P&P conversions were used to report CBT scores. Six appendixes provide supplemental information, including item response theory parameter estimates, the plots of differences, the CBT questionnaire results, and seven additional tables. (Contains 31 tables, 13 figures, and 6 references.) (Author/SLD)