The GRE Subject Test

1
The GRE Subject Test
Psychology
Patricia Taylor-Cooke
Drew C. Appleby
2
Overview

• What is the subject test?

• How and when is it administered?

• How is the subject test scored?

• What are the content areas?

• What are the questions like?

• How to prepare long-term and short-term.

• Why is the subject test important?

• What about guessing?

3
Do any of these sound familiar?

• The subject test is not an important selection
  criteria.

• I was told not to worry about the subject test
  score.

• I dont need to prepare. You either know it or
  you dont.

• I was told to just go take it and get it out of
  the way.

• I should guess even if I dont know an answer.

4
What is the Subject Test?

• It is an achievement test for psychological
  concepts and facts.

• It consists of approximately 220 multiple
  choice questions with 5 options for each
  question.

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
5
How and When Is the Subject Test Administered?

• Pencil and Paper Administration Only

• Offered 3 Times Each Year

• November

• December

• April

• You Will Have 2 hours and 50 minutes

• That is about 45 seconds per question

6
How is the Test Scored?

• Maximum Range of Scaled Scores 200 - 900

• Usually Smaller (400 700)

• Ranges Differ Across Versions Because
  Difficulty Levels Vary Across Different
  Versions

• Raw Score Total Correct (Total Incorrect /
  4)

• Raw Score is Then Converted to a Scaled Score

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
7
How is the Test Scored?

• 2 Subscores

• Experimental or Natural Science Oriented

• Social or Social Science Oriented

• Range approximately 20 99 (Depends on
  Difficulty Level of the Test)

• You ARE Penalized for Guessing

• ¼ of your wrong answers will be subtracted from
  your total correct answers when your raw score
  is determined

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
8
What are the Content Areas?
? There are Three Content Areas

• Experimental or Natural Science Oriented

Learning Language Memory Thinking Perception Etho
logy Sensation Physiological Comparative
Psychology

• Comprises about 43 of Exam

• Contributes to the Experimental Subscore

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
9
What are the Content Areas?

• Social or Social Science Oriented

Clinical Abnormal Developmental Personality Social

• Comprises about 43 of Exam

• Contributes to Social Subscore

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
10
What are the Content Areas?

• General

History Applied Psychology Measurement Research
Design Statistics

• Comprises only about 14 of the Exam

• Does NOT Contribute to a Subscore

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
11
What are the Questions Like?
? 2232 are likely to be on Learning, Language,
Memory, Thinking Perception
A student is attempting to train a dog to
salivate to a tone at a given frequency. The
students procedure on each of 100 trials is to
present food powder, then to present a brief
tone, and then to measure the dogs salivation to
the tone presented alone. The major problem with
this procedure is that a) Salivation is an
inappropriate UCR b) Dogs often fail to pay
attention to the CS when it is a tone of
unvarying frequency c) Extinction will take place
on some of the trials d) The UCS precedes the CS
rather than vice versa e) The UCR is not
sufficiently similar to the CR
A student is attempting to train a dog to
salivate to a tone at a given frequency. The
students procedure on each of 100 trials is to
present food powder, then to present a brief
tone, and then to measure the dogs salivation to
the tone presented alone. The major problem with
this procedure is that a) Salivation is an
inappropriate UCR b) Dogs often fail to pay
attention to the CS when it is a tone of
unvarying frequency c) Extinction will take place
on some of the trials d) The UCS precedes the CS
rather than vice versa e) The UCR is not
sufficiently similar to the CR
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
12

• Chomskys theories of language include which of
  the following?
• Language acquisition can be explained by the
  principles of classical and operant conditioning.
• There is an underlying abstract structure of
  language that is different from the surface
  structure of language in speech.
• III. The young child has an innate ability or
  predisposition to acquire appropriate grammatical
  speech.
• a) I only
• b) II only
• c) III only
• d) I and II only
• e) II and III only

• Chomskys theories of language include which of
  the following?
• Language acquisition can be explained by the
  principles of classical and operant conditioning.
• There is an underlying abstract structure of
  language that is different from the surface
  structure of language in speech.
• III. The young child has an innate ability or
  predisposition to acquire appropriate grammatical
  speech.
• a) I only
• b) II only
• c) III only
• d) I and II only
• e) II and III only

(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
13
When you wiggle a pencil rapidly in front of your
eyes, you can see a ghost of the pencil that
seems to be in several places at once. This
illusion is attributable primarily to which of
the following in human information processing? a)
Feature detection b) Short-term memory c)
Long-term memory d) Sensory information
storage e) Pattern recognition
When you wiggle a pencil rapidly in front of your
eyes, you can see a ghost of the pencil that
seems to be in several places at once. This
illusion is attributable primarily to which of
the following in human information processing? a)
Feature detection b) Short-term memory c)
Long-term memory d) Sensory information
storage e) Pattern recognition
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
14
? 37 are likely to be on Ethology and
Comparative Psychology
In a sexually reproducing species with haploid
gametes and zygotes that are all diploid, a
parent, on average, shares half of his or her
genes with those of an offspring. In this
species, the coefficient of relationship between
two half siblings is a) 1/16 b) 1/8 c) 1/4 d)
1/2 e) 1/1
In a sexually reproducing species with haploid
gametes and zygotes that are all diploid, a
parent, on average, shares half of his or her
genes with those of an offspring. In this
species, the coefficient of relationship between
two half siblings is a) 1/16 b) 1/8 c) 1/4 d)
1/2 e) 1/1
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
15
An earthworm is exposed to a series of air puffs
directed at its head. The earthworm responds to
the first few trials by backing away from the
source of the air puffs, but in the subsequent
trials the earthworm ceases to withdraw. This
change in behavior is most likely the result
of a) Discrimination learning b) Avoidance
learning c) Habituation d) Sensitization e)
Latent learning
An earthworm is exposed to a series of air puffs
directed at its head. The earthworm responds to
the first few trials by backing away from the
source of the air puffs, but in the subsequent
trials the earthworm ceases to withdraw. This
change in behavior is most likely the result
of a) Discrimination learning b) Avoidance
learning c) Habituation d) Sensitization e)
Latent learning
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
16
? 913 are likely to be on Sensory and
Physiological Psychology
Sleep research best supports which of the
following statements? a) Not everyone dreams b)
Dreams commonly last only a few seconds c) People
are not aware that they are dreaming d) The
content of dreams can be influenced by
suggestions during wakefulness e) Sleepwalking
occurs largely in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep
Sleep research best supports which of the
following statements? a) Not everyone dreams b)
Dreams commonly last only a few seconds c) People
are not aware that they are dreaming d) The
content of dreams can be influenced by
suggestions during wakefulness e) Sleepwalking
occurs largely in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
17
The physical energy of a stimulus is converted by
sensory receptors into neural impulses by a
process known as a) Assimilation b)
Accommodation c) Transposition d) Transduction
e) Trace consolidation
The physical energy of a stimulus is converted by
sensory receptors into neural impulses by a
process known as a) Assimilation b)
Accommodation c) Transposition d) Transduction
e) Trace consolidation
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
18
? 1014 are likely to be on Abnormal and
Clinical Psychology
Karen Horney emphasized that neurotic needs are
expressed in which of the following ways? a)
Direct aggression, passive aggression, and
detachment b) Psychopathic deviance,
dissociation, and development of conversion
reactions c) Striving for superiority, becoming
excessively compliant, and becoming insulated d)
Psychosis and disorganization, destructive acting
out, and excessive concern for order e) Movement
toward people, movement away from people, and
movement against people
Karen Horney emphasized that neurotic needs are
expressed in which of the following ways? a)
Direct aggression, passive aggression, and
detachment b) Psychopathic deviance,
dissociation, and development of conversion
reactions c) Striving for superiority, becoming
excessively compliant, and becoming insulated d)
Psychosis and disorganization, destructive acting
out, and excessive concern for order e) Movement
toward people, movement away from people, and
movement against people
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
19
The physical energy of a stimulus is converted by
sensory receptors into neural impulses by a
process known as a) Assimilation b)
Accommodation c) Transposition d) Transduction
e) Trace consolidation
The physical energy of a stimulus is converted by
sensory receptors into neural impulses by a
process known as a) Assimilation b)
Accommodation c) Transposition d) Transduction
e) Trace consolidation
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
20
? 1014 are likely to be on Developmental
Psychology.
According to Piaget, which of the following is
established by the end of the sensorimotor
period? a) Reversibility b) The use of
representation c) Concrete operational
thinking d) The understanding of conservation e)
The understanding of class relation
According to Piaget, which of the following is
established by the end of the sensorimotor
period? a) Reversibility b) The use of
representation c) Concrete operational
thinking d) The understanding of conservation e)
The understanding of class relation
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
21
Which of the following statement best
characterizes the position of the Soviet
theorists Vygotsky and Luria concerning the
relationship between language and thought? a)
Language is important for the development of
concrete but not abstract thinking. b)
Thinking becomes more egocentric as language
develops during the preschool years. c) The
development of language lags one stage behind the
development of thinking. d) Language and
thinking are unrelated to one another in
development. e) Language is an important tool
for the development of abstract thinking.
Which of the following statement best
characterizes the position of the Soviet
theorists Vygotsky and Luria concerning the
relationship between language and thought? a)
Language is important for the development of
concrete but not abstract thinking. b)
Thinking becomes more egocentric as language
develops during the preschool years. c) The
development of language lags one stage behind the
development of thinking. d) Language and
thinking are unrelated to one another in
development. e) Language is an important tool
for the development of abstract thinking.
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
22
? 5-9 are likely to be on Personality Psychology.
The psychologist who has been most critical of
the assumptions regarding traits that underlie
personality tests is a) Walter Mischel b) Carol
Jackson c) Anne Anastasi d) Grant Dahlstrom e)
Leona Tyler
The psychologist who has been most critical of
the assumptions regarding traits that underlie
personality tests is a) Walter Mischel b) Carol
Jackson c) Anne Anastasi d) Grant Dahlstrom e)
Leona Tyler
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
23
To use the empirical, criterion-keying approach
to constructing a personality inventory, a
researcher would select items that a)
Discriminate among the various criterion groups
b) Have content relevant to various personality
types c) Have a high correlation with each other
and a low correlation with outside criteria d)
Have empirically proven high p values e) Provide
a normal distribution of total test scores
To use the empirical, criterion-keying approach
to constructing a personality inventory, a
researcher would select items that a)
Discriminate among the various criterion groups
b) Have content relevant to various personality
types c) Have a high correlation with each other
and a low correlation with outside criteria d)
Have empirically proven high p values e) Provide
a normal distribution of total test scores
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
24
? 10-14 are likely to be on Social Psychology.
Attitude change produced by a perceived threat to
personal freedom is due to which of the
following? a) Dissonance b) Reactance c)
Overjustification d) Deindividuation e) Anchoring
Attitude change produced by a perceived threat to
personal freedom is due to which of the
following? a) Dissonance b) Reactance c)
Overjustification d) Deindividuation e) Anchoring
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
25
A well-known study by Asch of individual
conformity to group norms suggests that a) Most
people are conformists b) Conformity is greatly
increased by uniformity of group opinion c) Large
groups are ineffective in inducing conformity d)
Males and females tend to conform to the same
degree e) outer-directed people conform less than
do inner-directed people
A well-known study by Asch of individual
conformity to group norms suggests that a) Most
people are conformists b) Conformity is greatly
increased by uniformity of group opinion c) Large
groups are ineffective in inducing conformity d)
Males and females tend to conform to the same
degree e) outer-directed people conform less than
do inner-directed people
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
26
? 11-17 are likely to be on History of
Psychology, Applied Psychology, Measurement,
Research Design, and/or Statistics.
The idea that memory for complex events is
frequently reconstructive rather than
reproductive, in a literal sense, is associated
historically with which of the following? a)
Hermann Ebbinghaus b) Anne Anastasi c) Leo
Postman d) Frederic Bartlett e) E. L. Thorndike
The idea that memory for complex events is
frequently reconstructive rather than
reproductive, in a literal sense, is associated
historically with which of the following? a)
Hermann Ebbinghaus b) Anne Anastasi c) Leo
Postman d) Frederic Bartlett e) E. L. Thorndike
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
27
If a set of scores with a mean of 27 and a
variance of 9 is transformed to a set of
z-scores, the standard deviation of the
transformed scores will be a) 0 b) 1 c) 3 d)
9 e) 81
If a set of scores with a mean of 27 and a
variance of 9 is transformed to a set of
z-scores, the standard deviation of the
transformed scores will be a) 0 b) 1 c) 3 d)
9 e) 81
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
28
The multitrait-multimethod technique formulated
by Campbell and Fiske was introduced primarily to
evaluate a tests a) Content validity b)
Concurrent validity c) Face validity d) Construct
validity e) Predictive validity
The multitrait-multimethod technique formulated
by Campbell and Fiske was introduced primarily to
evaluate a tests a) Content validity b)
Concurrent validity c) Face validity d) Construct
validity e) Predictive validity
(GRE Practicing to Take the Psychology Test 3rd
Ed., 1994)
29
How do I Prepare for the Subject Test?

• Long-Term

• Short-Term

30
Long-Term Preparation

• Planning Your Semesters and Classes

• Plan Semesters Ahead of Time

• Design an Education Plan for the Rest of Your
  Undergraduate Career (Presentation Coming Soon)

• Meet with an Advisor

• Choose a Course Sequence to Benefit Your Future

31
Long-Term Preparation

• Planning Your Semesters and Classes

• Choose Core Classes Based on Subject Test
  Coverage such as

• Cognition Learning take the semester before
  you plan to take the test since this is 23 - 32
  of the test

• Behavioral Neuroscience since this is 9-13
  of the test and contributes to the experimental
  subscore

• Look at the percentage of coverage for core
  classes and plan from that perspective, saving
  specialty classes to take later or last

32
Long-Term Preparation

• Getting the Most Out of Your Classes

• Approach Each Class as a Partial Ticket to
  Your Future

• Be active in learning

• Understand the material not just memorizing
  for the exams

• Learn to apply concepts to your life and those
  around you

• Meet with your professor when you dont
  understand a concept that is what they are
  there for

33
Long-Term Preparation

• Getting the Most Out of Your Classes

• Begin a Notebook of People and Their
  Contributions

• Buy a 3 ring binder that can be added to
  throughout all classes

• Jot down each theorist/researcher and their
  important studies, discoveries and findings

• Will help to consolidate to memory and can be
  used as a review double benefit!

34
Short-Term Preparation

• Take a Practice Test

• You will receive one practice test when you
  register then order an additional book (can
  be found on www.amazon.com)

• Take a practice test to determine weak areas

• Track questions you guessed to determine
  whether guessing will benefit you

• Gives you an idea of your score and whether you
  are ready

35
Short-Term Preparation

• Obtain a Comprehensive Introductory Psychology
  Textbook

• Read chapters covering your weak areas

• A highly recommended book and considered to be
  one of the most comprehensive introductory
  textbooks is Psychology by Henry Gleitman Can
  be found on www.amazon.com - 60.00 new 38.50
  used (as of May 2002)

• Other books can also be found on www.amazon.com

36
Why Is the Subject Test Important?

• Found to be an Important Predictor of Graduate
  School Success

Kuncel, N. R., Hezlett, S. A., Ones, D. S.
(2001). A comprehensive meta- analysis of the
predictive validity of the graduate record
examinations Implications for graduate student
selection and performance. Psychological
Bulletin, 127 (1), 162-181.

• They concluded from their meta-analysis of
  1,753 samples that the Subject Test is a better
  predictor of graduate school success than the
  Verbal, Quantitative, or Analytical Tests.

• The addition of Subject Test Scores to any
  composite (i.e., Verbal Quantitative
  Subject) leads to a noticeable improvement in
  prediction of graduate school success.

37
What do the results of that study mean for me?

• May Lead to a Stronger Emphasis Being Placed on
  Subject Test Scores

• May Lead to More Schools Requiring the Subject
  Test

38
What about guessing?

• Be careful because you are penalized for
  guessing (¼ of your wrong answers will be
  subtracted from your total number of correct
  answers)

• Depends on your definition of guessing

• If you can eliminate at least two of your
  choices, then you may want to guess.

• If you have no idea which answer is correct,
  then skip It.

39
Review

• What is the subject test?

• How and when is it administered?

• How is the subject test scored?

• What are the content areas?

• What are the questions like?

• How to prepare long-term and short-term.

• Why is the subject test important?

• What about guessing?

• This is one part of the ticket to your future!!!