GRE Accommodations

[Guest guest]

Hey everyone, long time no post.

This coming December, I'm going to be applying to a PhD program. Among other

things, that means I get to look forward to taking the GRE. I was wondering if

anyone else in the group has previously taken it for grad school. If so, what

kind of accommodations were you able to get?

A significant portion of the exam involves writing two essays. When able-bodied

folks take it, they compose their essays on a computer using a specialized word

processor with limited features - most notably being a lack of spell check.

Apparently, in a way, the GRE is partially a glorified spelling test. Now, that

has me a little concerned. You see, when I typically have written exams (at

least at the collegiate level), I go to my school's disabled student services

office and use one of their computers with speech recognition software. That's

pretty much a standard accommodation. However, I have a feeling that's not

something that the GREs do; after all, using speech recognition software is

technically like automatically having spellcheck.

So, if anyone here has taken the GRE and isn't able to type, what did you do?

Did they make you dictate to a scribe to do the typing for you? And did the

scribe constantly make you spell out words? It seems like that's the only way

they could be " fair " by their standards, but such an arrangement seems like it

would place an undue inconvenience on the disabled student being tested.

Any input or thoughts would be appreciated!

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