Computer evaluates essays in new GMAT
If it were up to Bruce Zhao SOM ’99, the essay portion of the Graduate Management Admissions Test would be removed altogether.
“You’re expected to write two essays in a half hour,” he said. “Even a good writer can’t be expected to get his thoughts together that quickly. I think the best thing to do might be to eliminate the essay part.”
While the Graduate Management Admissions Council has no plans to remove the essay from the GMAT, it has taken steps to standardize the grading. On Feb. 10, a computer called the E-Rator replaced the second human scorer of the essay portion of the exam.
While historically two humans have graded the essays on a scale of 0-6, now a human and a computer will do the same. According to Andrea Wilson, spokesperson from Kaplan Educational Centers, the computer is fed essays of varying caliber to determine a scale on which to evaluate actual exam essays. If the human and computer scores differ by more than one point, a second human grader is used.
Wilson said that Kaplan has already fine-tuned its program to take the new computer grading system into consideration.
“Good organization is more important than ever,” she said. “Transitional phrases like ‘therefore’ and ‘since’ signal to the computer that the writer has organized the essay properly.”
Wilson said the strategies Kaplan stresses are to avoid spelling and grammar errors that a computer will pick up on much more readily than a human grader, and to use synonyms for important terms.
“The computer rewards a strong vocabulary and varying structures of sentences,” Wilson said. “The human grader will still grade for tone and forceful writing.”
Many Yale School of Management students were wary of the computer grading system, saying that the system would not recognize or reward creativity.
“I think it’s wrong,” Aaron Albright SOM ’99 said. “I don’t think a computer can understand an essay as well. Grammatically it might make sense to save time … but it’s just not a great way of grading a candidate.”
But according to Frederick Mchale, vice president of the Graduate Admissions Council, the exam was not designed with creativity or originality in mind.
“That’s not what the expectation is,” he said. “Analytical writing measures an ability to develop effective communication strategy, [so the exam looks for students who can] organize and express ideas in language that is correct and concise.”
And top graduate schools, largely responsible for the addition of the essay portion of the exam in 1994, have responded positively to the computer grading.
“We have been assured by GMAT that the exam will hold the integrity of the way it is currently scored,” said Natalie Grinblatt, director of admissions at Cornell’s Johnson School.
Joe Tyler, associate director of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, said he does not anticipate any change in the way that the school evaluates applications.
“We have a little anxiety over anything new, but we’re going to wait and see if everything works out,” he said. “There will still be some human involvement, so this is not going to effect our way of thinking to any large extent if any, at this point.” ( Courtesy: yaledailynews.com )
Written by Take GMAT Team on May 18th, 2006 with
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