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This book is provided FREE with test registration by the Graduate Record Examinations Board. ® Graduate Record Examinations This practice book contains COMPUTER one actual full-length GRE Computer Science Test test-taking strategies SCIENCE Become familiar with test structure and content TEST test instructions and answering procedures PRACTICE Compare your practice test results with the performance of those who took the test at a BOOK GRE administration. Visit GRE Online at www.gre.org Note to Test Takers: Keep this practice book until you receive your score report. The book contains important information about content specifications and scoring. Copyright © 2001 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, ETS, the ETS logos, GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS, and GRE are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service. The GRE Board recommends that scores on the Table of Contents Subject Tests be considered in conjunction with other relevant information about applicants. Because numer- Purpose of the GRE Subject Tests........................ 3 ous factors influence success in graduate school, Development of the Subject Tests ....................... 3 reliance on a single measure to predict success is not Content of the Computer Science Test...............4 advisable. Other indicators of competence typically include undergraduate transcripts showing courses Preparing for a Subject Test ................................. 5 taken and grades earned, letters of recommendation, Test-Taking Strategies .......................................... 6 the GRE Writing Assessment score, and GRE General Test scores. For information about the appropriate use What Your Scores Mean ...................................... 6 of GRE scores, write to GRE Program, Educational Practice GRE Computer Science Test.................9 Testing Service, Mail Stop 57-L, Princeton, NJ 08541, Scoring Your Subject Test .................................. 49 or visit our Web site at www.gre.org/codelst.html. Evaluating Your Performance............................. 52 Development of the Answer Sheet ..................................................... 53 Subject Tests Purpose of the GRE Each new edition of a Subject Test is developed by a Subject Tests committee of examiners composed of professors in the subject who are on undergraduate and graduate facul- The GRE Subject Tests are designed to help graduate ties in different types of institutions and in different school admission committees and fellowship sponsors regions of the United States and Canada. In selecting assess the qualifications of applicants in specific fields members for each committee, the GRE Program seeks of study. The tests also provide you with an assessment the advice of the appropriate professional associations of your own qualifications. in the subject. Scores on the tests are intended to indicate The content and scope of each test are specified and knowledge of the subject matter emphasized in reviewed periodically by the committee of examiners. many undergraduate programs as preparation for Test questions are written by the committee and by graduate study. Because past achievement is usually other faculty who are also subject-matter specialists a good indicator of future performance, the scores and by subject-matter specialists at ETS. All questions are helpful in predicting success in graduate study. proposed for the test are reviewed by the committee Because the tests are standardized, the test scores and revised as necessary. The accepted questions are permit comparison of students from different assembled into a test in accordance with the content institutions with different undergraduate programs. specifications developed by the committee to ensure For some Subject Tests, subscores are provided in adequate coverage of the various aspects of the field addition to the total score; these subscores indicate and, at the same time, to prevent overemphasis on any the strengths and weaknesses of your preparation, single topic. The entire test is then reviewed and and they may help you plan future studies. approved by the committee. COMPUTER SCIENCE TEST 3 PRACTICE BOOK Subject-matter and measurement specialists on the Scores on the Subject Tests are reported as three- ETS staff assist the committee, providing information digit scaled scores with the third digit always zero. and advice about methods of test construction and The maximum possible range for all Subject Test total helping to prepare the questions and assemble the test. scores is from 200 to 990. The actual range of scores for In addition, each test question is reviewed to eliminate a particular Subject Test, however, may be smaller. The language, symbols, or content considered potentially maximum possible range of Subject Test subscores is offensive, inappropriate for major subgroups of the test- 20 to 99; however, the actual range of subscores for taking population, or likely to perpetuate any negative any test or test edition may be smaller than 20 to 99. attitude that may be conveyed to these subgroups. The Subject Test score interpretive information is provided test as a whole is also reviewed to ensure that the test in Interpreting Your GRE Scores, which you will receive questions, where applicable, include an appropriate with your GRE score report, and on the GRE Web site balance of people in different groups and different roles. at www.gre.org/codelst.html. Because of the diversity of undergraduate curricula, it is not possible for a single test to cover all the Content of the Computer material you may have studied. The examiners, there- fore, select questions that test the basic knowledge and Science Subject Test skills most important for successful graduate study in the particular field. The committee keeps the test The test consists of about 70 multiple-choice up-to-date by regularly developing new editions and questions, some of which are grouped in sets and revising existing editions. In this way, the test content based on such materials as diagrams, graphs, and changes steadily but gradually, much like most cur- program fragments. ricula. In addition, curriculum surveys are conducted The approximate distribution of questions in each periodically to ensure that the content of a test edition of the test according to content categories is reflects what is currently being taught in the under- indicated by the following outline. The percentages graduate curriculum. given are approximate; actual percentages will vary After a new edition of a Subject Test is first admin- slightly from one edition of the test to another. istered, examinees’ responses to each test question are analyzed in a variety of ways to determine whether I. SOFTWARE SYSTEMS AND each question functioned as expected. These analyses METHODOLOGY — 40% may reveal that a question is ambiguous, requires A. Data organization knowledge beyond the scope of the test, or is inappro- 1. Data types priate for the total group or a particular subgroup of 2. Data structures and implementation examinees taking the test. Answers to such questions techniques are not used in computing scores. B. Program control and structure Following this analysis, the new test edition is 1. Iteration and recursion equated to an existing test edition. In the equating 2. Procedures, functions, methods, and process, statistical methods are used to assess the exception handlers difficulty of the new test. Then scores are adjusted so 3. Concurrency, communication, and that examinees who took a difficult edition of the test synchronization are not penalized, and examinees who took an easier C. Programming languages and notation edition of the test do not have an advantage. Varia- 1. Constructs for data organization and tions in the number of questions in the different program control editions of the test are also taken into account in 2. Scope, binding, and parameter this process. passing 3. Expression evaluation 4 COMPUTER SCIENCE TEST PRACTICE BOOK
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