For more than 60 years, the graduate community has accepted the GRE® General Test as a proven measure of a candidate’s readiness for graduate-level work — and of their potential for success.

Now ETS, creator of the GRE General Test, has enhanced the content and delivery of the test in several significant ways. The GRE revised General Test, launching in 2011, is even more closely aligned with the skills needed in today’s demanding graduate and business school programs. And it can help you make more informed admissions decisions.

Featuring a new level of sophistication in psychometric design and delivery, the GRE revised General Test is a friendlier, more technically advanced test that’s been updated to provide you with even more reliable results.

Now it looms, a day away: that crucial standardized test that plays such a big role in determining your future. Besides sharpening your No. 2 pencils, what else can you do at this point to make sure you buckle down that Saturday morning and score your very best?

Experts say a few simple steps in the 24 hours leading up to a major standardized test can help you prepare your brain to perform at its peak. In short: eat well, exercise and get a good night’s rest.

As opposed to becoming bothered by test stress and anxiety, exam takers really should devote their time before their test date by planning for their test. Nothing is as scary as the unknown, and by preparing, the exam will become a known entity.

The most basic method to be prepared for any specific test is through practicing. For a examination, practicing suggests using practice tests, under as realistic conditions as possible. Practice tests are perfect because a person not merely gets exposed to the type of subject matter that should be covered on the examination, but additionally receives experience with the exam process.

Along with taking practice tests, additional test prep materials are generally equally beneficial. Study guides are typically utilized to assist a test taker know what the primary info will probably be on the examination and address the key topics that will be covered. Flashcards, fact sheets, online courses and other test prep aids are also helpful in preparing a test taker.

The findings sound contradictory. But the exam’s authors point to a growing and more diverse group of test-takers – many are likely scoring lower overall, but more are also meeting benchmarks used to measure college readiness.

Last spring’s high-school seniors averaged a composite score of 21.0 on the test’s scale of 1 to 36, down slightly from 21.1 last year and the lowest score of the last five years.

At the same time, 24 percent of ACT-tested students met or surpassed all four of the test’s benchmarks measuring their preparedness for college English, reading, math and science. That is up from 23 percent last year and 21 percent in 2006.

Although that still shows three in four test-takers will likely need remedial help in at least one subject to succeed in college, ACT officials are encouraged to see improvement as ever-larger numbers of students take the exam.

Spending on tutors is growing at more than 5 percent a year, said Steve Pines, executive director of the Education Industry Association. This is down from yearly growth of 8 to 10 percent in 2007, when the education research firm EduVentures estimated the size of the tutoring industry at $5 billion to $7 billion a year. But it is still strong, given the state of most people’s personal finances. And Sandi Ayaz, executive director of the National Tutoring Association, said the number of tutors her organization had certified had grown 18 percent in each of the last five years.

While tutors once focused on helping children who were falling behind in particular subjects or had a learning disability, they are now being used far more to guide students through particularly tough courses, insure their grades are equal to or above their peers’ and, in the end, polish a child’s college application. This costs parents a lot of money, and the question is, What returns should they expect for their investment? And how does that desire mesh with what is right?