So long, printed test booklets, answer grids and No. 2 pencils — after this Saturday, the Graduate Record Exam will be computerized only.

The GRE is following the example of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) by offering the test on computer only. Since 1994, when the GRE started being offered in a computerized form, the number of tests taken with pencil and paper has gradually declined.

Trent Anderson, executive director of graduate programs for Kaplan, the company that administers the GRE, said the computerized tests might be difficult to get used to for some people.

“The two formats require different test-taking approaches. Even though most of us are comfortable with computers, the concept of adaptive testing is still new,” he said. “It’s a different kind of mind game.”

Iowa State Vice Provost Patricia Swan said the two major advantages of the GRE computerized-adaptive test (CAT) are automatic scoring and immediate reporting of test scores.

Another advantage of the CAT over the standard GRE, Swan said, is that it will be offered every weekday rather than three times a year. Also, students can schedule a testing time days before the test rather than having to register months in advance.

Swan also pointed out that in the future, graphical questions will be asked, requiring test takers to submit their answers in picture form, which isn’t possible with pencil and paper tests.

The GRE CAT is different than the traditional GRE in that it adapts to a test taker’s performance, Swan said.

“The computer is able to quickly determine a student’s ability and skip to their maximum level of difficulty, making the test shorter by eliminating the easier questions,” Swan said.

According to the GRE Web site, a question of average difficulty is asked first. If the test taker answers that question correctly a harder question is asked. If the test taker answers incorrectly, an easier question is asked.

The computer assigns a score based on the test taker’s answers and the level of question difficulty.

With GRE CAT, test takers must answer each question as it comes and can’t skip around or return to unanswered questions. Also, the CAT includes three scored sections rather than six scored sections of the standard GRE. The tested areas include verbal, quantitative and analytical.

ISU’s first computerized GRE will be offered Wednesday in Room 373 of the Student Services Building.

GRE subject tests still will be taken with a paper and pencil.