Every year, thousands of students prepare for, and take, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)?a standardized test that measures the aptitude of promising graduate students. In 1998, 364,554 potential graduate students, a number that includes one-third of all bachelor degree recipients, took the GRE, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Why does this test draw thousands of students? GRE scores are required for acceptance into most graduate programs. As a result, the exam, designed to assist graduate schools with their admissions decisions, also succeeds in sending would-be graduate students into a panic, raises questions of the efficacy of standardized testing, and funds a lucrative "test-prep" industry. Despite such side effects, it has proven useful to those it intends to serve?graduate schools. The GRE provides these institutions with a universal ruler against which applicants can be measured.