Why do schools allow GRE scores to be valid for only 5 years?

[wifey99999999]

I mean, other than helping ETS make more money, I can't think of another reason why most schools require applicants retake GRE if score is older than 5 years. Do the math and verbal knowledge change every 5 years?

Same for TOEFL, does English language change so much in 2 years that you have to retake TOEFL if you took it prior than 2 years ago?

[pietjekanarie]

I think the 5 year thing isn't too bad. Of course it sucks if you have to write the GRE again, but a lot changes in 5 years and your scores might not be comparable anymore to the newer scores. They do revise the test every now and then.

I think it is bigger nonsense that my TOEFL score is only valid for 2 years. What? After 2 years my ability to speak English just disappears miraculously? Of course, ETS is happy to charge me another 200 Euros for a TOEFL and 20 Euros for every score report I want to send out. Of course, non of the universities think that after studying in Canada, completing a whole MSc degree in English and learning English from the age of 10 up until now will prove that I actually DO speak the language.... Cambridge even didn't want to accept my TOEFL score and asked me to write an IELTS as well!! Fortunately, the director of the program was able to exempt me from any further testing. I'm not even going to calculate how much money I spent in 2009 writing the TOEFL and the GRE and sending out all the score reports to 8 universities...

[wifey99999999]

I mean, other than helping ETS make more money, I can't think of another reason why most schools require applicants retake GRE if score is older than 5 years. Do the math and verbal knowledge change every 5 years?

Same for TOEFL, does English language change so much in 2 years that you have to retake TOEFL if you took it prior than 2 years ago?

$$$ for ETS.

Now they'll introduce new format of GRE next year...

[Octavia]

I mean, other than helping ETS make more money, I can't think of another reason why most schools require applicants retake GRE if score is older than 5 years. Do the math and verbal knowledge change every 5 years?

Same for TOEFL, does English language change so much in 2 years that you have to retake TOEFL if you took it prior than 2 years ago?

A brief answer is: yes is can change significantly in 2-3 years. Especially if you are not a native speaker. My sister initially took the GREs after being in the US (and speaking English, for that matter) for only 2.5 years. She scored somewhere in the 85% for math and 86% for writing and only 60% for verbal. She decided to pospone graduate school for a little while. 2 years later, she scored in the 98 percentile for writing, 96% math and 93% verbal. I know she didn't study significantly more for the second time. She simply became more proficient in English over time. Trust me, language can change in as little as 2 years. For TOEFL, the change can be even more dramatic.

[aginath]

Your knowledge is constantly in a state of flux and hopefully you never stop learning. I first took the GRE in 1999. I went to grad school, got my Master's and went to work. Ten years later, I decided to go back. I outscored my previous exam by almost 400 points and flipped high scores (previously I scored higher on the verbal; this time I scored higher on quant). I studied about the same amount, but my own knowledge and experience contributed significantly to this difference. There also was no writing portion when I took it eons ago.