A while back, I said I was planning on taking the computer science subject exam for graduate school. I knew it wasn’t going to be too much of a big deal for my application, but it would at least give me an extra data point.

Of course, I didn’t realize that I was actually behind the times. The computer science GRE subject test is no longer offered; the last time it was administered was in April 2013. The following rationale is from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) website.

Over the last several years, the number of individuals taking the Computer Science Test has declined significantly. Test volume reached a point where ETS could no longer support the test psychometrically. As a result, the GRE Program discontinued the Computer Science Test after the April 2013 test administration. Scores will continue to be reportable for five years.

All I can say is that I’m relieved, since the test wouldn’t have helped me that much and it saves me the studying time. Furthermore, these subject tests tend to be more helpful for those applications who either (1) don’t come from a top school, or more importantly, (2) didn’t major in computer science. Since that doesn’t describe my scenario, I didn’t need to depend on the subject test at all.

There are others who are perfectly fine with seeing the test discontinued. Such viewpoints are present in, for instance, this blog post.

Of course, I’m just as guilty of bias as anyone else. Someone who didn’t major in computer science will probably disagree with me. Also, I’ve heard that foreign students made up much of the high scores on the exam, so this may hurt them a little. (But my knowledge here is sketchy.)

Regardless, though, all this really means is that we can get back to our research.