EDUCATION SPECIAL ....GOING ABROAD

GOING ABROAD

KARAN GUPTA, INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION COUNSELLOR, TAKES YOU THROUGH THE TESTS NEEDED TO STUDY OVERSEAS

Most of the competitive exams needed for admission to institutes abroad check your knowledge of English and maths. Of course, the way the papers are structured, the difficulty level and the type of questions they ask differ from exam to exam. It is best that these exams be taken at least one year prior to the year you intend to study abroad.

GMAT

If you are a student applying for an MBA in an international B-school, you will need to appear for the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test). The GMAT is a graduate management exam which consists of English and math and tests your analytical and logical skills. The sections of the exam include verbal and quantitative reasoning, analytical writing and an integrated reasoning section. The maximum points for the exam is 800 (minimum being

200) and most popular business schools expect candidates to have scores over 600 to be considered for admission (the writing section is scored separately on 6 and the integrated reasoning is scored on 12). The fees for the exam are US$250 and the registration is online at www.mba.comThe GMAT is a computer-adaptive test which means that the computer decides the difficulty level of questions that you have to answer. What this means is that if you get the first question correct, you will be given a harder question and so on, and eventually you will end up taking a difficult version of the GMAT. But you can be assured that the score you get will be excellent. On the other hand, if you get the first few questions incorrect, you will be given easier questions for the rest of the exam but your overall score will be low. A good test-taking strategy then would be to spend a few extra minutes on the first few questions of the GMAT so that you get the hardest version of the exam, therefore scoring better. The validity of the GMAT exam score is five years.

GRE

If you are a student applying for a non-business Master’s degree course at US universities, you will most likely need to appear for the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations). The GRE is a graduate exam and the sections of the exam include verbal and quantitative reasoning and an analytical writing section. The maximum points for the exam is 340 and most reputed graduate schools expect candidates to have scores over 310 to be considered for admission (writing section is scored separately on 6). The fees for the exam are US$205, the registration is online at www.gre.org and the exam scores are valid for a period of five years.

Some institutes in the UK such as the London School of Economics also need the GRE for admission to many of the courses. And it is worthwhile to note that many business schools around the world also accept the GRE for admission. However, an unsaid trend among these business schools is that the GMAT is preferred for MBA admissions and the GRE is preferred for Master’s admissions.

SAT vs ACT

If you are an undergraduate student looking for admission to institutes in the US, you will appear for the SAT or the ACT. The SAT is an undergraduate exam which consists of evidence-based reading and writing and math, and the maximum points for this exam is 1600. A separate essay writing section on 24 is also a part of the exam. A few colleges in Singapore and Canada also require or prefer the SAT exam. The fees for the exam is US$109 and you can take the SAT as many times as you like and send only your best scores though a process called scorechoice. Also, there is no negative marking in the SAT and you can guess answers if you don’t know how to solve a particular question.

Some popular institutes in the US need students to appear for the SAT subject tests for admission. The subject tests can be done in physics, chemistry, biology, math, world history, US history, French, Spanish and literature. If you want your application to be competitive and want a good chance of admission at the better known institutes, it is imperative that you appear for the SAT subject tests as well. To register for the SAT or SAT Subject tests, visit www.collegeboard.com.

The ACT is an alternate to the SAT and is now preferred by students given the problems faced with the SAT registration and availability of test dates. The ACT measures what you have learned in school and high school and consists of English and math.

The scores for the SAT, SAT Subject tests and the ACT generally do not expire although institutes abroad may ask for scores of exams taken within the last two years.

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