Admission tests: what you need to study abroad

The first hurdle to be crossed to get into your dream university abroad is an admission test. With the tough competition and the upping of standards by the institutions abroad, tests such as GRE, GMAT, TOEFL and IELTS (to name a few), have become the most coveted, and sometimes even the most dreaded, tests for prospective international students.

GRE

As many as 700,000 aspirants sit for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) annually and almost all graduate courses and business schools accept a GRE score for admission. The test examines your analytical writing, verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning. The current GRE General Test will be replaced by the GRE revised General Test, effective from August 1, 2011. The new test will contain new type of questions in Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning, with questions that will expect you to react to ‘real-life scenarios’. The new test will allow you to move back and forth and change answers within a section as well as have a new on-screen calculator. It will be 4 hours long and will give no partial credit to examinees. “You have to nail the content just right,” says Lee Weiss, director of graduate programs, Kaplan Test Prep.

David G. Payne, Vice President and COO of Graduate and College Programs at ETS, advises students to make full use of the free official test prep tools available at the ETS’ official website. “We offer POWERPREP® II Software: Preparation for the computer-based GRE revised General Test. We also provide sample questions from the revised test, incorporating the new question and answer types.”

Many candidates about to appear for this admission test are high achievers and sometimes tend to take the tests lightly. Weiss says, “An average score of 600 in GRE requires a minimum 100 hours of preparation. However, the brilliant candidates often underestimate it. This is not a test to cram for; it requires consistent study—not 8 hours a day but one and a half hours a day for 2-3 months at least.”

Weiss also advises students to get used to the computer-based format of the test. “Practicing on the computer, and regularly, will build endurance and give confidence,” advises Weiss.

GMAT

About 200,000-300,000 candidates bound for business school appear for a GMAT every year. Weiss advises that unless one is sure of doing a management course, one should not take the GMAT, even if the scores are valid for five years. Weiss says, “Our surveys have revealed that like GRE, the GMAT score is the most important part of the application and it should not be taken lightly”.

Raghav Sharma, 26, due to attend Nanyang Business School, Singapore, feels that the key is not to, “get overawed or fall for the hype around GMAT”. He also feels that candidates have to realize that practice is their only saviour. “Practice, practice, practice and more practice,” he says.

Raghav feels that it is important that you focus on what are you weak at, while not getting over-confident about what you already know. Time management and handling pressure are also crucial. “Time your speed and don’t give more than a certain amount of time to each section. Take regulated short breaks to collect your thoughts before you begin the next section. Don’t lose focus if you get a feeling that your test is not going good,” he says.

Like in the GRE, changes are on the anvil for the GMAT test. In June 2012, there will be a new section called the Integrated Reasoning Section which will be of 30 minutes and measure a candidates’ ability to “evaluate information from multiple sources”. Candidates will be asked to “interpret data presented graphically, analyze different types of information, and evaluate outcomes” keeping in mind the demands of the changing times, and will receive a separate grade for this new section. As the duration of the test will remain at three and half hours; the Analytical writing section will include only one 30-minute essay instead of the usual two.

IELTS and TOEFL

When it comes to testing for your competence in English language, International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) are the two most popular tests available. While over 1.5 million candidates take IELTS test every year in more than 800 test centres across 130 countries, TOEFL score is accepted by over 8,000 institutions in 130 countries. The tests examine your reading, writing, listening and speaking ability in English language.

Most universities require an IELTS or a TOEFL score for non-native English speakers. “IELTS and TOEFL determine the level of study to which you are eligible to apply. Prospective applicants can opt for self-study through preparatory books etc or can go in for practice classes offered by competent organizations,” says Harmeet Pental, Regional Director, South Asia, IDP Education India Pvt. Ltd.

Zoravar Singh, will be studying at Nottingham Trent University, UK, this Fall. Although all of his education had been in English, he felt practice was the only thing which got him through the IELTS. “I went through a lot of practice sample tests online to get the hang of the IELTS test. Some of the questions are not direct and there is a lot of information you must absorb before answering,” says Zoravar.

Although Zoravar is quite fluent in English and can speak and write in it confidently, he still prepared extra hard for the listening section. “Sometimes the accent is difficult to catch and hence I went through a lot of sample interviews to get it right. One can listen to the BBC or any other English channels to get the hang of it,” he says.

Zoravar feels that if your knowledge of English is limited, then it is better to take classes and language courses to gain command over it. “IELTS is all about how adept you are at the language and you can’t grow a vocabulary in a short time. Your style of writing and speaking is something you develop over the years, it doesn’t just happen overnight!”