How Students Can Prepare for the GRE

An advanced degree and an international destination are the perfect combination. Traveling internationally for school helps students gain the necessary experience to thrive in a competitive world, and a master's degree or doctorate is inarguable evidence of the dedication, drive and academic ability it takes to succeed.
This understanding prompted me to explore educational opportunities outside the borders of my home country. I decided on Michigan not because of a lack of Canadian opportunities, but because I could experience living somewhere new while obtaining a valued and recognized degree.
One challenge for many prospective international graduate students is that the U.S. is a cultural center for business, and English is arguably the lingua franca of the professional world. The country is also home to the Educational Testing Service, creator of the standardized Graduate Record Exam, which most graduate programs require.
[Create an American-style resume for grad school applications.]
The exam is not exclusively required by schools in the U.S. Hundreds of institutions in countries from Argentina to Zimbabwe are approved to receive GRE scores. Whether your program requires the test or not, it is an effective way to measure and represent specific skills.
These skills include the ability to deconstruct the meaning of a complicated question and provide a well-written argument, as well as incorporate an interdisciplinary understanding of numbers and words. Each of these areas is represented in the different sections of the general standardized exam: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing.
While there are subject-specific GRE exams, many graduate students take the general test, which has questions that reflect the skills students need to succeed in graduate-level instruction rather than their specific knowledge.
[Find ways to use international roots in admissions essays.]
The computer-based exam includes six sections, including a 60-minute writing portion and four 20-question multiple choice sections, which test either verbal or quantitative skills. The remaining section is an experimental or research section and doesn't count toward the final score – but the test-taker has no way to determine which section it is.
Most graduate schools require GRE scores to be sent in as part of the admissions process. But some institutions, like the one I attend, may offer conditional admission to students before they take the exam. In fact, some of the programs at my university allow students to complete up to half of the program before taking the GRE.
But Andrews University, like many other graduate institutions, takes test scores into consideration for financial aid, scholarships and fellowships. I sent in my scores along with my application and I wish I had waited.
I wrote the test back in Canada, where GRE preparation courses are not as prevalent as they are in the U.S. I borrowed a review book from a friend and worked through it in conjunction with the free downloadable testing software available from ETS. Each helped to simulate the types of questions I would be asked in each section.
I was able to complete at least four sample tests before the real day came, but I didn't feel the sample questions adequately prepared me to deal with the content of the actual test questions. Joining a review class would have better prepared me for the math concepts and the causal relationships between words for the quantitative and verbal sections – as well as given me greater exposure to different questions.
My score was high enough for acceptance and for a scholarship, but I hope to strive for the best during my long educational journey.
[Understand how grad schools see international applications.]
Many U.S. universities have some option for GRE preparation, varying from private tutoring to an enrolled course. As an international student considering your academic future, it is crucial to find the best possible tools to succeed.
Holding a bachelor's degree does not necessarily prepare you for the excruciating gauntlet that is the GRE. I graduated with honors and a dual major in English and education, and there were words on the vocabulary list that I had never heard.
Following through with the preparation tools listed on the ETS website is key, as the sample questions are useful to practice with. There are many excellent guidebooks available now, and I would almost certainly pick up the same one again – but I'd also grab a supplementary text to review math equations and processes.
Depending on your financial situation, I'd recommend students consider retaking the test for a better score after the first grueling attempt.
To successfully attempt the GRE, proficiency in English is the bare minimum. Preparation for this exam while fully immersed in the U.S. through international education is the smartest option for a good score.
The GRE is the official stamp on your educational passport. Completing the preparation while in the U.S. can give international graduate hopefuls a head start.

Read More

Library to offer practice SAT exam

According to www.kaptest.com, “The SAT is a nationally administered, standardized test used by many U.S. colleges and universities to assess applicants’ readiness for college. The majority of competitive U.S. colleges and universities require students to submit a score from either the SAT or the ACT (the other nationally administered, standardized college admissions test) as part of their application; all colleges that require a standardized test score will accept either. (About 60% of Kaplan students take both tests, to see which they’ll perform better on.) Comprised of three scored sections (Critical Reading, Math and Writing) and an unscored experimental section, the SAT includes multiple-choice questions, student-calculated questions (math) and a written essay question. Scoring range is from 600 to 2400; less than 0.02% of the SAT’s nearly 1.7 million test takers earn a perfect 2400 score. Generally, students will take the SAT in the spring of their junior year, which allows them enough time to re-take the test during the fall of their senior year if they are not satisfied with their score.”

Library Youth Coordinator Thomas Shalin said the practice test is one of several collaborations between Kaplan and the library.

“It’s a great opportunity for those looking to get ahead who are taking the test next year,” Shalin said.

According to www.kaptest.com, “As the world leader in test prep, Kaplan Test Prep annually prepares hundreds of thousands of students for high-stakes admissions and professional licensing exams including the SAT, ACT, PSAT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, NCLEX-RN, USMLE, MBE and state specific portions of the bar exam. Unrivaled experience dating back to 1938, extensive test expertise and ongoing interaction with a high volume of students gives Kaplan unparalleled insight into a range of relevant topics.”

Read more: The Daily Tribune News - Library to offer practice SAT exam

Read More

GMAT Tip: You Can't Always Get What You Want

This tip on improving your GMAT score was provided by Brian Galvin at Veritas Prep.
A common frustration among GMAT examinees is that the questions they see on test day “don’t look like” the questions they practiced, even those from the Official Guide for GMAT Review and other official GMAC-produced study materials. They’ve memorized formulas and problem structures for rates, triangles, averages, Venn diagrams—you name it—but many of the questions don’t lend themselves to the recitation of their notes and flash cards. Which reveals a secret:
The GMAT isn’t a content-based exam that tests “what you know,” but rather a reasoning-based test that uses that content to see “how you think.” In other words—let’s use Mick Jagger’s—you can’t always get what you want (a question that closely replicates one you’ve practiced a dozen times) but if you try, you’ll find you get what you need to solve the problem.
Which essentially means this: If you go into the GMAT having memorized the D = RT rate/distance/time formula and nothing else, you’ll struggle on rate problems that are above-average in difficulty. But if you use what you know about rates to “take what the test gives you” and leverage that to solve problems, you’ll likely be able to find what you need to get to a correct answer. Consider this problem:
A factory has three types of machines—the XS, the LS, and the RT—and each type of machine works at its own constant rate. If six XS machines and 13 LS machines can produce 140 widgets in an hour, and if seven XS machines and 13 RT machines can produce 120 widgets in an hour, how many hours will it take for a group of one XS, one LS, and one RT working together to produce 100 widgets?
(A) 3
(B) 5
(C) 7
(D) 9
(E) 13
While this problem may not look like a typical rate problem, the math required to solve it isn’t all that difficult. It’s much more a reasoning problem that hinges on conceptual knowledge of rates. If you remember that rates are additive (if I can produce two units an hour and you can produce three, together we produce five units an hour) and notice the similarities in the numbers, you have a good shot at recognizing that:
13 (Rate LS) + 6 (Rate XS) = 140 widgets / 1 hour
13 (Rate RT) + 7 (Rate XS) = 120 widgets / 1 hour
If you could find a way to add the 6 XS in the first equation with the 7 XS in the second, you’d have 13 of each—which brings up an algebra rule that you can add together equations. So you can combine both equations to get:
13 (Rate LS) + 13 (Rate RT) + 13 (Rate XS) = 260 widgets / 1 hour
And since you want the combination of one of each machine, you can then divide everything by 13 to get:
Rate LS + Rate RT + Rate XS = 20 widgets / 1 hour
That means that if one of each machine can do 20 per hour, then it will take 5 hours to complete all 100, making the correct answer B. But more important is the takeaway—the fact that a problem involves rates doesn’t mean that it’s a “plug what you see into the rate equation and chug away” problem. Harder GMAT problems make you blend together a range of skills and require you to bring in some ingenuity and problem-solving to determine which skills those are.
Or to paraphrase Mick Jagger, you won’t always see the problem you want to see, but if you try sometimes you’ll find that it’s a problem you know how to solve, just using a different blend of skills than you’ve combined before

Read More

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GMAT EXAM

The Graduate Management Admission Test
 Is a  computer-based assessment test conducted by  Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) used to test the ability of individual applying for post graduate courses .  gmat is used to assess  higher-order reasoning skills in :
Verbal,
Quantitative,
Analytical Writing,
and Integrated Reasoning

About 6000 programs  worldwide  use it as a consistent, objective way to compare aspiring students  for their courses

Uses of gmat exam
   
Reliability and validity:
The GMAT exam is a reliable, valid measure of skills found to be important in graduate management study. In repeat research studies, GMAT scores have been found to be an accurate predictor of academic success in the first year of an MBA and  other graduate management program.
Standard measurement:
 GMAT scores provide the same standard for evaluating all test takers. That's why you can feel confident making direct comparisons among applicants' GMAT scores.
Exam formats or sections

Read More

TOEFL CERTIFICATION

The Test Of English as a Foreign Language or TOEFL just like IELTS is a test of an individual's ability to use and understand english in an academic setting.it really meant for those going overseas for studies

 PURPOSE OF THE TOEFL CERTIFICATION 
The purpose of the TOEFL test is to evaluate the English proficiency of people who are non-native English speakers. In addition, international companies, government agencies, scholarship programs, and recruitment agencies use TOEFL scores to evaluate English proficiency. The TOEFL test or certification is cbt based in nigeria. it also combines many of the same question types as the traditional paper-based test with new question types. This is an easy-to-use testing system for even the most basic computer users in Nigeria and other parts of the world
 INTERNET-BASED TEST (IBT)

 READING 

 The Reading section consists of 3–4 passages, each approximately 700 words in length and questions about the passages. The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that might be found in an undergraduate university textbook.
Passages require understanding of rhetorical functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation. Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the iBT require filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer.

Read More

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IELTS CERTIFICATION IN NIGERIA

 The International English Language Testing System ( IELTS ) is a test of English language proficiency, developed by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. IELTS is now accepted as evidence of a prospective student’s level of English by most universities in English speaking countries.

There are two EXAM basically for IELTS: Academic and General. If one is interested in studying at a university in an English speaking country say uk or us you will need to take the academic version of IELTS. IELTS is not a  pass or fail exam like most exams we know. Your assessments are reported accordingly in bands i.e from bands one to nine with nine being the highest band. it is always good to contact the university you wish to enter to find out the IELTS score they require for entry as the bands level of of each  universities is different for variouse  courses.Universities in countries like the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia typically require a band score of between 6 and 7 for admissions into their programms

Read More