Test Patterns

In this post let us discuss about the Test pattern's and little description of GRE/TOEFL/IELTS

ABOUT GRE:

Every year, from India, thousands of aspirants move to different countries in pursuit of higher education. They may have to take different tests to apply to the universities they wish to get admission into.

To pursue a master's programme in engineering/management, these aspirants are required to take tests like the GRE® test (GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS® test) or the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test). Apart from this they may also be required to take TOEFL® iBT (TEST OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGETM).

Of all countries, the most sought after and popular is The United States of America - The land of unlimited opportunities. Securing admission into a good university of one's choice for an MS here is certainly not an easy task.


What is the GRE test ?

GRE® test stands for GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS. There are two types of GRE tests:
(1) GRE General test, and
(2) GRE Subject test.

The GRE® General Test is required by many graduate and professional schools in the U.S and is an important criterion for admission to their graduate programmes. Applicants must submit their GRE® scores together with certain other records/requirements as part of the process of admission to graduate schools.

The GRE® is administered by Educational Testing Services (ETS). ETS is responsible for conducting the GRE® test under the guidance of the college education board of the U.S.

What is a GRE® - CAT (Computer Adaptive Test)?

The GRE® Test is a CAT (Computer Adaptive Test). This means that the computer adapts the level of the questions to the test-taker's ability. Initially questions of medium difficulty level are administered to test – taker. If he / she answers these questions correctly, a more difficult question is given. Otherwise, an easier question is administered. So, at every stage, the computer tailors the test to the examinee's level. In this examination, the score depends both on the number of questions attempted and the number of correct responses.

Test pattern of GRE:

The GRE® general test comprises an analytical writing section, one verbal ability section and one quantitative ability section. Besides these, there could be an additional experimental section which may be either a verbal or a quantitative section. Sometimes, ETS may also give an identifiable research section.

Analytical Writing Section

In this section, a candidate has to respond to two types of essays:
(i) Issue task
(ii) ArgumentTask

One Issue essay has to be typed in 45 minutes. As of now ETS gives two issue topics and a candidate has to type out his response to one of these two topics. In an Issue Essay a topic of general intellectual interest is given and a candidate has to respond by expressing his opinion on the given issue and back it up with valid reasons.

Sample Issue topic :- The application of sciences has proved to be more often a curse than a boon, and it is a threat to a good standard of living.

Besides this, one Argument essay has to be typed in 30 minutes. ETS gives only one argument topic and the candidate has no choice for this type of essay. In an Argument essay, a candidate will examine the logical soundness of an argument and critique it.

Sample Argument topic:-The chairman of the Baleroti car manufacturing company asserted the following in his memo.

"An analysis of our past performance reveals that we did not fare as well as our competitors because we have stuck to outdated designs. However, the encouraging news is that many people across the country would be getting driving licenses very soon and we should be able to increase our market share by selling to these people. Hence, we should stop manufacturing our old-fashioned cars and focus on manufacturing trendy cars. To add teeth to our marketing effort we should now switchover to the Juvenile Ad agency, which successfully marketed a leading cola."

Please note that the ISSUE and the ARGUMENT topics given here as sample topics are not an exact replica of what ETS stipulates in its pool of topics. However, these sample topics are on the lines of ETS topics. For the actual ETS pool of topics please refer to the ETS website.

Verbal Section

Number of Questions = 30
Time allowed = 30 minutes

Question Types    No. of questions
Sentence Completion    5-7 questions
Analogies    6-8 questions
Reading Comprehension    6-10 questions
Antonyms    8-10 questions

All the questions are standard, multiple- choice questions with 5 choices.

Quantitative Section

Number of Questions = 28
Time allowed = 45 minutes

Question Types    No. of questions
Quantitative Comparison    13-15 questions
Problem Solving    8-10 questions
Data Interpretation    4-6 questions

Elementary knowledge of arithmetic, algebra and geometry is required to answer the questions. Almost all the questions can be answered by application of high school level concepts.