
The
GRE or Graduate Record Examination is the qualifying examination required to
apply for colleges in the US for courses other than medicine (for which the
USMLE is required ) and Management (for which the GMAT is required)
(quick note : The SAT examinations that you could have heard
about are qualifying examinations to be given after the 10 or 10+2 levels.
Either way, they have nothing to do with you and I heartily suggest that you
don't have anything to do with them. Living in India, after all, is not THAT bad
;) )
Quite unlike all the major exams held in India, the GRE exam is held by a
private company : ETS (Educational Testing Services ) . Consequently, Its much
better managed than any of our exams are. The payment options are very flexible,
there is no unnecessary documentation, the examinations are conducted on time,
you get the results on time and in general, you can concentrate on the exam
itself rather than on the attendant hassles.
The GRE exam concentrates mainly on the intellectual ability of the student
(except of course for the verbal section). It is , in short , sort of an
aptitude test.
After giving the GRE, a person is eligible to apply for a LARGE number of
disciplines, just some of which we have tried to tell you more about in the
"career" section.
However, it is to be noted that the GRE score is NOT the sole criterion deciding
your eligibility to be admitted in a college of your choice in the US. Your
earlier qualifications (which in your case would be a medical graduate with 5
1/2 years of graduate study) , your past research experience (if any ) in the
field you are applying to , and finally the way you apply to the colleges also
count. Probably more than our percentage obsessed minds will ever come to terms
with...
What is the
CAT? :
The CAT or computer
adaptive test is the only way you can currently give the exam in India. Earlier
there used to be a pencil and paper version of the test, which however has now
been totally discontinued.
The CAT is an adaptive test. In other words as you start answering the easier
questions, the computer presents you with more difficult questions. If you
answer even these questions, you get even more difficult ones and so on..
Many people ( and most books) have listed techniques for getting good marks on
the CAT by answering the earlier questions (which contribute significantly
towards the score) more carefully and with a lot more time than the last
questions, which they argue you should rush through without too much thought.
However I do not share this view. If you want to score in the 750 levels , I
believe you should answer each question with the same amount of time, i.e.. you
should start answering in at a proper speed right from the beginning.
For a contrasting (
and more widely accepted ) viewpoint, I have requested my friend Mukesh to write
this article.