Difference Between GRE and GMAT
With the tremendous growth in the higher education sector in the country, there are educational institutions throughout the country which churn out multitudes of students every academic year. Each student aspires for the best possible higher education after he passes school. He wants to be prepared him to face the stiff competition awaiting him outside the four walls of his school.
The institutes for higher learning find it impossible to cater to the hordes of students approaching them for admission for higher education in these institutes. In order to face up to the flux of students passing out, the students are required to take up two examinations, well known as GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The GRE and GMAT are two standardized admission examinations that are accepted across the world by several of the Business Schools who have set up these exams as one of the criteria for facilitating the admission process.
The Business Schools and institutes for higher learning have exercised their own discretion as far as the weighing of the scores of an individual student for selection of the candidate for admission to their Institute. It is of utmost importance for each and every individual to evaluate the difference between the GRE and GMAT examinations for assessment of the specific demands brought about by these tests. It is also necessary that the student knows the variations between these exams so that he is able to discern what exam he would be taking up in order to pursue his dream of graduating from an A-Class Business school. However, in case a student has taken up one of these examinations, it is not essential that he takes up the other also.
The General Test of the Graduate Record Exam or GRE has three distinct parts. Each part ascertains the skills of the examinee for critical thinking and analytical writing as well as verbal reasoning, which do not bear any relation to any particular discipline of learning. The first section is the Quantitative part of the test which involves data sufficiency and word problems. The duration of the Quantitative portion of the exam lasts for around 75 minutes only to assess the person taking the exam. The subsequent part of the exam forms the Verbal portion that relates to reading comprehension, correction of erroneous sentences as well as critical reasoning which also goes up to an hour and a half.
The last and final part consists of the Writing part which lasts for about a half an hour that contains the issue and argument analysis. In totality, the entire test session takes three hours without including the breaks and recesses. The charges for taking the General Test lie within the range of US $ 160 to US $ 205. The scores in the GRE exam are made use by fellowship panels and admissions in order to complement undergraduate records, letters for recommendation and various other qualifications for graduate study. Ideally, the perfect score for the GRE test is 2400. The GRE is a kind of an entrance test which is widely accepted by practically all the Graduate and Business Schools in the United States as well as by several other kinds of graduate schools across the world. The General Test of the GRE is proffered all through the year at test centers located worldwide which are computer-based test centers. These tests can also be taken up at paper based centers in locations where computer-based examining is not available.
One other examination for admission to higher institutes of learning is the GMAT admission test which also comprises of three sections similar to the GRE format of examinations. The GMAT examination is also widely accepted throughout the world specifically those graduate programs that emphasize purely on business or other relative areas of education. There is however not a marked variation between the GRE and GMAT examinations except that the GMAT test is far stricter and rigid in terms of time limits and the deadlines are primary importance. Taking an example, the quantitative session of GMAT test comes to an end at least half an hour earlier than the GRE exam.
The writing section of the GMAT and GRE examinations are similar as far as the components and the duration of the test are concerned. Yet, the Quantitative portion of the GMAT still consists of two facets that are quantitative comparison and word problems. The Verbal session comprises of sentence completion, antonyms, analogies and reading comprehension. This part of the test is required to be completed within a stipulated time limit which ends around forty five minutes earlier than the GRE test. In totality, taking in account the breaks which are not taken into account, GMAT offers only one hour and forty five minutes for the students to finish their test. The ideal score for the GMAT exam is 800 which is justifiably right.
The GMAT and GRE examinations can be taken by a student only once in every thirty one calendar days and not more than five times during the academic year. The cost of taking the GMAT exam is US $ 250 worldwide. The material for the test preparation is available on the net and can be purchased, yet the software required for the preparation of the test is free of cost. As is in the case of GRE Examination, the GMAT test is also available both in paper format as well as in the computer adaptive format and is available throughout the year in their test centers located across the globe.