Insights into widely chosen post- graduation options after engineering

Part 1 of ‘Career after engineering!’

I have just compiled the information available with me, Prasanna, Omkar, Akshay and on the internet.  Widely chosen post-graduation examinations:

CAT

Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for their admissions screening for the MBA course once a year. The score is accepted in premium Indian MBA colleges excluding few. CAT is an objective test which has the following two sections:

1. Quantitative Ability (QA) and Data Interpretation (DI)
2. Verbal Ability (VA) and Logical Reasoning (LR)

Generally the QA and VA will have 20/21 questions while DI and LR will have 10/9 questions each. Each section will have 70 minutes and 30 questions to attempt. The marking scheme is not disclosed by IIM's but it is a generic thumb rule that approximately each wrong answer will cost you 33 percent marks of one correct answer. Those who have already appeared for CAT 2013 will have their results on 14th January, 2014.

The MBA course fees ranges from appr. 2 lakhs to appr. 20 lakhs. The other exams conducted by top colleges are XAT,NMAT, IIFT and SNAP.

GMAT

The students who want to get into business schools (generally MBA) in USA prefer to take the GMAT exam (Graduate Management Admission Test). The GMAT is a computer adaptive test which assesses the aspirant's analytical, writing, quantitative, verbal, and reading skills in standard written English in preparation for being admitted into a graduate management program, such as an MBA.

The total GMAT score ranges from 200 to 800 and measures performance on the quantitative and verbal sections together (performance on the AWA and IR sections do not count toward the total score, those sections are scored separately). Business schools use the test as a criterion for admission into a wide range of graduate management programs, including MBA, Master of Accountancy, and Master of Finance programs.

The GMAT generally follows the following format:

1. Analytical Writing assessment (30min, Number of questions NA)
2.  Integrated reasoning (30min, 12 questions)
3. Quantitative Aptitude (75min, 37 questions)
4. Verbal (75min, 41 questions)

Candidates can register and appear for the GMAT round the year.  The registration fee for the GMAT exam is $250 (Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 17,000 depending upon the dollar spot rate). The course fee depends on the country, university and the stream chosen, and ranges from Rs. 10, 00,000 to Rs. 50, 00,000.  Only two colleges in India accept the GMAT scores for admission in management courses (ISB, Hyderabad and Great Lakes, Chennai).

CMAT

Students who want to do their MBA Course from India have to write the CMAT entrance test (Common Management Admission Test) conducted by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). This exam is conducted twice a year and is an objective test with the following sections:

1. Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
2. Logical Reasoning (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
3. Language Comprehension (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
4. General Awareness (25 questions, Max 100 marks)

The exam duration is of 180 minutes and there shall be negative marking with 1 mark deduction for each wrong answer.

Students who have appeared for the first test can appear for the second test as well, and better of two scores will be used for admissions. For the second test, the registration window is from 1^st Nov 2013 to 2^nd Jan 2014. The exam is on 20^th Feb 20142 and results on 14^th Mar 2014.

Registration fee for the exam is between Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 and the fee for the MBA course is from Rs. 1, 00,000 to Rs. 20,00,000 (depending upon the college and university chosen)

GRE

(According to me, this is the smartest admissions test - Lets you skip questions, change your answers and have control to tackle the questions you want to answer first)

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and in other English-speaking countries as well. The exam is created and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). Each university has an independent admission committee and process and hence, it is difficult to generalize most topics for this exam in this post. Topics that can be generalized are mentioned.

General structure of the GMAT:

1. Verbal Section (130 to 170 marks, 1 point increment, 20 questions in 30 mins)
2. Quantitative Section (130 to 170 marks, 1 point increment, 20 questions in 35 mins)
3. Analytical writing section, consists of two essays - (a)  Issue task (30min). Candidate is expected to write an essay on a selected topic (b)Argument task (30min). Candidate is expected to address the logical flaws of the argument
4. The experimental section (can be either a verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing task). Contains new questions ETS is considering for future use. The performance of a candidate in this section is not counted towards the total score. This section appears identical to the scored sections and the candidate in no way can to validate whether a section is experimental or not. Precisely for this reason, the experimental section is highly debated.

The registration fee for the GRE is $150 (Rs. 9000 to Rs. 12,000 depending on the dollar spot rate) and the course ranges from Rs. 10,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000 depending upon the country and university chosen.

TOEFL

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is an examination used for screening candidates wishing to enroll for courses in U.S. universities.

The TOEFL is a 120 marks, four-hour long test consisting the following four sections:

1. Reading – consists of four to five passages and then questions about the passages (60-100 minutes)
2. Listening- consists of six passages, 3-5 minutes in length and questions about the passages (60-90 minutes)
3. Speaking- six tasks, two independent and four integrated. In the independent tasks, the candidate answers opinion question on familiar topics. In the integrated tasks, the candidate read a short passage, listen to a lecture or conversation and by combining appropriate information based on the two, answer questions. (20 minutes)
4. Writing- two task, one independent and one integrated (50 minutes)

This again is a smart test, with each section measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills) and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment.

The TOEFL registration fee is $165 (Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 12,000 depending upon the dollar spot rate.

GATE

The GATE relative scores are used for admissions into various post graduate programmes (M.E., M. Tech., Direct Ph. D.) in most Indian Educational Institutes. The scores are also important to get financial assistance from government agencies and for various public sector recruitment screenings. The GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) is an all-India examination that primarily tests the comprehensive understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and science. Otherwise, many private colleges have their independent entrance test for post graduate courses.

The examination is of 3 hours duration that contains 65 questions carrying a maximum of 100 marks. The questions consist of both multiple choice questions (MCQs) and numerical answer type questions. All the papers will contain few questions that test the General Aptitude (Language and Analytical Skills), apart from the core subject of the paper. The candidate is expected to appear in a paper appropriate to the discipline of his/her qualifying degree.

The registrations for GATE 2014 are closed and the test window for GATE 2014 is from 2^nd

Feb 2014 to 2^nd Mar 2014 with the results on 28^th Mar 2014.

The registration fees is appr Rs. 1,500 and the fees for post graduate courses range from Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 4,00,000.

Please leave your doubts in the comments so that they can be addressed. I welcome new information/data (pertaining to the topic).