Education in modern times has become an asset that an individual must always seek to embellish. In order to pursue higher studies in American universities, expatriate students undertake a common entrance test, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). It is conducted to ascertain candidates' eligibility for pursuing a Master's or Ph.D. programme in American universities, details of which are given below.

The Educational Testing Service (ETS), Princeton, New Jersey, conducts this examination. Students seeking admission to Graduate Schools, Professional Colleges and Fellowship Competitions are required to succeed in this test. The GRE score, the candidate's undergraduate records and recommendations are used as the criteria for admission to graduate schools and sponsoring of fellowships.
 

The candidates must be graduates or be expecting results in time for the GRE test.

 
The following tests are offered:

(i) General Test: Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Skills of the candidates are assessed through this test. These skills that are not related to any particular period of study and will have been developed over a long period of time. The Verbal skill set is ascertained through Analogies, Antonyms, Sentence Completions and Reading Comprehension. The Quantitative Ability is measured through Quantitative Comparison, Discrete Quantitative and Data Interpretation. The candidate's Analytical Ability is gauged through Analytical and Logical Reasoning.

The General Test is offered in both a computer-based format and a paper-based format.

(ii) Subject Tests: This is to find out the candidate's proficiency in a particular subject that could be an undergraduate major or an area in which the candidate has extensive knowledge. These tests are paper-based only and are given in 14 subject areas.

(iii) Writing Assessment: Introduced in 1999, this test is independent of the GRE General and Subject Tests. There are two analytical writing tasks involved, namely 

        (a) Present your Perspective on an Issue - This 45-minute exercise requires the candidate to address a general issue from any perspective and present his / her views. The candidate may choose one out of two topics chosen by the computer from yet another huge collection of subjects.

        (b) Analyse an Argument - A different challenge altogether, the candidate has to present in 30 minutes a critique on an argument and provide supporting reasons. The two tasks are complementary, as one requires constructing an argument about an issue and the other entails presenting a critique on another's argument. The Writing Assessment test is offered online year-round as a separate test available at all ETS authorised Computer-based Testing (CBT) centres.

 
This computer-adaptive test has been developed to get precise information about the candidate's abilities. Fewer questions are asked in this modified test but the same content of the paper-based General Test is covered through same question-types. The test commences with questions of average difficulty. The computer chooses the next question based upon the candidate's score of the preceding answer. Therefore, the choice of the ensuing question depends upon the candidate's performance in the previous questions. It is mandatory that each question is answered before moving ahead and the answer once entered cannot be altered.

The test requires basic computer skills. Two hours and fifteen minutes out of four hours and thirty minutes is allotted for the test, the remaining time is for the Tutorials, background questions etc.

• GATE is an all-India examination conducted by the IIT's and IISc, Bangalore, on behalf of the National Coordinating Board - GATE, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
  
• The examination is normally held on the second Sunday in February.
  
• The GATE score becomes valid only after the candidate completes all the requirements of the qualifying degree and is considered only for two years thereafter, i.e., GATE 2002 score will cease to be valid after March 31, 2004.
  
• Only candidates who qualify will get the GATE score card.
  
• Generally GATE examination notification appears in leading newspapers in September.