JMET

The JMET or Joint Management Entrance Test took place on December 14, 2008. JMET is held to select candidates for the post-graduate programmes in management offered by the six IITs (Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai and Roorkee) and IISc Bangalore. Almost 37 across India organized the entrance test examination. JMET is one of the toughest management exams in India. The difficulty level of exam is not surprising considering the fact; one is trying to get into topmost engineering institutes. All the six IITs are crème a la crème. The eligibility criteria was Bachelor's degree in any discipline of Engineering or technology or its equivalent or a Master's degree in any discipline from a recognized Institute or University with at least 60 per cent marks.

JMET is quite different from CAT exam in few matters. If we talk section wise then DI section of JMET is not reasoning based as is the case with CAT which is reasoning as well as calculation based. JMET also place strong emphasis on basics of grammar. Vocabulary and punctuation is also checked thoroughly. JMET involves concepts related to higher mathematics which is not the case with CAT exam. JMAT reserves a complete section for reasoning unlike CAT. CAT exam has more stress on RC section but JMET has relatively easy questions in RCs. Passages are also quite short. JMET 2009 was of three hour duration. Earlier exams were of two year duration. The questions were also reduced in comparison to previous year paper.

MBA from Singapore

There are numerous B-Schools in India. But when one looks at number of students vying for seats in top business schools, there is definitely lack of adequate number of seats at premier management schools. Quite often, students also look for distance education on foreign shores. It’s a rather wise decision to look for better colleges when one is not able to secure a seat in good colleges in India. Doing MBA from foreign colleges will not only give you better chances of return on investment but also help in getting acquainted with global work environment. Plenty of work opportunities are also available for bright students. One of the favored places for Indian students is Singapore.

Singapore offers several one year management programs and selection is often based on academic records rather than entrance tests. Singapore is major economic centre and it offers wonderful study environment to Indian students. One of the major benefits of completing your MBA from this Asian nation is low cost compared to other preferred nations. The average fee including living costs is in range of 10- 15 Lakhs which is quite good relative to other countries. Singapore boasts of having great educational culture in Asia-Pacific Region with quality management schools.

Students can also work simultaneously along with their studies. One can work 16 hours per week apart from having the opportunity of studying with students from numerous nationalities. Singapore is also known for its economic might so that gives students wonderful chance of getting good job in one among 26,000 companies situated in the country. It is also a safe place in terms of ragging and drugs. So all in all, Singapore offers a wonderful chance to Indian students who want to study abroad.

GMAT and GRE

GMAT and GRE are two established tests for several courses. On a basic level, GMAT is mostly taken for management-related programme, whereas the GRE has a more diversified and broad portfolio of eight graduate school programmes including, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics, Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, Psychology, Biology, Literature in English and Mathematics. GMAT is the primary test taken by most of the management aspirants. In GMAT examination, analytical skills, verbal and mathematical abilities are measured. One similarity between both tests is the fact that both tests have been created for native English speakers. In other words, foreigners with English not their main subject are clearly at disadvantage in the verbal segment. GRE is tougher in this aspect whereas GMAT examination can still be better handled by students who do not have English as their first language.

GMAT exam does not test your job skills or subjective qualities or business knowledge. The GRE has a wider scope in context of measuring candidate’s quantitative and verbal skills in abstract thinking. GRE also grinds hard in aspects of writing skills, vocab and general subjects. If one does not have good English and writing skills its better to stay away from GRE and would be much more beneficial to stick to GMAT.

One major difference between these two exams is GMAT candidate need to analyze what has been argued but in GRE candidate has to indulge in arguing. GRE is more abstract whereas GMAT is analytical in one word. Candidates should also take intom mind that even with low GMAT score; he or she can be selected if there is something special about him and his application or academics. Because admission process looks at the complete package offered by you including essays, test scores, motivation level and background.

Confusion Regarding Verbal section 2009

One of the surprising changes of CAT 2009 entrance examination was extra weight given to verbal section. Actually, CAT 2008 had only 27 questions in the verbal section whereas this year, the number was increased to 40 questions. Out of 40 questions, 20 questions were on comprehension and 20 questions related to English usage and grammar. Now the big worry is verbal questions are traditionally subject to different interpretations whereas quantitative questions have definite answers. The answers will be released by IIMs in early January but students fear the worst in view of extra weight given to English section. The main fear surrounding the aspirants is this factor might cost them their place in next stage of CAT.

The main problem with different interpretations is though answers might be right in eyes of experts but they need not necessarily considered right as per answer keys of IIMs. Different experts had discussion about this aspect and even they did not agree on right answers. This may lead to confusion and students are keeping their fingers crossed for the result. Different institutes like Time, IMS, and Career Launcher etc also released their answers and even they agree that 9 out of 20 questions had different answers. Needless to say these 9 answers can make it or break it for numerous students.

IIMs are not supposed to come up with explanations when they release the answers keys on January 9. This trend is in vogue since CAT 2006. Let’s hope this dilemma is verbal section does not spoil the party for 2,50,000 candidates who appeared for CAT 2009.