STUDY ABROAD WITH IELTS AND GMAT

One of the most important things that affect one’s decision of college is exam scores. One might argue that one’s profile is equally important. But in the majority of cases, colleges tend to screen you primarily by your exam scores. It is only when you are close to the cut-off and they are feeling particularly benevolent that they decide to give your profile a glance. It is understandable how much of an impact one’s profile would have on the selection criteria at that point. But before that, understanding that exam scores take precedence is of paramount importance.

The results from these exams offer a wide array of colleges to choose from. But the exam choice also affects the same because the acceptability of certain exams is limited to certain colleges only. Therefore, when considering colleges and courses, choice of exams is an important thing too. Ideally, universities in English-speaking countries require students to have proof of proficiency in the English language. For that, primarily there are two exams while others are less common- Test Of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS). These exams help a university to assess a student’s ability to survive in the country.

For actual entrance examinations, very few universities have their own exams. The majority have accepted one or the exams conducted by independent boards as acceptable exams. One of those exams, suitable for management and arts courses is Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT). Other exams, for more technical courses, include GRE, etc. While some management universities accept GRE as an acceptable exam, the GMAT is the preferred one. It is nice to understand a certain background about these exams.

IELTS primarily tests the students about proficiency in English in four different areas- Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Reading. Comprehensively it helps in providing a score that is indicative of the student’s proficiency in the English Language. IELTS tests students on various dialects and accents such as British, Australian, and New Zealand, etc. Most universities have a requirement of a score slightly above 6 over 9.

GMAT, on the other hand, is an aptitude test that is primarily preferred by management aspiring students, or those aspiring for admission into one or the other forms of Arts courses such as pure finance, economics, etc. It basically tests a student on English, reasoning, and logic, and mathematics. While is an adaptive test whose difficulty increases or decreases basing on the way an aspirant is answering, most first-tier colleges require a score of 650 and above over 800. It is one of the most widely accepted exams with over three-fourths of the colleges in most of the English-speaking countries accepting the examination.

While GMAT and IELTS both have English testing, the aspects that are tested as well as the pattern of testing are widely different. The validity of the exams varies too. While GMAT is applicable for 5 years, the scores of IELTS are valid for only two years. Therefore, students, while attempting the exam have to plan accordingly. Logically looking at it, it would seem that one would have to prepare for GMAT and then IELTS. GMAT tests one on comprehensive passages, understanding of sentence structures, and vocabulary usage while IELTS is primarily focussed on how well you understand English as would be spoken in the host country. GMAT is primarily focused on assessing your grasp of English by ensuring you’re equally good at all aspects of the language while IELTS only wants to ensure you can survive in the host country. Therefore, the method of preparation is quite different.

However, why IELTS is a question that arises when TOEFL is equally valid and accepted. Most of the USA accepts TOEFL as a first preference. However, outside the USA, IELTS is the preferred one in countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc. Let us take a look at some of the top colleges that accept IELTS and GMAT combination for Management courses.

Top Universities Accepting GMAT and IELTS

• Harvard Business School, USA
• London School of Economics, UK
• Kellog School of Management, USA
• HEC Paris, France
• University of Oxford, UK
• University of Cambridge, UK
• INSEAD, France
• Melbourne Business School, Australia
• NUS, Singapore
• St. Gallen University, Switzerland

While it is interesting to note that IIM Ahmedabad, India, the premier management institutes in India accept IELTS scores, they still require you to get a certain score on Common Admission Test (CAT), the country’s most sought-after entrance exam.

However, it is important to note that most schools mentioned on the top 10 list require you to possess a score of about 700 in GMAT over 800 and a score (the class average for the past years) of 7-7.5 in IELTS which funnels only the creamy layer into these colleges. It is for these reasons that these colleges are well sought after and the exams receive such hype for preparation. Proper planning and lots of practice are required to ace these exams.

Source:

https://www.jeduka.com/articles-updates/study-abroad/study-abroad-with-ielts-and-gmat