A lot of second and third year engineering students who want to pursue higher education have this dilemma whether to give GRE or GATE exam. Following is a brief description of these exams.
About GRE:
The Graduate Record Examinations is conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). It is a standardized test that needs to be taken in order to get admission into graduate schools in the United States and Canada. It consists of three sections: Verbal, Quants and Analytical Writing Analysis(AWA). The exam has total score of 340 from which, Verbal and Quants both have 170 marks each and AWA is rated on a scale of 6. A score of 130 is minimum in both sections that will be for every student. There is no negative marking so one can attempt all questions here.
In order to get into some of prestigious universities or to receive scholarship opportunities in US or Canada, one needs a GRE score of above 320 atleast and a CGPA of more than 8. A dedicated study of 2 months given to GRE can lead you to this score. GRE is tough for those students whose English isn’t fluent since it consists of many high level words and it requires that one must study around average of 50 new words on a daily basis.
Who should give the GRE exam?
Students who have a four year undergraduate degree or graduate degree, have a good financial support and wish to pursue higher education in the US or Canada can give this exam. GRE is tough. Don’t expect it to be easy. If you have a strong base in Quants section, then you will have to work on Verbal a lot itself or if you are good in Verbal, you will struggle with the Quants section and if you aren’t even good in both, you will struggle a lot initially and might require more time to prepare for this exam, but once your concepts are clear, it should be an easy task. Dedication and practise is the key here.
GRE has less competition since very few students give this exam so not everything depends on you getting a high score. High score only helps in getting into a good university or for scholarship opportunities. Also, nearly all the universities have the same fee which is around fifty to sixty lakhs including all the tuition fees, transport, housing facilities or the hostel cost can be covered by taking internships or part time jobs in US itself. However, if one receives scholarship, the cost is reduced by a number of lakhs but it requires students to get a high score. Refer for – How to prepare for GRE?
About GATE:
The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an examination for all Indian students that tests the understanding of various subjects in engineering and science. GATE is conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technologies(IITs) or to get government related or public sector jobs.
The examination is of 3 hours duration, and contains a total of 65 questions worth a maximum of 100 marks and subjects depend on the field of higher education that you want to take. One must expect around 9-12 subjects and should be ready to read all the reference books suggested and have deep knowledge and concepts should be clear. This exam has negative marking which makes it tough to crack it.
Who should give the GATE exam?
Students who have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree and wish to pursue higher education in India can give this exam. It also helps you get admission into some universities of Singapore and Germany. GATE is very tough since lakhs of students from India give this exam. Be prepared to give at least 6 months amount of time for it’s preparation and maximum 4 years. If you don’t have enough dedication, don’t take this exam. Students really study hard for this exam to get into IIT’s or IISc’s and it needs to be taken seriously since most of them struggle to even qualify for this exam.
A top score in this exam gives you a chance to learn in India’s top universities and even gives you scholarship and grants. There is an interview process for some colleges that decide whether or not one will be given admission or not. Also, PSUs have decided that a GATE score shall be the primary criteria for initial shortlisting. Preparing for GATE helps one in cracking placement interviews in graduate colleges. Refer for – How to prepare for gate CSE.
