Making the right choice: GRE or GMAT

For all those students who aspire to study abroad always face a confusion between whether to sit for GMAT or GRE as both of them are equally reputed entrance examinations that are acceptable in foreign universities worldwide. Now since we are talking about this confusion it’s very important for a student to make the correct choice, as his/her future depends on it.

Difference between GRE and GMAT

Considering various factors like test format, graduate schools perceptions, examination advantages, method of preparation, scoring etc. both GRE and GMAT are completely different.

From the name of these examinations itself one can get a clear perspective of what the examination is all about. GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) is a standardized test that assesses the students’ skills in verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking for admissions in streams of science, medicine, literature etc. (except Law programs). On the other hand GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is used to predict how eminent the student is for taking admission in a management program i.e. this test is especially targeted for admission in management courses worldwide.

Disadvantages of GRE and GMAT

Both of these examinations are designed for students who have English as their native language, so for students who belong to a non-English speaking country these examinations become an immediate disadvantage, especially in verbal sections. Although both the examinations have been developed scientifically to judge various skills of the students, they do have certain loopholes. In both the exams students’ skills in verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking are measured but however GMAT fails to test student’s knowledge related to business, subjective qualities, creativity and interpersonal skills while on the other hand GRE requires wider knowledge in all its sections for students belonging to non-English speaking nations.

Advantage of GMAT over GRE

For all those aspirants who don’t have English as their native language it’s advisable to sit for GMAT instead of GRE because doing so would give them an upper hand in scoring high in GMAT. In recent times various renowned worldwide Business schools are offering admissions to students from diverse backgrounds and in case you belong to one of those countries that have recently joined the European Union, you might have a higher chance of securing a seat. Moreover if an institution finds an applicant to be a deserving candidate they might even consider one’s low GMAT score too but the same doesn’t apply to GRE applicants. Well all of these have been possible due to the only reason that students nowadays prefer mostly to join courses in management, finance or accounting in comparison to other streams that come under GRE.

Difference in format

Although both of these examinations have similar sections to judge the student’s skills, they do have a different style of approach. While GRE requires a candidate to argue, in GMAT the candidates analyze on what has already been argued. The approach for GRE is kind of abstract while that for GMAT is more analytical.

What should an aspirant do?

The first and the foremost things that a students require to do apart from selecting colleges of their interest, is to find out which of these institutions accept which of these tests and based on that prepare accordingly.