Posted by TCYonline.com on November 17, 2007
Following the high-voltage war of nerves that CAT test generates every year, Top Careers & You (TCY) would cool down thousands of IIM aspirants with CAT analysis on their website TCYonline.com.
This North India’s premier chain of test preparation has always been the first to provide such ‘threadbare’ analysis for the students across the nation. This year an estimated 2.3 lakh students will be vying for 1500 IIM seats in the country. The students can checkout CAT solutions on the website at 2.30 p.m. on November 18, 2007.
“This solo exercise would be in maintaining our rich symbiotic relationship with CAT for the last five years in providing a deep analysis of the test”, commented Rakesh Kumar, IT Manager.
Benefits to the IIM aspirants are immense, with CAT analysts providing:
* answer keys or solutions for all the questions
* comparative CAT 07 analysis with previous years question papers
* an overview of the difficulty level
* estimation on the expected cut-offs for IIMs & other premier B-Schools
* topic wise graphical analysis of all the sections
“Every year thousands of aspirants take our online help to assess their performance in the CAT exam. The students can come on live chat or e-mail their queries to our experts to seek admission guidance for various B-schools in the country”, added Mr. Rakesh.
The website www.tcyonline.com is the fastest growing education portal. The company distributes FREE online practice test for MBA and other standardized tests.
The web portal has essentially been the reference site on test preparation, admission notifications, practice tests, B-School updates, etc. Its focus lies in preparing the students interested for a career in MBA, MCA, GRE, GMAT and SAT.
Posted by TCYonline.com on April 21, 2007
For those dreaming of studying in America, there are few exams as important as the GRE. However, recent changes to the formats of the TOEFL and GRE have introduced an element of doubt and difficulty into the admission process. Performing well on these exams is seen as a pre-requisite for procuring admission to top US universities.
The Graduate Record Exam is offered domestically and internationally, administered by the American company ETS. Last month, it announced the most significant changes to the exam in its 57 years history. The design has been altered to:
- Make the GRE more test-taker friendly.
- Reduce the security risk arising from too much exposure to test questions.
- Make the Verbal section easier and Quantitative section challenging in order to balance their levels of difficulty.
- Ensure better and more accurate measurement of graduate skills.
Hence, the focus should shift towards gradually acquiring skills and away from cramming and memorisation. However, preparation for the exam may be fruitless unless one understands the evaluation parameters and, most importantly, the evaluation scale. The new scoring scales are as follows:
~ 3-digit scores
The overall GRE score will be in 3 digits. It will no longer be out of a possible 1600 (800 each in Quantitative and Verbal Sections).
~ New score range
The new sectional scores range between 130* and 170*. The purpose of this is to bring the average score per section near 150*. The older scale suffered from clustering of the Verbal score around 470* and of the Quantitative score near 593*. (* Taken from the ETS web site)
~ Score increments
The score will increase with 1-point increments compared to the 10-point increments of the existing format.
~ Score validity
There has been no change in the validity of scores. The score will still be valid for 5 years. In order to protect the validity of the existing GRE score, a concordance table will be available in November 2007 at the ETS Web site.
~ Percentiles
In addition to the individual score, the GRE now offers percentile scores for initial administrations. This will aid both students and destination institutions interpret the score. Additionally, score equivalents will be offered in order to demonstrate the difference between the current and new scoring system.
~ AW score scale remains unchanged
The Analytical writing score scale is left unchanged, but written responses will now be available to universities so they are able to compare a candidate’s written answers with his or her personal information. This will constrain candidates from outsourcing admission information (SOP) through private professional bodies.
~ Availability of score scale
The new scale will be available to students in fall 2007 after the first three administrations of the test.
A format of the new score report (format adopted from ETS web site) IS as under:
**Hypothetical test dates
Posted by TCYonline.com on December 21, 2006
Offered globally, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardised test designed to evaluate a student’s ability to understand and use English as it is used in a college and university environment — particularly in USA and Canada. If a student is applying for admission to a University or college in these countries, his or her TOEFL score will help the admission authorities to determine whether he or she has adequate academic background of English language skills necessary for admission.
Though the TOEFL is primarily structured for students seeking admission in USA and Canada, the TOEFL is also the most widely accepted score for measuring proficiency in English worldwide. Over 5000 colleges and accredited educational institutions across 90 countries, including: UK, other European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore accept TOEFL scores.
TOEFL is administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the testing organisation that also conducts GRE, SAT and other standardised tests.
The new Internet Based TOEFL Test (TOEFL iBT) has been designed to better prepare the students for academic study in an English speaking environment. TOEFL iBT measures both the receptive (reading and listening) and expressive (speaking and writing) skills of university aspirants. The TOEFL score is equally divided between receptive skills and expressive skills, and therefore, a student must do well in all sections.
Test Overview
* TOEFL iBT measures receptive and expressive skills equally. The student is tested for all the four English language communication skills: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing.
* The exam has no grammar or sentence structure section. The student’s knowledge of English grammar is tested through actual usage in speaking and writing sections.
* TOEFL iBT replaces the structure section with a speaking section in which students wear headphones and speak into a microphone. The digital recording is transmitted to ETS Online Scoring Network where human scorers rate the speaking.
* The exam also allows note-taking. The students can now take notes while they listen and/or read and they can jot down points before they start to speak or write. Students can use these notes while giving their responses, but they will not be allowed to carry them outside the examination center.
* The Writing section has been expanded to include one integrated writing task in addition to the independent writing task.
* The Reading section usually consists of 3 passages (sometimes 5), each of around 700 words. This section includes categorisation of information and/or filling in a chart or completion of a summary.
* Lectures and conversations in the listening section are a little longer than earlier, but speech is more natural. Although the focus of the listening tasks remains American, there is likely to be at least one lecture in British /Australian accent. There may be questions that measure understanding of a speaker’s attitude, degree of certainty and purpose.
* There will be fixed dates for TOEFL iBT and the students have to make their choice out of the same. Depending upon the number of test takers and the capacity, a test center will normally have 30 to 40 test dates in a year.
* TOEFL iBT scores are reported online. Students can view their scores within 15 working days of the test and will also receive their score-sheet by mail.
* TOEFL iBT is not computer adaptive as was the case with TOEFL CBT (computer based test). Here all the test takers receive the same set of questions. There is also no computer tutorial.
How to register
~ The fee for the exam is $150 (about Rs 6,500).
~ There are three ways by which one can register for the exam: online, by phone and by mail.
~ For the fastest and most convenient service, register online. One can get the online form by visiting the learners and test takers section of the TOEFL web site. A valid credit card is required (American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, or Visa card), or an electronic check (e-check) if one has a bank account in the United States or its territories.
~ To register by phone, call the Regional Registration Centre. Same payment options as online registration.
~ To register by mail, obtain a form through the TOEFL bulletin. Fill in all information on the Registration Form and mail it to the Regional Registration Centre. Mailing instructions are on the form. Registration forms must be received by ETS or your Regional Registration Center at least four weeks before your requested first-choice test date.
~ The Regional Registration Centre address is as follows:
Thomas Testing Private Limited
2nd Floor
DFL Infinity Tower-A, Sector 25, Phase II
DFL City Gurgaon, Haryana -122002
India
Tel: (011) 26511649
Fax: (011) 26529741
Tel: (011) 26511649
Fax: (011) 26529741
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