GRE/GMAT – how these are measures for IQ

Hello readers, we meet again. Hope you all had a happy week with all those sunshine and rainbow as well as happy dreams and all.

In my last article, I made an effort to discuss about the origin of standardized assessment tests such as GRE and GMAT. I have also discussed that there are two things that every graduate school tries to assess for each candidate which are: the feasibility of their previous study and the level of their IQ. The first one gets determined by WES, UCAS and so on.

However, for the second one, to test the mental maturity of a candidate, the psychometric testing system (discussed in my previous article) has been found to be very much effective and functional. How does it exactly work, before knowing that, let us learn about the scale below.

The IQ of every person varies and it is very much subjective. Nevertheless, there is a certain scale to analyze the IQ of an individual. For instance, in a scale of 200, it is considered that a child who is in the middle school, has an IQ of 56 – 65. Then when he goes to senior high, his IQ is supposed to be 65 – 95. At a college (undergraduate) level, and when he earns his undergraduate or bachelor degree, his IQ is supposed to be 100 – 120. If someone has an IQ of 150 – 160, he is considered a genius. Usually scientists or maximum noble laureates have that kind of IQ. Stephen Hawking had an IQ of 160.

To be down-right extra-ordinary, one must have an IQ of above 170. As an example, we may recall Einstein, who had an IQ of 176 (or according to many, 160, just like Hawking). There is an organization in UK called MENSA who measures IQ of individuals; and according to them, in 2016, a 13 years old girl was found in UK whose IQ is 186, way above than that of Hawking or Einstein.

Now, let us get back to the psychometric assessment test. By these tests, the test taker gets an idea of the level of IQ of any individual test-taker. For instance, in current scoring system of GRE, 310 is considered a competitive score. The reason being, that score implies that the test taker’s IQ is well above 100. Thus in GMAT, scoring a 650 and above will provide the same expression. That is why to measure the maturity as well as the leadership quality of any individual, along with the ability to take decision, these well-established standardized tests are very important and emphatically accepted by not only the educational institutions in USA, but also the rest of the world as of recent. Therefore almost all the institutes in the entire world have considered GRE/GMAT/others – as a way to measure IQ for individual candidate which would help the admission board to decide whether that candidate possesses enough gray-matter to do something significant with the offered curriculum in the future or are they just going to be some average Joe who intents to enroll just for a certificate.

Before I wrap it up, we must know one thing though. These assessment tests are very important, no doubt about that, however these are not the only criteria to judge a candidate’s potential as a perspective or valued addition to any of the institutions applied. A high score would definitely make it easier to get ahead of other candidates, but it will not surely make a candidate’s place to the institute. From the “funding” or “scholarship” perspective, which can also be helped by achieving a higher score in these assessment tests, it would also take some other criteria in effect, such as Statement or Purpose or Admission Essay. There are a lot of incidents where is has been witnessed that only a great admission essay beget offer letters not only from some mediocre middle-ranked universities but also from Ivy Leagues. In 2017, an individual named Luke Kenworthy from Chicago got offer-letters from eight top universities including Ivy Leagues, and according to Business Insider (issue of April, 2017), he got them all because of a robust admission essay.

Noting the above, apart from GRE/GMAT/SAT score, it is also important to put a vital emphasis on admission essay as well as other admission related facts. Having a paper published also helps mounds into making a great impression to the admission board or supervisor the candidate applied for, specially in case someone is applying for PhD or any research based course. Simply put, the criteria of admission is subjective and varies from institutions to institutions. Nonetheless, a good (if not great) GRE/GMAT/SAT score goes miles ahead in case of not only admission but also scholarships. Here in this web-site my job is to shed a fruitful light on GRE and GMAT and ensure that the readers of my articles get a clearer hint regarding both of these gigantic tests of fortune.

It is crucial to develop a great amount of vocabulary in order to do good (if not better) in these tests. However, doing good in vocabulary is a challenge in itself, and unless the vocabulary is “functional” that vocabulary will NEVER WORK during the test and will make any candidate (weak in verbal part) extra nervous.

That is why, my next article is going to be on developing “functional vocabulary”, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the tedious and cumbersome process of memorizing amasses of rare words only for the sake of the test (and later forgetting them all) and everything to do with growing a steel-trap of rich vocabulary in your brain so that you can use it not only in the tests but also in the real life.

Till then, Study Smart (not Hard) and Happy Reading!!!