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More number of Indian students are taking the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) than American students, as disclosed by an official of Education Testing Service (ETS). This makes India the largest test-taker market globally. As per media reports, this is the first time in the last more than 80 years of GRE’s history that a country outside the US has more takers.
The GRE test, which was first introduced in 1936, is a standardized exam for admission to graduate schools. It assesses the analytical writing, critical thinking, quantitative reasoning and the verbal reasoning skills of students seeking admission to graduate and business schools in the US and many other countries.
Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS, leads the largest private educational assessment organization in the world, with 2,500 employees across 200 countries serving over 50 million people each year.
The countries that had the highest number of citizens who took the GRE in the 2022-23 testing year (June-July) were India (113,304), the US (97,676) followed by China (57,769), the ETS said.
The number of US citizens taking the exam has declined to 61% compared to the 2019-20 cycle when 250,274 took the test, as per the data from GRE Worldwide Test Taker Report (July 2015-June 2020). During the same period, the number of Indians appearing for the GRE shot up to 62% from 69,835, the data revealed.
During the Covid-19 years, owing to the test-optional movement, test centers had to shut down following the lockdown the world over and universities too had to waive the need for GRE in applications.
Post the pandemic, most institutions have reinstated the test. For the GRE test-takers in India-in the 2022-23 cycle, the most in-demand intended graduate majors were the physical sciences (35%) and engineering (13%). The GRE scores are valid for 5 years and can be used to seek admissions both in India and outside the country.
