Entrance Exams

Entrance examinations are conducted by educational institutes and colleges to select students for admission into various fields of education. These entrance exams are more common at the level of higher education in India. Most of the entrance exams in India (for admission into professional courses in various private and government universities/colleges) are based on the pattern of multiple choice questions. Many institutes conduct two levels of exams (Pre and Main). The Pre exam is generally objective type and is conducted for selecting fewer candidates for sitting into the next level (Main Exam). The Main exam is usually essay type in nature. IIT-JEE and CBSE PMT are an example of this pattern of entrance exam.

Some entrance examinations are of national level whereas some cater to individual states. An example of this type (national level) of entrance exam is AIEEE where engineering schools across India admit around 15% of their students through this test (AIEEE) and the remaining based on their scores in the entrance exams conducted by the state in which the college is located. All India PMT, conducted by CBSE is another example where admission is based on national test and state level tests.

CAT or Common Admission Test is conducted for admission into the prestigious IIMs and other top business schools. CAT is an all India test that comprises of objective type exam. Some colleges such as AIIMS and AFMC and many private medical colleges conduct their own entrance tests.