Japanese Language Test

The Japanese Language NAT-TEST is an examination that measures the Japanese language ability of students who are not native Japanese speakers. The tests are separated by difficulty (five levels) and general ability is measured in three categories: Grammar/Vocabulary, Listening and Reading Comprehension. The format of the exam and the types of questions are equivalent to those that appear on the Japanese Language Ability Test (JLPT).

JLPT Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. The JLPT has five levels: N1, N2, N3, N4 and N5. The easiest level is N5 and the most difficult level is N1. N4 and N5 measure the level of understanding of basic Japanese mainly learned in class.

Level	Linguistic Competencies
N1	The ability to understand Japanese used in a variety of circumstances.
	Reading	One is able to read writings with logical complexity and/or abstract writings on a variety of topics, such as newspaper editorials and critiques, and comprehend both their structures and contents. One is also able to read written materials with profound contents on various topics and follow their narratives as well as understand the intent of the writers comprehensively.
	Listening	One is able to comprehend orally presented materials such as coherent conversations, news reports, and lectures, spoken at natural speed in a broad variety of settings, and is able to follow their ideas and comprehend their contents comprehensively. One is also able to understand the details of the presented materials such as the relationships among the people involved, the logical structures, and the essential points.
N2	The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations, and in a variety of circumstances to a certain degree.
	Reading	One is able to read materials written clearly on a variety of topics, such as articles and commentaries in newspapers and magazines as well as simple critiques, and comprehend their contents. One is also able to read written materials on general topics and follow their narratives as well as understand the intent of the writers.
	Listening	One is able to comprehend orally presented materials such as coherent conversations and news reports, spoken at nearly natural speed in everyday situations as well as in a variety of settings, and is able to follow their ideas and comprehend their contents. One is also able to understand the relationships among the people involved and the essential points of the presented materials.
N3	The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations to a certain degree.
	Reading	One is able to read and understand written materials with specific contents concerning everyday topics. One is also able to grasp summary information such as newspaper headlines. In addition, one is also able to read slightly difficult writings encountered in everyday situations and understand the main points of the content if some alternative phrases are available to aid one’s understanding.
	Listening	One is able to listen and comprehend coherent conversations in everyday situations, spoken at near-natural speed, and is generally able to follow their contents as well as grasp the relationships among the people involved.
N4	The ability to understand basic Japanese.
	Reading	One is able to read and understand passages on familiar daily topics written in basic vocabulary and kanji.
	Listening	One is able to listen and comprehend conversations encountered in daily life and generally follow their contents, provided that they are spoken slowly.
N5	The ability to understand some basic Japanese.
	Reading	One is able to read and understand typical expressions and sentences written in hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji.
	Listening	One is able to listen and comprehend conversations about topics regularly encountered in daily life and classroom situations, and is able to pick up necessary information from short conversations spoken slowly.

1. Kathmandu Test Center
2. JALTAN - Japanese Language Teacher's Association in Nepal

source: jalpt.jp

GMAT

Graduate Management Admission Test widely popular as GMAT is a Computer adaptive test created to find out the reading, verbal, writing, analytical and quantitative skills of a student in English. Though GMAT doesn’t concern about the business knowledge, intelligence or skill of an examinee but it measures the problem-solving ability, critical reasoning skill. The main purpose of GMAT is to make students capable of handling and managing any situation with insufficient data. This test is vital in management success and real-world business.

Established in 1953, currently more than 2100 schools and 5900 study programs have made GMAT a compulsion. This test generally has 4 sections namely Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated reasoning, Quantitative reasoning and Verbal reasoning. The first section of the test is Analytical Writing Assessment where students are given 30 minutes to analyze and write on the given topic. The main aim of this section is to measure the ability to scrutinize the reason of an argument and write. The second section of test is Integrated Reasoning where students are given 30 minutes to solve 12 questions. This section has four questions types: multi-source reasoning, graphics interpretation, two-part analysis and table analysis. Here students must show their reasoning skills on any given topic or study material. The third section is Quantitative reasoning and her students have 75 minutes time to solve 37 questions. The main purpose of this section is to built up the ability to solve quantitative problems, interpret graphic data and reason quantitatively. To solve this section there must be knowledge of arithmetic, geometry and algebra and calculator is forbidden. Last but not the least; Verbal reasoning is fourth section where students must solve 41 questions in 75 minutes time-frame. Here in this section, students have to show their reading skills, express idea, rectify mistakes and reason and evaluate arguments. Passages on this section are usually taken from trending topics or study materials.

The score of this test ranges from 200 to 800 and graduate schools have their own bench mark on the score to get admission. This 3.5 hours long test can be given multiple times a year considering the availability of the test center and date with exam fee of 250 US dollars. The validity of this test is 5 years and this test is much popular among educational institution around the world. Especially management programs like MBA, Masters in Finance, Masters in Accounting requires this test.

source: visacastle

GRE

GRE: Graduate Record Examination

Founded in 1949, Graduate Record Examination acronymic as GRE is a standardized test which is essential for admission in graduate schools. This test has wide popularity in United States as most of the universities require this test as an official tool for the admission. The main aim and purpose of this test is to measure the Quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, critical thinking and verbal reasoning of a student. It is also used to measure the thinking skills of a student which he/she has acquired over a period of time and most of them are not related to field of study. The importance of this test can range from an admission formality to important selection factor.

The time duration of the test is 3 hours 45 minutes and has six sections usually of analytical writing section and other five sections are divided into two quantitative reasoning sections, two verbal reasoning sections and one experimental section. The first section is Analytical writing where students are given a random topic to express their view and writing ability. This test measures the paper-based communication skills of a student and the mark ranges from 0.0 to 6.0. Here on the first section students are given a argument task or issue task or an essay to write on. The second section of this test is Verbal reasoning where students are measured by their reading comprehension, vocabulary usage and critical reasoning. The mark of this section ranges from 230 to 170. Here in second section, students are given 20 questions which must be completed in 30 minutes. The third section is Quantitative Section where student’s reasoning skill, mathematical knowledge is measured. The score of this test ranges from 130-170 and examinee must complete 20 questions in 30 minutes.

The validity of this test is for 5 years and students can give this test multiple times. There are two types of exam version: Computer-based and Paper-based. Computer-based test can be given anytime which depends on the availability of test date and test center. Paper-based test usually can be given three times a year on February, October and November.  

This exam is widely popular among students who are planning to complete their graduation, MBA or doctorate degree from educational institution of U.S. Yearly 0.6 million students appear this exam with exam fee of 195 US dollars. 

source: visacastle

History of science and technology

The history of Science and Technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of the natural world (science) and ability to manipulate it (technology) have changed over the centuries. This academic discipline also studies the cultural, economic, and political impacts of scientific innovation.

Histories of science were originally written by practicing and retired scientists, starting primarily with William Whewell, as a way to communicate the virtues of science to the public. In the early 1930s, after a famous paper given by the Soviet historian Boris Hessen, was focused into looking at the ways in which scientific practices were allied with the needs and motivations of their context. After World War II, extensive resources were put into teaching and researching the discipline, with the hopes that it would help the public better understand both Science and Technology as they came to play an exceedingly prominent role in the world. In the 1960s, especially in the wake of the work done by Thomas Kuhn, the discipline began to serve a very different function, and began to be used as a way to critically examine the scientific enterprise. At the present time it is often closely aligned with the field of science studies.

Modern engineering as it is understood today took form during the scientific revolution, though much of the mathematics and science was built on the work of the Greeks, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, Indians.- wikipedia