My father often tells me “If I was a student in this generation I wouldn’t even have passed the boards, let alone get a degree”. Well my father is one of the few cool dads who understand the pressure and competition we students face in our education. This is because most of our parents didn’t have to go through such extensive preparation to develop a career as the current generation does. Nowadays the opportunities in various streams for a possible career has increased tenfold (blame it on technology – if you will – for creating these zillion possibilities!). Apart from the advancement of technology do you know what else has affected our generation? Entrance exams! Aha that word give me chills. This phenomenon enters our life after 12th i.e 17-18 year olds give entrance for their desirable career option. What is an entrance exam? Basically it’s the exam which gives us entry to the college we wish to go, or a base for the career which we want to opt for. Sounds easy right? Well it’s NOT, these entrance exams have real power (like the government) they can either give us entry to our desired college or course, or they can crush our dreams by rejecting us. And a lot of dreams are crushed every year.

Do you ever wonder why there are so many entrance tests and lots of different norms for applying to a university abroad or even applying to a university in India? Well let me explain it to you with a very simple example. Have you noticed for every great restaurant, resort or any other place of leisure - there's always a doorman who guards the entrance? The doorman ensures that the person is suitable to enter the premises; he is not a risk to the environment of the premise. In a similar fashion, to gain entrance to a university abroad for studies one need to pass the metaphorical doorman – the entrance tests. Now the doorman of these countries isn’t as easily perusable like the doorman of a restaurant; it requires a lot of dedication and hard work. After all it’s a whole different country, the lifestyle, the language, the people, the culture are way different than here in India. One doorman can't be expected to guard all the places in an area right? Similarly, a single entrance test can't give you entry to the all the desired course/college. For India there are local doormen; the usual entrance tests for various streams and colleges like JEE, NATA, NEET and so on (so many entrance tests!). For universities abroad the doormen are different as there is a huge line of people trying to enter their country from different parts of the world. So basically there are various postings for these doormen: some guard one or two countries and some guard more and some guard a certain age group. So, the number of entrance tests are different for different countries and also different courses – such as SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT and TOEFL, IELTS, PTE - the list is really long! 

There is only one thing common among all of them – they all give stress. So how about I tell you how to tackle these exams in my simple success formula, from my own experience. There are three things you need to keep in mind while preparing for any entrance exams

1)Keep a Target Score - Always keep a goal while preparing for anything, especially an entrance test. Set a target score. Say for example if you are appearing for GRE – probably 320 is a good target score.

2)Have a proper schedule - Keeping a proper schedule on how to cover up the syllabus for the test is very important as it helps you to be organised and keep track of your progress. I recommend Lesli India - they helped me a lot during my prep period for my entrance exam.

3)Stay Motivated - I’m sure when you plan on giving any of the entrance exam you must  have a lot going on, considering  the fast paced life we all live right now, as a student or a working professional. Our humdrum routines make it difficult to stay motivated. Lesli India has always helped me to stay motivated and encouraged me to focus on my goal. 

Entrance tests can be demanding, taxing and generally draining, if you don't go about them the right way. Our high hopes and dreams rests on acing these entrance tests, making them all the more important. So, it's critical that we seek guidance in order to ensure success. Time to pick up your phone, and make the right call!