Rush to evade the unknown

Coaching centres in the city that churn out students with dollar dreams are facing a sudden rush as aspirants are queuing up to enroll for classes for the GRE exam that one needs to clear to enter a university abroad.

Since the GRE format is about to change next August, aspirants are trying their best to block dates for the exam well in advance to avoid the new format. Coaching centres are also taking advantage of the rumour that the new format will be tougher and are putting up posters stating “Avoid the unknown” and such like.

In fact some students have already blocked their exam dates but don’t plan to apply this fall. “I am a third year engineering student and I still have one more year to finish my course. But I have already blocked my GRE dates for this March because I heard of the impending change in format. I can’t take the risk of attempting an exam that I am not familiar with. Even though I will be applying to universities only next year, I think it’s safer to take the test before August so that I don’t have to face a low test score. In fact, I even heard that universities won’t accept scores around June because of the confusion,” says 20-year-old Akanksha Seth.

While there are students who have decided to attempt the test even though they might not have any immediate plans of joining a university, there are some who have hastened the process of going abroad after having heard of the change in the exam pattern. Krishna J., a student from Madurai who came to the city to start preparing for GRE, says the fact that he might not get suitable dates to write the exam scared him. “I heard that all dates to write the exam will get blocked after May and one can write the exam only after August, which means we will have to prepare for the new format that we have no clue about. The revised format will replace the vocabulary with other kind of questions for which we will have seven options and we are not even sure how to pick the right answer. So I am planning to write my GRE in February.”

Another factor that is contributing to the rise in the number of enrollments at coaching centres is the fact that GRE scores are valid for five years and students prefer to write the test before August and retain the scores for whenever they want to apply to universities. Dattesh Kumar, operations manager of a popular coaching centre in the city affirms the fact. “As GRE scores are valid for five years. Plus. the new format has pros and cons and the difficulty level will increase too. For this reason students are rushing to register for the course and we have never seen a rush like this. It has increased by 50 per cent from last year.”

The uncertainty over the format is not only a concern for students but with the coaching institutes too. While the coaching centres are trying to customise the course according to the new format they say that the ambiguity is a major hindrance. “There is no certainty on the percentile. We only know the scores. Plus the format is very different. We are waiting for more information on the revised pattern so that we can work towards creating a customised module for the students. Students are being very pragmatic and enrolling now for the course,” says Ruchi Tomar, master trainer at a coaching centre in the city.