The number one admission exam reviewed by business schools internationally is the GMAT exam. The exam is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), an independent organization originally chartered by a council of business schools. The GMAT is accepted by over 4800 programs in 38 countries.
The GMAT is designed to determine the probability of success of an individual entering business school and assesses MBA hopefuls in verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing skills developed over the course of their education. The exam fee is $250 as of February 2011.
The GMAT exam is administered in 94 countries around the world in secure, standardized testing centers. Testing centers are generally open six days a week but have a variety of business hours based on local constraints. The GMAT website provides an online tool that allows you to find the nearest testing centers and contact information in your area. A link to the tool is provided in resources.
The GRE is also used by U.S. business schools to evaluate applicants. Like the GMAT, the GRE evaluates candidates in verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing skills developed over the course of their education. However GRE exams are not optimized for business school requirements. The exam is weighted differently on your MBA application and is not accepted by all business schools.
The Educational Testing Service, the international body that administers the GRE exam, maintains a list of business schools that accept GRE scores. A link is available in Resources.
The GRE General Test is given year-round as a computer-based test at over 500 centers worldwide. The exam fee ranges from $160 to $205 as of February 2011 and prices vary by region.
The JMET is an Indian based exam used to qualify for entrance into the country's business schools. The exam assesses students in the areas of verbal communication, reasoning, quantitative ability and data interpretation and is accepted by IIT Bombay: Shailesh J Mehta School of Management, IIT Delhi: Department of Management Studies, IIT Kanpur, Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, IIT Kharagpur: Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Madras: Department of Management Studies and IIT Roorkee: Department of Management Studies.
Registration for the exam must be done online. It should be noted that during the JMET registration process, you will be asked to upload a JPEG photo of yourself and a digital signature, each less than 150 Kb. Registration for the exam costs 750 rupees as of February 2011.
The Common Admission Test is an Indian based test used for entrance into any Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). IIM is a collection of business schools created by the Indian government to identify and prepare the country's brightest individuals with worldwide management standards.
The CAT exam assesses verbal ability and reasoning, reading comprehension, quantitative skills, data interpretation and analytical and logical reasoning. The exam fee is 1400 rupees and registration for the exam is completed online only.
The CAT exam is administered in testing centers in every major city in India. A full list is provided in Resources.