The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a test of English language proficiency, developed by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. IELTS is now accepted as evidence of a prospective student’s level of English by most universities in English speaking countries.

There are two different IELTS tests that you can do: Academic and General. The following information will deal only with the Academic test as this is the test used for university entrance.

IELTS is not a test that you can pass or fail. Your assessment will be reported according to a scale from bands one to nine. You will need to contact the university you wish to enter to find out the IELTS score they require for entry into your chosen course. Band one indicates that you have virtually no English at all. Band nine is native speaker proficiency. Universities in Australia typically require a band score of between 6 and 7.

The test questions and tasks have been designed to reflect the general interests of people from an educated background. You will therefore not be required to have any specialist knowledge.

The test has four components – Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. You will receive a band score for each component as well as a global band score.

Reading: (60 minutes)
The IELTS reading test takes one hour. In this time you are required to read three texts of between 500 and 900 words each. The texts and questions increase in difficulty. There will be around 40 questions to answer and record on the answer sheet within the 60 minutes.

Most students come out of the reading test feeling that there wasn’t enough time to complete the exam paper. For this reason it is very important that you take a number of timed practice reading tests before the actual exam day to develop the skills of skimming and scanning and other timesaving strategies the listening component of the IELTS test

Writing: (60 minutes)
The IELTS writing test takes one hour. In this time you are required to complete two tasks:

TASK ONE is a report based on some graphic information provided on the question paper. The graphic information will come in one of five forms. You are required to describe the information or the process in a report of 150 words. This task should be completed in 20 minutes. It is important that you are familiar with the language appropriate to report writing generally and to each of the five types of report.

TASK TWO is an essay based on a topic given on the question paper. You should write at least 250 words in 40 minutes.
It is important that you keep within the advised time limits as Task Two carries more weight in your final band score than Task One. Remember that illegible handwriting will reduce your final score.

Listening: (30 minutes)
The IELTS listening test takes approximately 30 minutes.
The listening material is recorded on a cassette tape which you will hear only once. There are four sections in the listening test presented in order of increasing difficulty. The first two sections are on topics of general interest such as a report of a lost bag or an introduction to a public facility. Section one will be in the form of a dialogue, section two will be a monologue.

Sections three and four will have an education or training focus. There will be a lecture and a discussion between two and four people.

As you listen you should write your answers on the question booklet. At the end of the recorded material you will be given ten minutes to copy your answers onto the answer sheet.

Most candidates come out of the listening test not feeling very confident of their answers after listening to the recording only once. For this reason it is very important that you take a number of timed practice listening tests before the actual exam day to become familiar with the style of questions asked, the speed of the speech and to develop the skill of recording your answers as you listen. The speaking component of the IELTS test

Speaking: (11 to 14minutes)
The IELTS speaking test takes between 11 and 14 minutes and is in the form of an oral interview between the candidate and an examiner.

During the interview you will need to answer questions asked by the interviewer, speak at length on a topic selected by the interviewer and give and justify your opinions on a range of issues related to that topic.

The interview has three main parts:

• some general questions about yourself, your life and your interests
• a short talk on a particular topic
• a discussion of issues linked to the talk in part 2.

It is important that you relax and speak as confidently as you can. Candidates who are not able to participate fully in the conversation may not achieve their potential band score. This may be because they haven't been able to demonstrate the level of language they are capable of producing.

For further information visit the official website www.ielts.org

The GMAT® exam is a test of general skills and abilities that you have acquired over time. Do your best by understanding the format and content of the test.

GMAT Overview

The Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) is a standardized assessment—delivered in English—that helps business schools assess the qualifications of applicants for advanced study in business and management. Schools use the test as one predictor of academic performance in an MBA program or in other graduate management programs.
What the GMAT measures
The GMAT® exam measures basic verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills that you have developed over a long period of time in your education and work. It does NOT measure:

• your knowledge of business,
• your job skills,
• specific content in your undergraduate or first university course work,
• your abilities in any other specific subject area, or
• subjective qualities—such as motivation, creativity, and interpersonal skills.

Formatting and Timing
The GMAT® exam consists of three main parts, the Analytical Writing Assessment, the Quantitative section, and the Verbal section. 
Analytical Writing Assessment
The GMAT® exam begins with the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). The AWA consists of two separate writing tasks—Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. You are allowed 30 minutes to complete each one. 
Quantitative Section
Following an optional ten-minute break, you begin the Quantitative Section of the GMAT® exam. This section contains 37 multiple-choice questions of two question types—Data Sufficiency and Problem Solving. You will be allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section.
Verbal Section
After a second optional ten-minute break, you begin the Verbal Section of the GMAT® exam. This section contains 41 multiple choice questions of three question types—Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction. You are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section. 

SAT Test Introduction
The SAT test is taken by students who are interested in furthering their Academic careers and preparing for college. The competitiveness of college admissions dictates a good SAT score as a minimum to even be considered by some colleges. The SAT test is sponsored by the College Examination Board. The SAT test covers 2 content areas: verbal ability and mathematics. You will not find social studies, chemistry, physics and biology on the SAT, unless a few of these topics are covered in the verbal reading comprehension section.
The SAT test is designed to be one of the first hurdles in your academic undergraduate career. Consequently, the questions focus on your ability to apply knowledge that you have learned in past experiences related to the algebra, vocabulary, analogies, and arithmetic. The SAT test requires that you understand the underlying concepts and determine one correct answer choice from the information presented.
Many stare at limited funding and the overwhelming task of studying to score high on the SAT test. The key SAT testing tips are stated as follows:
1. Improve your analogy skills.
2. Review mathematical equations that frequently occur on the SAT test.
3. Improve your vocabulary.
4. Be familiar with the format of the SAT test.
5. Practice comparison type questions found on the math sections of the SAT test.
Some helpful sources for preparing for the SAT test are:
The SAT consists of approximately 3 hours of multiple-choice questions broken into general math and verbal content areas.
Verbal Section: 78 questions in 75 minutes
• Analogy Questions
• Sentence Completion Questions
• Critical Reading Questions
Math Section: 60 questions in 75 minutes
• Quantitative Comparison Questions
• Regular Math Questions
• Grid In Questions

The Structure of the SAT
The SAT is a 3 hour multiple-choice exam that tests basic math and verbal skills. In addition, the SAT tests your ability to take the SAT. What do we mean by that? Well, the SAT--like most standardized tests--primarily tests your ability to take tests. So one of the first things you should do when preparing for the SAT is to learn about the test itself:
Strategy Tip: Understanding the way content is tested on the SAT is as important as knowing the content itself.
Let's have a look at the way the test is structured:
Sections # Timing Question Types Scoring
Verbal 3 Two 30 minute sections and one 15-minute section 40 Critical Reading
19 Analogies
19 Sentence Completions 200-800
Math 3 Two 30-minute sections and one 15-minute section 35 Regular Math
15 Quantitative Comparisons
10 Grid-Ins 200-800
Experimental 1 One 30-minute section Math or Verbal Not Scored
Total 7 3 hours 138 scored questions 400-1400
The structure of the SAT is predictable. While the exact same questions never appear from test to test, the number of questions, the types of questions, the directions, and the content areas remain the same from test to test. A prepared test-taker will maximize on the SAT's predictability.

Scoring on the SAT
There are 138 scored questions on the SAT (60 math and 78 verbal). Your raw score is the simple number of questions you got correct minus a fractional penalty for wrong answers. Here's how your raw score is calculated on the SAT:
* You get 1 point added to your score for each correct answer on the SAT.
* You lose a fraction of a point for every wrong answer (excepting Grid-ins which have no wrong answer penalty).
The totals are added up for all the math and verbal questions to produce a raw score. The raw score is then converted into what is called a scaled score. The scaled score is the score you probably associate with the SAT-- that number between 200-800.
Raw to Scaled SAT Score Conversion Table (the numbers vary slightly from test to test)
To get a scaled score of You need a raw score of (Math) You need a raw score of (Verbal)
500 29 35
550 35 43
600 41 52
650 47 59
700 51 65
750 56 69
Take a look at this table. Depending upon the score you are shooting for, this may come as a piece of good news. For instance, if you are aiming for a score of 600, you can leave 20 questions blank, get 6 or so questions wrong, and you'll still manage to get the score you wanted.
Guessing on the SAT
There is no such thing as a guessing penalty on the SAT. There is, however, a wrong answer penalty. The wrong answer penalty is designed so that students who guess randomly won't earn extra points for the effort.
Here's how the wrong answer penalty works:
* You get 1 point for every correct answer
* You get a fraction of a point taken off for every incorrect answer (excepting Grid-ins)
Type of Answer Correct Answer Left Blank Wrong Answer Wrong Answer on QC Wrong Answer on Grid-in
Raw points 1 point 0 points -1/4 point -1/3 point 0 points
As you can see, you get the same number of points for any correct answer (1 point), however, the amount subtracted from your score for a wrong answer varies according to question type. You get a 1/4 point off for most question types. So:
Strategy Tip: You should never guess randomly on the SAT. However, if you can rule out at least one answer choice on a question you don't know, it is worth it to guess.
The more wrong answer choices you eliminate, the more likely it is that you will beat the wrong answer penalty and get a higher score. Also: since there is no wrong answer choice penalty for Grid-ins, guess to your heart's content on that question type.

Difficulty Level on the SAT
Here's an important fact about the structure of the SAT: Questions within a given section increase in level of difficulty. In other words, the questions will get harder as you go along. This aspect of the test's structure should figure into your test-taking strategy. Remember that an easy question is worth the same amount of points as a harder one. So pick up those easy points as quickly as you can!
Strategy Tip: Since the SAT is a paper & pencil exam, feel free to skip around within a section. Make sure you pick up the easy points before spending time on the more difficult questions.
Here's another thing about the structure of the SAT. Correct and incorrect answers follow predictable patterns. For instance, an obviously correct answer is likely to be the right answer early in a section, but a wrong answer choice trap later in a section. In a 30 question section:
Easy Questions (~1-10): the "obvious" answer is almost always correct.
Medium Questions (~11-20): the "obvious" answer is sometimes correct.
Difficult Questions (~21-30): the "obvious" answer is almost never correct.
Always make note of where you are in a section before going for an obvious answer choice on the SAT. Don't fall into the test maker's traps.

SAT Timing & Pacing
Since the SAT is three hours long, it is, above all, a test of endurance. Just as a runner trains differently for a marathon than for a sprint, so should you train for the long haul on the SAT. If you get stuck or a question looks too time-consuming, skip it and return to it later. Because the SAT is a long distance race, timing and pacing will be key to your success.
The bad news about timing
* You will not have as much time as you would like to answer all the questions on the SAT
* You will encounter words and math content that you either do not know or find very difficult.
The good news about SAT timing
* You do not have to answer every question to get a great score on the SAT
* You can make strategic decisions about how to use your time that will help you to maximize your score.
Strategy Tip: You don't have to answer every question in a section to get a good score on the SAT. If you can't eliminate any answer choices, it is better to skip a question than to guess blindly.

SAT Fact ReKap
Once you know some basic facts about the SAT, you will be ahead of the game on test day. Here's some things to keep in mind:
SAT success is coachable. Contrary to popular belief, the SAT is not an intelligence Test. It is a measure of demonstrated Math and Verbal skills. These skills can be learned.
SAT content is limited. Questions on the SAT are devised out of a relatively small pool of Math & Verbal content areas. Learn the range of the content areas and your preparation becomes focused and easier.
SAT scoring is predictable. Standardized tests measure all students against the same standard. On the SAT, this means that if you take the test in November, you are measured against the students who took the test in June. Of course you aren't taking the SAME test they took. But both your tests are standardized, and (in theory) you should be equally likely to do as well on one test as another.
The SAT is an opportunity. Colleges use the SAT as a common yardstick by which to measure candidates. See the SAT for what it is--a great opportunity to strut your stuff and prove that you are eminently qualified for the college of your dreams. With adequate preparation, it really isn't hard to do.

Information provided by www.kaptest.com