How Admission Officers Evaluate Your Application: Test Scores

In the previous article, we looked at how admission officers look at your academics. Now, we will see how your standardized and language exam scores like those of SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS etc. are seen. For now, we are only assessing where you stand with the test scores you have.

Test scores are an important factor for the admissions but they are not the most important factor always. As a matter of fact, there are many foreign universities which don't require test scores. So to an admission officer, it doesn’t matter if you submitted either SAT or ACT scores, TOEFL or IELTS scores. For them, the exams in the same category are all the same. They also look at only the highest scores, if you attempted the test more than once. So if you gave the test first in July and scored more than the second time in August, your July score will be used.

If you have taken the tests, then you know your starting point. If you have not, then you should start with the prep tests to give you an idea. You can find practice tests for free on most of the official websites. In addition, you can always purchase the test prep materials.

One thing you should remember is that you can’t plan to get certain scores on these exams. If you keep such expectations, it will lead to more anxiety, and possibly disappointment. These tests are supposed to be hard and they test skills you learnt through your life. However, there are some students who increase their scores the second time of taking the test. Even you can, but you will have to be realistic about your increase.

By taking the prep or mock tests, you will know your starting point. Once you have a score in mind, then you will have to work to improve it. Unlike standardized tests, which test multiple skills, language exams test only your language skills. And your language skills are something you can improve by practice.

During the mock test, if you score lower than expected, figure out what you will do to improve your English skills. Create your improvement plan based current scores, and change your plan when your scores increase.

So to summarize, here is what the admission officers consider while looking at your test scores.

Do your academic scores match your test scores?

Figure out what are average test scores accepted at a university.

Most importantly, if you were to pretend to be an admission officer, how would you look at your profile and answer will this student academically succeed?

Complete Series: How to Apply to Universities Abroad