Test prep for GRE, GMAT and licensing exams means courses and practice for the exams that lead to study abroad, mainly in the United States, and for the licensing exams that doctors, nurses, lawyers and accountants must pass before they may practise. The GRE is taken for admission to master's and PhD programmes, the GMAT for business schools, and the MCAT for medical schools in the United States. Licensing exams include the bar exam for lawyers and the NCLEX for nurses in the United States.
Each test prep product has three parts: lessons that teach each topic, a question bank of practice questions with explanations, and full-length practice tests that copy the real exam.
Take, for example, a final-year BTech student in Hyderabad who wants to do a master's in computer science in the United States. The universities on her list expect a GRE score of about 320 out of 340. The two scores that count are Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning, and each is scored from 130 to 170. She starts with a diagnostic test, a first full practice test that shows where she stands. She scores 305: 150 in Verbal and 155 in Quantitative.
The course then builds a ten-week plan around her weak areas. Verbal needs the most work, so the plan gives her a daily set of reading and vocabulary questions. She takes a full practice test every two weeks, and her score rises to 312, then 318, then 322.
The practice tests must copy one important feature of the real GRE. The GRE is adaptive by section: how well a candidate does in the first Quantitative section decides whether the second one is easier or harder. So a good practice test does the same. Choosing what comes next from the learner's last answers is called adaptive learning.
When she is ready, she books the real test. It is run by an exam delivery platform, at a test centre in her city or at home under online proctoring. Many students come to test prep through a study abroad consultancy platform, which also helps them choose universities and apply.
Licensing exams work in the same way, but more is at stake. A nurse from India who wants to work in a hospital in the United States must first pass the NCLEX. She prepares mostly with a question bank, often for several months.
How is this different from online coaching for competitive exams? JEE and NEET coaching sells a year-long batch with daily live classes. Test prep for these exams is usually self-paced. The candidate is often already a graduate, preparing for a few months around college or work, and pays mainly for practice questions and tests.