The TOEFL exam is an English proficiency exam. It is a requirement for many different programs of study in the United States including University studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The test is given in three formats: paper-based, computer-based and internet-based. In Ecuador, the test is given in the internet-based system only.

The TOEFL Internet-based Test (TOEFL iBT) tests all four language skills that are important for effective communication: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The test helps students demonstrate that they have the English skills needed for success.  TOEFL iBT emphasizes integrated skills and provides better information to institutions about students' ability to communicate in an academic setting and their readiness for academic coursework. With Internet-based testing, ETS can capture speech and score responses in a standardized manner.

The Commission has a variety of test preparation materials available for use in the Advising library.

For more information visit the TOEFL website at www.toefl.org

The Test of Spoken English measures the ability of nonnative speakers of English to communicate orally in English. The test is approximately 20 minutes long.

Your performance on the Test of Spoken English indicates how your oral language ability might affect your ability to communicate successfully in an academic or professional environment. TSE scores are used by many North American institutions of higher education to select teaching assistants, sometimes called TAs. The scores also are used for selecting and certifying health professionals, such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and veterinarians.

The test requires you to demonstrate your ability to communicate in English by responding orally on tape or telephone under timed conditions to a variety of printed and recorded information.

On the day of the test, an interviewer on tape or telephone will ask you questions. The questions will be printed in the test book, and the time you will have to answer each one is printed in parentheses after the questions.

While most of the questions on the test may not appear to be directly related to your academic or professional field, each question is designed to tell the raters how well you communicate in English.

For more information visit the TOEFL website at www.toefl.org

The SAT measures verbal and mathematical reasoning skills students have developed over time and skills they need to be successful academically. Many colleges and universities use the SAT as one indicator among others-class rank, high school GPA, extracurricular activities, personal essay, and teacher recommendations-of a student's readiness to do college-level work. SAT scores are compared with the scores of other applicants, and the accepted scores at an institution, and can be used as a basis for awarding merit-based financial aid.

The SAT is scored on a scale of 200-800 (for math and verbal) and is typically taken by high school juniors and seniors.

For more information, visit www.collegeboard.com

The ACT Assessment, or "A-C-T" as it is commonly called, is a national college admission examination that consists of tests in English, Mathematics, Reading and Science.

ACT results are accepted by virtually all U.S. colleges and universities.

The ACT includes 215 multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete with breaks. Actual testing time is 2 hours and 55 minutes.

For more information, visit www.actstudent.org

The GRE is required by those graduate programs in the scientific, social and artistic fields.

The GRE wants to measure your academic skills through verbal, quantitative and analytical writing sections, respectively. The overall test is graded over 1600 points. The test is given in two formats: paper-based and computer based. In Ecuador, the test is given in the paper-based format, twice a year.

Test takers will be asked to write two brief essays for the analytical writing section. The 45-minute "Present Your Perspective on an Issue" task states an opinion on an issue of general interest and asks test takers to address the issue from any perspective(s) they wish, and to provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support their views. The 30-minute "Argument" task presents a different challenge: it requires test takers to critique an argument by discussing its logical soundness. The two tasks are complementary in that one requires test takers to construct their own arguments by making claims and providing evidence supporting their positions on the issue, whereas the other requires them to critique someone else's argument by assessing its claims and evaluating the evidence it provides.

Three scores will be reported on the new General Test: (1) a verbal reasoning score reported on the existing 200 to 800 verbal score scale, (2) a quantitative reasoning score reported on the existing 200 to 800 quantitative score scale, and (3) a score for the analytical writing section reported on the existing 1 to 6 Writing Assessment score scale, with half-point increments. Score recipients will be provided with brief descriptions of the analytical writing abilities characteristic of particular score levels. The great majority of analytical writing scores will be reported along with verbal and quantitative scores within the current score reporting time frame of 4 weeks following the test administration.

For more information visit the GRE website at www.gre.org

The Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) is required by most MBA graduate programs. It includes analytical writing, quantitative, and verbal questions using a computer-adaptive format-the test adjusts to your individual ability level. Questions are chosen from a very large pool of test questions categorized by content and difficulty. Only one question at a time is presented to you on the screen. The first question is always of middle difficulty. The selection of each question thereafter is determined by your responses to all previous questions. In other words, the adaptive test adjusts to your ability level-you will get few questions that are too easy or too difficult for you. You must answer each question and may not return to or change your answer to any previous question. If you answer a question incorrectly by mistake-or correctly by lucky guess-you answer to subsequent questions will lead you back to questions that are at the appropriate level of difficulty for you.

Every test contains trial multiple-choice questions needed for pre-testing for future use.

These questions, however, are not identified and appear in varying locations within the test. You should therefore do your best on all questions. Answers to trial questions are not counted in the scoring of your test.

The verbal and quantitative scores range from 0 to 60, although scores below 10 and above 46 are rare. These scores are on a fixed scale and can be compared across any GMAT administration. The verbal and quantitative scores measure different constructs and are not comparable to each other. Total GMAT scores range from 200 to 800.

The analytical writing score is an average of the ratings given to both writing tasks. Each response is given two independent ratings. Once both essays have been scored, the scores are averaged to provide an overall score. These average scores can range from 0 to 6 in half point intervals. Writing scores are computed separately from the scores for the multiple-choice sections of the test and have no effect on the verbal, quantitative, or total scores.

For more information visit the GMAT website at www.mba.com