I'm planning for MS in Industrial Psychology, so should I give a GRE general test or a GRE psychology test?

Hello Yogita Pawar,

Scope of Industrial or Organisational Psychology:

• You will be working in industrial and organisational sectors in positions which will deal with employee training, worker productivity, human-computer interactions, human resources, assessments etc.
• You will also be assessing the organisation with its policies and practices to make it more productive and efficient.
• You will work in private as well as governmental agencies to maintain the working harmony. You will be employed in sectors revolving around management, health practices, education etc.
• It is a diverse sector where you will have opportunities in a number of areas including private, public, government, education, management etc.
• Some domains in which you will need to be skillful in order to pursue a career in this sector include social psychology, personality psychology, statistics, experimental psychology etc.
• In order to be comfortable in this sector, you need to be comfortable with research and statistics, management and business. In this sector you will work more with groups and organisations.

GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test:

Graduate Record Examination needs to be compulsorily taken by all candidates who aspire to take up their postgraduation abroad. GRE in an examination which needs to be given no matter what your course be. However, the GRE Subject Test is not a mandatory test, it is a test which you might need to give based on the universities you choose and their requirements on whether they require you to give the subject test or not.

What is GRE?

• GRE is an international examination which is required by post graduate universities, and is required to be taken by any and every candidate who wishes to study abroad in countries like USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany etc.
• The scores of these examinations are used to evaluate your compatibility with the universities you apply to and to use them as a common ground to compare you with other applying candidates.
• In this test the candidate is evaluated in his quantitative ability, analytical writing skills, and verbal reasoning skills. To give this test an individual should have a huge control over mathematics and English. You need to have a huge English vocabulary and should know basic mathematics.

What is GRE Subject Test?

• It is required by universities to further evaluate the potential of the applying candidates. It is not a compulsory examinationa nd is reuired by only a selective few universities.
• The test evaluates the applying candidate in six subjects namely - Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Literature, Psychology and Physics. It is based on your choice and requirements, that you choose which subject test will you appear for from among these six.

• Difference between GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test:
• The GRE General test has MCQ type questions, writing portions, and numeric entry portions. It can either be taken as a computer based test or a paper based test. The test is usually broken into sections of of 30-35 minutes.
• The GRE Subject Test has only MCQ type questions and it can only be taken as a paper based examination. It has a single section only. The examination lasts for three hours.

You will need to decide whether you need to give the GRE Psychology Test based on the university/colleges you choose and the requirements of those particular institutions. GRE General Test, however is an examination which you will need to give no matter what. Along with GRE you will also need to give examination to test you proficiency in English by giving examinations like TOEFL or IELTS.

All the best!

I hope this answers your question.

Do revert beack in case of any further doubts.