FAQ By Students And Parents

IMPORTANT TERMS & REVIEW
Friends of mine asking some terms relating to their children education plans in US. Only a few terms listed below will be reviewed.

A-LEVEL
Advanced-Level of General Certificate of Education.
Not all universities or colleges require A-Level score. It's an advantage if you have it. However, if you can attend a foundation year,you must ask to admission office if A-level score is required. Some universities use A-Level or O-Level scores as significant factors in evaluating scholarship.

AACSB
Association to Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business
To have better job opportunities and salary, try to attend business school which has AACSB accreditation. The univ. and college that are accredited by AACSB usually need higher scores in TOEFL & GMAT, the competition is very high.

CBT
Computer-Based Test of TOEFL.
no longer used , now replaced by iBT

ETS
Educational Testing Service.
Institute who administers TOEFL.

GCSE
General Certificate of Secondary Education.
If You are SMU with SNI, Standard National Indonesia, What you need is good report book and SMU diploma.

GMAT
Graduate Management Admission Test.
Most graduate business programs require GMAT. It must be well prepared. It's not easy. For Indonesian students, GMAT test is very difficult. Many GMAT preparation courses are offered in Jakarta. Six months of preparation is recommended.

GRE
Graduate Record Examination, for graduate admission.
It's administered by ETS .
Ask to the admission office if it is really required.

iBT
Internet-Based Test of TOEFL.
Try to have the highest possible Toefl score. The higher your score the higher your chance to attend better quality university. Since iBT is the fastest, plan to have at least 2 two iBT test. Join some Toefl try out sessions which are given for free in most education fair. Try to have min score of 79 for undergraduate and 89 for graduate.

IELTS
International English Language Testing System.
IELTS Academic version, for higher education test purposes.
If you want to go to college, then take academic version.
But for other purposes, then take general training test version.
Try to have min score of Band 6.5 for undergraduate and min score of Band 7 for graduate.

IELTS-General training version.
General training version can't be used for college purposes.

IGCSE
International version of General Certificate of Secondary Education.
See GCSE

O-LEVEL
Ordinary-Level of General Certificate of Education.
See A-Level.

PBT
Paper-Based Test of TOEFL.
Try to have min 525 for undergraduate and min 550 for graduate.

SAT
SAT Reasoning Test, for college admission, administered by ETS.
The test include:Reading, Math, Writting
It's used in US colleges and universities admission. If you graduate from English spoken high school, you should take SAT test.
But many univ. and colleges in US don't require SAT. Check at the admission office this requirement.

ACT
American College Testing.
It's used in US colleges and universities admission./
The test include: English, Math, Reading and Science Reasoning.
If you graduate from English spoken high school, you should take ACT.
But many univ. and colleges in US don't require ACT. Check at the admission office this requirement.


TOEFL Test Of English as a Foreign Language.
It is to score your English proficiency. Prepare at least one year and try hard to acheve min score of 550 PBT .The better university needs the higher score.

SMU students as a big target - Part 1

Indonesian SMU students as a big target of International Universities and Colleges (1).

Since last September many Universities & Colleges around the world have been competing in influencing SMU students and parents to continue their education abroad. In this months SMU, Senior High School, students are preparing for UAN, Ujian Akhir Nasional that is National Final Examination. Universities & Colleges offer their best quality education with various fields of study. Many of them are frequent participants in International Education Exhibitions held in major cities in Indonesia. Who are they? What level of quality they are offering? Are they qualified? Do the students & parents know their own objectives?

Many Indonesian parents are very proud of having sons or daughters graduated from abroad, especially from USA and Australia, The facts that American and Australian graduates holds important position in prestigious companies and organizations. These graduates mostly from well accredited Universities & Colleges.

In Indonesia, it is a common that friends and relatives are significant factors in determining what field to study, which city to go, how to pay, and how long to stay abroad. Without knowing the accreditation status of Universities and Colleges, any information with intensive marketing efforts from them may mislead the students and parents’ objectives. It is the time to give better understanding of accreditation to SMU students and parents. Who will do?

However, many parents’ objectives are to send their children to have international experience, speak English fluently, degree from abroad, and working experience. After having degree, the children may works for parents’ companies; It is another crucial fact. Living abroad for years have strong influence in the graduates’ attitude and level of confidence. It is because many graduates will be in the regeneration processes of their parents’ companies.

On the other hand, some parents, who know a little about accreditation issue, try hard to figure out not only the chance of earning degree, but also the chance of acceptance. Again , who will give accreditation information ?