Have you ever wondered what the toughest exams in the world are all about, and perhaps how tough they are? Aside from the tests that life will force you to go through, the pursuit of scholarly excellence will also continuously have you doing exams that are designed to gauge your progress.
The education sector is taken quite seriously to the extent that businesses and listed companies have been formed around the academic segment. Some of the companies include Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL), Pearson PLC (NYSE:PSO), and JOHN WILEY & SONS -CL A Common Stock (NYSE:JW-A) which all deal with publishing (JW-A is the most popular of the bunch among hedge funds whereas PSO is the least popular one). However, exams are arguably the highlight of the academic pursuits because they gauge the scholar’s understanding of whatever they studied. Now, if you though military school was tough, you will be surprised by these exams, which are currently considered the toughest exams in the world.
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LNAT (National Admission Test for Law)
Of course, a law test had to make this list. It is a standard test that is used by top law universities in the UK. It was created in 2004 and is used to determine whether applicants have what it takes to join the school that they have applied to join. The robust nature of this test makes it ideal as a cutline that is used by universities to secure the top talent or to. The test is designed to test the applicant’s reasoning skills, and students have 135 minutes to complete the test.
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GATE Test
The film “3 Idiots” attempts to give a rough idea of how highly engineering studies are regarded in India. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, otherwise known as GATE in India, also joins the list of the toughest engineering exams in the world. This test is mainly used to open doors for those who wish to pursue undergraduate studies in science-related courses in prestigious universities in India. The test features multiple-choice questions and also numerical questions, and the test duration is 3 hours.
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The Gaokao test
It is a Chinese exam that is also called the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. It joins the list of the toughest exams, but unfortunately for Chinese students, it is mandatory, and it is used to determine whether or not one is eligible for higher studies. Students in China have to go through this exam if they wish to pursue undergraduate studies. The test has been highly controversial over the past few years due to the stress that it causes to students.
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The IIT JEE
The Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Examination or the IIT JEE is yet another tough entrance exam in India. IITs are among the most prestigious schools in India, and so they are highly coveted by students in the country. To put it to perspective, only 10,000 students are selected every year out of 5, 00, 000 students who aspire to join these institutions. It means that only a small percentage of the applicants get in, and the institutions use the IIT JEE test as the merit for picking out the qualifying students.
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The Union Public Service Commission test
India is keen on the individuals that it selects to occupy top civil servant positions. The country uses the UPSC combined with other criteria such as the Indian Statistical Service Examination, the Combined Defence Services Exam, and the Civil Services Exam to determine who is best suited for those positions. This approach is ideal when picking out exceptional applicants, and students who have passed exams such as the IITJEE usually find it easy to pass this exam. However, it is still among the most challenging exams in the world.
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The Graduate Record Examination
It is yet another entrance examination that joins the list of the most challenging exams in the world. It has six sections, including research, quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, verbal reasoning, and analytical writing. This test can be conducted online or offline, although the latter is usually made available in areas where doing the online test is impossible. International students who want to study in US institutions are required to pass this test.
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Mensa
Mensa is a non-profit society that has been around for quite a long time, and they have an IQ test under the same name that is considered the best criterion to rank the highest IQs in the world. Consequently, it is one of the toughest exams in the world. To put it to perspective, some people who are considered to be in the top 98 percent high IQ individuals in standardized tests have scored low in the Mensa IQ test. Side note, if you manage to score high in the Mensa test, there is a possibility that you might be among the top 100 smartest people in the world.
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The Chartered Financial Analyst Exam
It is the most stringent test that investment and finance professionals attempt to crack, and, subsequently, one of the most difficult exams in the world. Even the Wall Street Journal admitted that it is one of the most difficult exams in the world. One is required to have a minimum of four years of work experience before they become a Chartered Financial Analyst.
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The Chartered Account exam
India probably has the most difficult exams considering that this is another Indian test that is on this list. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) conducts the CA exam in three levels, and this test is reportedly so difficult that many who have attempted it have given up. Only 10 percent of those who attempt this exam pass it.
- The Master Sommelier Diploma Exam
This test takes the cake for the toughest exam in the world, and surprisingly, it is a test for winemakers. The Court of Master Sommeliers which has been around since 1977 oversees this exam, and one needs to first acquire the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced Sommelier Certificate before attempting the diploma. It features a verbal theory test and a blind tasting session involving six different wines. This test is so difficult that only 229 people have ever passed the exam.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
