Top 10 Toughest Exams in the World

Top 10 Toughest Exams in the World

Life could be so much fun without exams! Ah I see you second my thought but wait there is
more, that sort of fun comes with terms and conditions read a life infested with prolonged
misery spent in either other competitions or just procrastinating. An addiction seems sweet
but it’s the thing that we dislike become the reason for our eventual good.
We have hereby compiled the list of world’s toughest entrance exams in their own category.
It not only incorporates the factors like pattern of the examination or the syllabus one is
required to master but a plethora of them including psychological and societal factors. Some
of them are tough on individualistic ground while the expectations and hype attached to
others make them so difficult.
10) Mensa

Mensa is the society of highest IQ holders. How much percentile you require? Let’s just say
98 is the minimum. With its location worldwide and headquarters in Carthorse,
Lincolnshire, England; Mensa has over 110,000 highly intelligent members. It is also the only
test which is not age restricted. Hence, the youngest member is mere 2 years and 5 month
old with an astounding IQ of 141 and the oldest member is 102 years old.
Roland Berrill who was an Australian barrister along with a British Scientist cum lawyer, Dr.
Lancelot War came up with the idea of a society made up of people who ranked high on
Intelligent Quotient. In 1946 they laid the groundwork for a society which would comprise
of intellectuals from over 50 countries just six decades into its formation. What started from
the Lincoln College in Oxford became the beacon of identifying, encouraging and
stimulating human intelligence.

9) LNAT

LNAT or the National Admission Test for Law is an aptitude test for the main law
universities in United Kingdom. Currently over 9 law universities have adopted it.
Established on the leading requirement of Oxford University, LNAT was aimed at a better
sorting process, as it was difficult for the law universities to choose between applicants with
only slightly varied A-Level scores. The exam is not restricted primarily to U.K citizens so all
applicants natural or overseas have to apply for it in order to be considered for the law
universities based in United Kingdom.
This rigorous 150 minutes exam tests the applicant on the basis of reading comprehensions
and logical reasoning skills. There are 10 sets in the reading portion with 2 to 5 questions per
set; one includes an essay that could take up around 40 grueling minutes to attempt which is
basically on open ended topics regarding societal issues especially related to student strata of
the society.
8) College Scholastic Ability Test

CSAT or College Scholastic Ability Test is also known as Suneung in South Korea. This is one
of the most exhaustive standardized tests in existence. Held every year on the second
Thursday of November the importance of the test is illustrated by the fact that on the test
day all employees working with the South Korean Government are directed to arrive late at
work so as not to cause traffic jams which might lead to any unfortunate delay of an
applicant.
South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the OCED countries and quite a considerate
percentage of most of the youth’s suicide cases are due to despair and depression which is
resultant of the disappointment in CSAT. The sincerity for the exam is such that the students
start preparing for it as early as from elementary school. Since the country has highest
number of post-secondary degree holders the pressure of expectations is unmatchable.
7) GRE

GRE or The Graduate Record Examination is a standard test one is required to take for
seeking a seat in many American Graduate Schools as well as other English Speaking
Countries. So what makes it tougher is not just the level of difficulty of the examination but
the stiff competition as well. Education Testing Service or ETS came up with it in 1949. It is a
computer based examination and tests the candidates primarily on the basis of critical
thinking, verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing skills. Though the
importance of this examination as an admission criteria differ from institute to institute
while some just consider it a mere formality others take it as an important selection basis.
The paper consists of six sections. The first is analytical writing including timed issues and
argument tasks. Next five comprises of two verbal reasoning sections alone with two
quantitative reasoning and one experimental or research based section. The duration for the
exam is exact 225 minutes with one minutes section break and a 10 min break post third
section.
6) LSAT

LSAT or the Law School Examination test is held in United States, Canada, and Australia.
This test stretches over half a day. It aims to assess the reading comprehension, logical
analysis and verbal reasoning attainments of the applicant.
The representatives from Harvard and Yale Law School came together on the initiated
enquiry of Frank Bowels, Admission Director of Columbia Law School to draft the pattern of
LSAT exam in 1947 while the first exam was finally held in 1948. Held by the Law School
Admission Council, passing this test gives the applicant an edge over his/her GPA. Although
it has existed since 1948 the prevalent form however was incorporated in the year 1991. An
applicant has just 3 chances in a period of 2 years to clear the exam. The test evaluates the
applicant on the basis of five sections which includes multiple choice questions, aptitude test
and a 30 minute writing sample.
5) IIT -JEE

IIT is one of premier engineering institutes in the world, the entrance for which is the
IITJEE or The Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (or simply JEE). It
is held in two phases; JEE main and JEE advanced. It has an admission ratio of
10,000:5,00,000 thus making it one of the toughest engineering exam in the world. Each year
only 1 out of every 50 that apply makes it to IIT. In fact many students who do not get
through IIT either try again or seek admission in MIT, Harvard, Princeton and Caltech some
even on full scholarship. The aspirants claim that there is nothing beyond IIT.
The exam is objective and divided in two questions papers of 3 hours each. Both sections
measure the skills of the candidate in Physics, Chemistry and Math as well the
comprehensive, reasoning and analytical abilities. The students exacted preparing from as
early as 5th grade and sacrificing on extracurricular hours with an added marathon of more
than 8 hours of diligent studies as the fastest step towards the institute of one’s dream.
4) CAT

Established on the initiation of planning commission of India, the IIM or Indian Institute of
Management is the premier business school of India and amongst the top 10 in the world. It
offers postgraduate, doctoral and executive education programs and even the diploma and
fellowship from this institute are at par with MBA and PhD respectively. There are 13
institutes and they admit students for their business administration programs on the basis of
CAT or Common Admission Test.
This test scores the applicant on the basis of four skills: quantitative, data interpretation,
verbal ability and logical reasoning. What makes it all the tougher is the negative marking
and section-wise cutoff! Due to the number of applicants on the rise every year the test is
now held in a window of approximately three weeks in the months ofOctober and
November. The test itself is computer based and exactly 150 minutes long.


3) All Souls Prize Fellowship Exam

All the entrance exams in the world test students and churn out geniuses but All Souls Prize
Fellowship Exam test geniuses and bring out the cleverest people on earth. Only the top 500
oxford graduates who qualify with a first class honors and students from other universities
with equivalent academic achievements are eligible to take this exam. The Examination
fellowship is of even years each and two fellow examinations are elected each other. We’d
like to underscore that although selecting none is quite rare but the college has awarded
single fellowship on many occasions.
The exam is held on two days in late September and includes two examinations of three
hours each day. The most noted was the cherry pie test or as the one last romantic, mystical
trial aptly put by an applicant. It was the most grueling one word based essay test however it
was axed in 2010 and the word for the year 2008 was ‘novelty’.


2) UPSC

Many exceptionally bright children who clear CAT post IIT-JEE choose to appear for UPSC
exams as well. And many of them who term CAT and JEE as cakewalk deem UPSC as the
toughest exam they have had to face. Recruitment to IAS or Indian Administrative Service is
on the basis of an exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission of India or
UPSC. The exam is known as UPSC exam or simple ‘Civils’, working for the government is
tantamount to any job in corporate or technological arenas.
The Exam is conducted in two phases: Preliminary – which is an objective type examination
and Mains- which include a thoroughly subjective examination along with an interview.
From around 3 Lakh students that apply every year only 16,000 make it to final exam and
1000 join the Indian Administrative Service. The exam is held annually, the prelim in month
of March and mains in the month of December so the candidates who have cleared the
objective type prelim examination have only 8 grueling months to prepare themselves for
Mains and the interview.


1) National Higher Education Entrance Examination

National Higher Education Entrance Examination is better known as ‘Gaokao’ and is perhaps
one of the most important landmark in a Chinese teenager’s life. It won’t be an
overstatement to say the least that one’s academic future wholly depends on one’s
performances in ‘Gaokao’. It is a pre-requisite for admission to all the higher education
universities in China
The test is so important that building work is suspended, the areas around schools are
cordoned off by police, and flights are diverted so as to minimize noise. The Olympic torch
relay was even rerouted during the 2008 Beijing Olympics to avoid any distractions. Pressure
on the high school students sitting the exam is immense and has been associated with
fainting, depression and increased youth suicide rates in China. The vehemency of this exam
is such that number of documentaries have been made on this subject recording the mental
stress a teenager preparing for Gaokao has to undergo. Each year more than 7 million people
apply for it in 2006; however the number easily crossed a 9.5 million mark. In 2012 reports
even emerged of students at one school apparently getting intravenous amino acid drips to
help their concentration while studying for the exam.
Being a high-school level and pre-undergraduate level exam it encompasses all subjects. But
what puts it on our list is the psychological stress that comes along with it. It is not just the
students that are affected but also their teachers and parents. Some parents are reported to
have getting their female wards prescribe to birth control pills in order to avoid undergoing
menstruation.
1. Indian Engineering Services Examination

Anyone who wants to work in an engineering role for the Indian government better have a
voraciously competitive streak. The Indian Engineering Services (IES) exam is widely
regarded as the toughest in India, with the number of candidates outweighing the number of
available jobs by a staggering margin. In 2010, for example, 157,649 hopeful candidates
competed for just 434 vacant positions. The exam itself consists of a two-part written test
spanning 12 hours plus an interview-format personality test. While the number of available
engineering posts was said to have risen to up to 763 in 2013, we’re still not sure we’d fancy
our chances with this one.