Postgraduate Admissions
What this domain tests
Postgraduate admission here means advanced research-oriented study, such as MS/MPhil/PhD-level entry. Tests and interviews assess research readiness: advanced quantitative or disciplinary knowledge, critical reading, research methods and the ability to frame a problem. Expect program-specific content in economics, computer science, management or social sciences. A written research statement or interview may carry weight alongside the test.
Core rules and concepts
- Research design: variables, hypotheses, sampling, measurement, validity and threats to inference.
- Statistics: descriptive measures, probability, sampling distributions and basic inference.
- Literature: identify the gap and the contribution, not just summarize papers.
- Ethics: plagiarism, informed consent, data integrity and authorship.
Worked example
A study reports a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. A candidate scores 65. What does this mean? z = (65 − 50) / 10 = 1.5. The score is 1.5 standard deviations above the mean. If the variable is approximately normal, this is about the 93rd percentile. The reasoning matters: standardize first, then interpret the z-score in context; do not compare a raw score with a standard deviation directly.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating statistical significance as practical significance.
- Proposing a questionnaire without a sampling plan or response-rate strategy.
- Claiming causality from cross-sectional data.
- Citing a source without a retrievable reference.
- Ignoring the program’s stated research areas.