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Give an Exam or Take an Exam??

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by zuleron » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:48 am
On this forum I constantly read how people "gave an exam" or "gave the GMAT" when they mean they "took an exam" or "took the GMAT". Ordinarily it is one of those quirky errors that native English speakers find interesting, even adorable.

However, this is the kind of idiom that might be tested on the GMAT and might needlessly cost a significant number of people a point or two so I thought I'd mention it. Giving an exam is something a doctor does to a patient, or something a teacher does to her students. Taking an exam is something a student does to prove their knowledge.
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by tkherrmann » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:10 pm
Thank you!

If you sit down and solve problems from a test, you are TAKING a test.

Tim
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by zuleron » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:51 pm
Exactly!
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by rangerguy2000 » Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:38 pm
giving is wrong ... its always taking the exam.
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by irish200 » Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:44 am
what about "to write" the exam. I hadn't heard that used much in everyday conversation but it is frequently used on this forum and elsewhere.
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by bluebird42 » Tue May 24, 2011 10:36 am
I've been reading the forums for a few weeks now, and overall, the one thing that really is starting to irk me is all the posts asking if the author should "give the test again".

Thus..bumping up this thread! The correct way to state it is "take the test" or "write the test".

Here's another thread I found on the subject:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-use-of-t ... 14696.html
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Tue May 24, 2011 1:56 pm
Hey guys,

Ah, isn't diversity the spice of life?!

Rest assured that the GMAT will NEVER, ever, ever, never, ever, never test this. And this coming from a guy who always takes care to never say never.

From what I gather, most Americans will say "take the test". Most Canadians will say "write the test". And most Indian students will say "give the test". And although I'm fairly patriotic, I think it's pretty fair to say that the GMAT and business schools do not want to give a xenophobic preference to any one nationality group on the exam, so they simply cannot test this, the same way that they won't care whether you spell the word "colour" or "color" on your AWA essay. British/American/etc. English is all acceptable on the GMAT.

And even more big-picture - try to emphasize Sentence Correction strategy over idiomatic usage. We know for a fact that the GMAT tests Modifiers, Subject-Verb Agreement, etc. over and over again. So get good at that stuff. But there are tens of thousands of idioms and colloquialisms out there, many of which are culturally-specific. You'll never (again that word that I try to avoid) learn them all, but you won't need them either. Use the scalable, recurring items that you know to certainly be testable and you'll be much more efficient.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Tue May 24, 2011 6:14 pm
I have always known that the GMAT was about "give and take"

You "give" them your answers and they "take" your money.
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by rohu27 » Wed May 25, 2011 1:18 am
David@VeritasPrep wrote:I have always known that the GMAT was about "give and take"

You "give" them your answers and they "take" your money.
I dnt knw why..but this brought abt a smile on my face..just wht i needed to light my afternoon at work.
Thanks David!!
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