What are the Changes we know about? General Change in format: The new test will have six sections. The first is an analytic section with two 30 minute essays. After that, there will be two quantitative sections consisting of 20 questions in 35 minutes on each, two verbal sections consisting of 20 questions in 30 minutes each, and an experimental section that could be either quantitative or verbal. Scoring: Students will now receive a math score ranging between 130 and 170 in one point increments, a verbal score ranging between 130 and 170 in one point increments, and a writing score on a 1- 6 scale. Skip Questions: Students will now be able to mark a question and return to it later in the section. Analytic Timing: Both essays will now be 30 minutes. Issue: Students will be given more specific assignments for how they should respond to the issue given. Argument: Students will be given more specific assignments for how to analyze the argument. These could include identifying assumptions, strengthening the argument, formulating questions based upon the argument, and others. Quantitative Calculator: Students will be given the option to activate and use an on-screen calculator. Numeric Entry: This is a new question type in which students must generate their own answer rather than selecting from multiple choices. Select Multiple Answers: These will be similar to multiple choice questions but students will be asked to select multiple correct answer choices. Charts/Graphs/Tables: A greater percentage of quantitative questions will be based upon charts, tables, or graphs. Geometry is to be de-emphasized in favor of more data analysis. Students will be asked more questions using real life scenarios. General Reading Comp: Some reading comp questions will have more answer choices and students will be asked to select multiple correct answer choices. Reading Comp: A new question type asks students to select a sentence in the passage that answers or supports the answer to a given question. Sentence Comp: Text completions are a new sentence completion question format. Students will be given three answer choices for two or three blanks and must answer all blanks correctly to get credit for the question. Sentence Equivalence: These are much like sentence completions but students will be asked to select one or more equivalent words or phrases to complete a sentence but keep the meaning the same. Analogies and antonyms are gone.

London: British universities were on Friday warned against treating overseas students as "cash cows" to help fill declining offers. The head of the British Council, the cultural arm of the foreign ministry, said universities could harm the reputation of British institutions if they recruited more non-European students merely to tackle cuts in their budgets. Students from outside Europe can be charged full fees - often many times over what universities charge British or European students - but British Council Chief Executive Martin Davidson warned against "crude" enrollment drives abroad. "International students have more study options today than ever before, and in an internet-connected world, word quickly spreads when it appears that a university regards them as little more than 'cash cows'," Davidson said at the launch of an international education conference in London. "In today's rapidly evolving marketplace, overseas governments will react against foreign universities that are clearly interested only in recruiting students from their country and giving nothing in return." Davidson later said the Council had heard complaints from ambassadors from Gulf countries about the way students are being enrolled and from Chinese students about supposedly international courses that cater to only students from a single nationality. "We are getting comments from Chinese students about courses that are wholly Chinese and (how they) are having difficulty in integrating," Davidson said. The British Council fears a funding squeeze combined with a cap on the number of places that can be offered to home students will encourage universities to recruit from outside Europe. The number of students from outside Europe studying in Britain rose from 117,290 in 1989-99 to 229,640 in 2007-08.

U.S. News and World Report is out with its annual Best Colleges guide, and this year Harvard tops the list among national universities followed by Princeton. U.S. News and World Report is out with its annual Best Colleges guide, and this year Harvard (tuition and fees: $38,416) tops the list in the national universities category. In fact, the Ivy League takes the top four spots, with Princeton at No. 2, Yale at No. 3 and Columbia at No. 4, with Stanford, way over on the West Coast, coming in 5th. Among national liberal arts college, Williams College ranks No. 1, Amherst No.2 and Swarthmore No. 3, followed by Middlebury and Wellesley. In the for-what-it's-worth department, here's U.S. News' rankings as compiled by high school guidance counselors. Harvard still comes out on top, but MIT takes second followed by Princeton. Among the national liberal arts colleges, the U.S. Naval Academy is No. 1., followed by Swarthmore and the U.S. Military Academy at West point. U.S. News regularly tweaks its methodology. This year, it says graduation rate performance was more heavily weighted in drawing up the final list. In addition, for the first time, the opinions of high school counselors were factored into the calculations.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State is pleased to announce the Community College Initiatives Program. This international educational exchange program enables individuals from selected countries to study at a community college in the United States to develop professional skills. Eligible fields are Agriculture, Applied Engineering, Business Management and Administration; Health Professions, including Nursing; Information Technology; Media; and Tourism and Hospitality Management. For more info log on to http://hyderabad.usconsulate.gov/ccip.html