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GMAT Info

Overview

The Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) measures basic verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills learned in school. It does not measure job skills, knowledge of business, specific classroom content, or subjective qualities like creativity or leadership skills.

Test Locations

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Test Structure

Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT)

With a normal paper and pencil test, a test taker knows what all the questions are, as soon as they open the test book. This is not true with a CAT test. When taking a CAT test like the GMAT, the next question is always determined on the spot, pulled from a large bank of questions inside the computer. The details surrounding how this occurs has an impact on test strategy.

The GMAT always begins with a question of average difficulty, a question that half of the people who take the GMAT would get right, and half would get wrong. The difficulty of the next question depends on whether or not the first question was answered correctly or incorrectly. The third question depends on how the first two questions were answered. And so on. The important thing to remember is that the first third of the questions are used to determine about where your final score should be.

Imagine playing a guessing game, where someone thinks of a number from 1 to 100, and you are asked to guess what it is. You start with "50", and the person who knows the number says "higher". You guess 75, and the other person says "lower". Then you guess "60", and so on. The jumps between your guesses are getting smaller and smaller, as you hone in on the correct number. This is how your GMAT CAT works.

The computer will give you questions, and after each question, it will determine whether that question was too hard or too easy for you. Eventually, it will give you a series of questions, all near the same level of difficulty – and this difficulty level will represent your final score. Since the score jumps in between questions are largest near the beginning of the test, those are the most important questions toward determining your final score. That said, you can’t slack off on the last ten questions, since your score can slide significantly if you do.

The GMAT is broken into three sections:

Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)

The AWA measures the ability to think about and communicate ideas in essay format. The ideas found in this section are on topics of general interest, and don’t require knowledge or expertise in specific subjects.

The AWA has two writing tasks: Analysis of an Issue, and Analysis of an Argument.

Analysis of an Issue: Test takers will analyze an issue and write an essay explaining their views on the subject. A good Analysis of an Issue essay will display the test taker’s ability to think about and express their views of complex subject matter.

Analysis of an Argument: Test takers need to analyze and understand the reasoning behind an argument, and write an essay which critiques that argument. The test taker’s personal views are not a consideration.

Either two independent readers, or one reader and computerized essay-scoring software will score each essay. A third, independent reader is used if the first two scores are too far apart. Each essay is assigned a score between 0 and 6, with 6 being "Outstanding", and 0 being "Unscorable".

Test takers will have 60 minutes to write these two essays.

Verbal Section

The Verbal section of the GMAT has three different types of question: Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction.

Reading Comprehension: Test takers will be asked to read and comprehend passages of text up to 350 words long. The passages are accompanied by questions which test the ability to interpret, apply, and infer the information they read. Specifically, test takers are asked to:

• Define words and phrases in context
• Determine the strong and weak parts of an argument
• Draw inferences

Critical Reasoning: This section will test the ability to understand arguments, and form or evaluate a plan of action. Questions are based on very short (2-3 sentence) arguments. Specifically, test takers are asked to:

• Recognize the structure of an argument, including assumptions, evidence, and conclusion; and recognize parallels between similar arguments
• Determine factors that would strengthen or weaken an argument
• Determine the flaw in an argument
• Recognize the effectiveness of a plan of action given in an argument

Sentence Correction: Test takers will be given a sentence, and to determine its flaws. The sentences could have problems with grammar or style conventions. Specifically, test takers are asked to:

• Check for sound grammar (noun-verb agreement, pronoun use, verb tense)
• Check for a sound sentence structure (improper modifiers, expressions that aren’t idiomatic, problems with parallel construction)
• Make sure that the sentence clearly and concisely expresses ideas

Test takers are given a Verbal section subscore, ranging from 0 to 60.

Test takers will have 75 minutes to complete the Verbal section, and will receive approximately 30-35 questions.

Quantitative Section

The Quantitative (Math) section contains questions which measure basic math skills, understanding of elementary concepts, and the ability to reason quantitatively. The questions cover three basic areas:

• Arithmetic
• Algebra
• Geometry

The two types of questions on the quantitative section are:

• Problem solving. This type of question assesses basic mathematical skills and understanding, and basic reasoning skills. Some of the questions are word problems, in which the test taker has to reason with a common scenario.
• Data sufficiency. This type of question assesses the ability to analyze a quantitative problem, and assess which information is relevant and sufficient to finding a solution.

Test takers are given a Quantitative section subscore, ranging from 0 to 60.

Test takers will have 75 minutes to complete the Quantitative section, and will receive approximately 35-40 questions.

Scoring

The overall score on the GMAT ranges between 200 and 800. The final score is determined by your performance on the Verbal Section and the Quantitative sections. The final score is accompanied by a percentile rank. The average score is 500.

The Analytical Writing Assessment score (0-6) is a separate score.

Test Fee

The fee to take the GMAT is $250 regardless of location.