GMAT
About the GMAT
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) has been the flagship global business school entrance exam for more than 50 years. GMAC, the test makers, have specifically designed the new GMAT Focus Edition to target the current-generation skills that are most relevant to success in graduate management programs.
Business schools use your GMAT scores in conjunction with a host of other details, including your academic record in undergrad, your essays, and your work experience and recommendations, to assess your readiness for the advanced quantitative and analytical work that will be required in your program.
You’re not expected to know that advanced material yet—it’s their job to teach you that when your program starts—but a test like the GMAT allows the school to determine whether your fundamentals are solid enough that you’ll likely be able to succeed in their program.
What is on the GMAT?
The GMAT is primarily a test of your analytical and quantitative reasoning skills, tested in a time-limited format. Basically, they want to know how well you think strategically and logically, including quantitative / data-based topics.
The three sections on the GMAT test a mix of overlapping skills, all tested using multiple-choice question formats:
|
GMAT Test Section
|
Time
|
# of problems What's Tested
|
What's Tested
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Verbal
|
45 min
|
21
|
• Fractions, percents, and ratios
|
|
• Algebra
|
• Statistics
|
• Story problems
|
• Number properties
|
|
Quant
|
45 minutes
|
23
|
• Critical / analytical thinking
|
|
• Comprehension
|
• Inference
|
Data Insights
|
45 minutes
|
|
20
|
• All quant skills
|
• All verbal skills
|
• Data analysis
|
|
• Logical reasoning
|
.
|
.
|
.
|
How is the GMAT Scored?
On the GMAT exam, all three sections (Q, V, and DI) factor into your total score on a scale of 205 to 805 in 10-point increments. You will also receive individual section scores for each section. The scoring scale for each section is 60 to 90 in 1-point increments.
With the new GMAT Focus Edition, you can send your results from just one test date, so you can choose your best set of scores to send to schools.