All About GMAT

What is GMAT?

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a standardized, three – part exam delivered in English. The test was designed to help admission officers evaluate how suitable individual applicants are for their graduate business and management programs. It measures basic verbal, mathematical , and analytical writing skills that a test taker has developed over a long period of time through education and work.

The GMAT exam does not a measure a person’s knowledge of specific fields of study. Graduate business and management programs enroll people from many different undergraduate and work backgrounds, so rather than test your mastery of any particular subject area, the GMAT exam will assess your acquired skills. Your GMAT score will give admissions officers a statistically reliable measure of how well you are likely to perform academically in the core curriculum of a graduate business program.

Of course, there are many other qualifications that can help people succeed in business school and in their careers – for instance, job experience, leadership ability, motivation, and interpersonal skills. The GMAT exam does not gauge these qualities. That is why your GMAT score is intended to be used as one standard admissions criterion among other, more subjective, criteria, such as admissions essays and interviews.

Why Take the GMAT Test?
GMAT scores are used by admission officers in roughly 1,800 graduate business and management programs worldwide. Schools that require prospective students GMAT scores in the application process are generally interested in admitting the best – qualified applicants for their programs, which means that you may find a more beneficial learning environment at schools that require GMAT scores as part of your application.

Because the GMAT test gauges skills that are important to successful study of business and management at the graduate level, your scores will give you a good indication of how well prepared you are to succeed academically in graduate management program; how well you do on the test may also help you choose the business schools to test may also help you choose the business schools to which you apply. Furthermore, the percentile table you receive with your scores will tell you how your performance on the test compares to the performance of other test takers, giving you one way to gauge your competition for admission to business school.

Schools consider many different aspects of an application before making an admissions decision, so even if you score well on the GMAT exam, you should contact the schools that interest you to learn more about them and to ask about how they use GMAT scores and other admissions criteria (such as your undergraduate grades, essays, and letters of recommendation) to evaluate candidates for admission. School admissions offices, school Web sites, and materials published by the school are the best sources for you to tap when you are doing research about where you might want to go business school.

GMAT Test Format
The GMAT exam consists of four separately timed sections. You start the test with two 30 – minute Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) questions that requires you to type your responses using the computer keyboard. The writing section is followed by to 75 – minute, multiple – choice sections: the Quantitative and Verbal sections of the test.

The GMAT is a computer – adaptive test (CAT), which means that in the multiple – choice sections of the test, the computer constantly gauges how well you are doing on the test and presents you with questions that are appropriate to your ability level. These questions are drawn from a huge pool of possible test questions. So, although we talk about the GMAT as on test, the GMAT exam you take may be completely different from the test the person sitting next to you.

Here’s how it works. At the start of each GMAT multiple – choice section (Verbal and Quantitative), you will be presented with a question of moderate difficulty. The computer uses your response to that first question to determine which question to present next. If you respond correctly, the test usually will give you questions of increasing difficulty. If you respond incorrectly, the next question you see usually will be easier that the one you answered incorrectly. As you continue to respond to the questions presented, the computer will narrow your score to the number that best characterizes your ability. When you complete each section, the computer will have an accurate assessment of your ability.

Because each question is presented on the basis of your answers to all previous questions, you must answer each question as it appears. You may not skip, return to, or change your responses to previous questions. Random guessing can significantly lower your scores. If you do not know the answer to a question, you should try to eliminate as many choices as possible, then select the answer you think is best. If you answer a question incorrectly by mistake – or correctly by lucky guess – your answers to subsequent questions will lead you back to questions that are at the appropriate level of difficulty for you.

Each multiple – choice questions used in the GMAT exam has been thoroughly reviewed by professional test developers. New multiple – choice questions are tested each time the exam is administered. Answers to trial questions are not counted in the scoring of your test, but the trial questions are not identified and could appear anywhere in the rest. Therefore, you should try to do your best on every question.

The test includes the types of questions found in this Guide, but the format and presentation of the questions are different on the computer. When you take the exam:

• Only one question at a time is presented on the computer screen.
• The answer choices for the multiple – choice questions will be preceded by circles, rather than by letters.
• Different question types appear in random order in the multiple – choice sections of the test.
• You must select your answer using the computer.
• You must choose an answer and confirm your choice before moving on to the next question.
• You may not go back to change answers to previous questions.










Format of the GMAT
Questions Timing
Analytical Writing
Analysis of an Issue
Analysis of an Argument
1
1
30 min.
30 min.
Optional break 5 min.
Quantitative
Problem Solving
Data Sufficiency 37 75 min.
Optional break 5 min.
Verbal
Reading Comprehension
Critical Reasoning
Sentence Correction 41 75 min.
Total Time: 210 – 220 min.


What is the Content of the Test Like?
It is important to recognize that the GMAT test evaluates skills and abilities developed over a relatively long period of time. Although the sections contain questions that are basically verbal and mathematical, the complete test provides one method of measuring overall ability.

Keep in mind that although the questions in this Guide are arranged by question type and ordered from easy to difficult, the test is organized differently. When you take the test, you may see different types of questions in any order.

Quantitative Section
The GMAT Quantitative section measures your ability to reason quantitatively, solve quantitative problems, and interpret graphic data.

Two types of multiple – choice questions are used in the Quantitative section:
• Problem solving
• Data sufficiency

Problem solving and data sufficiency questions are intermingled throughout the Quantitative section. Both types of questions require basic knowledge of:
• Arithmetic
• Elementary algebra
• Commonly Known concepts of geometry

To review the basic mathematical concepts that will be tested in the GMAT Quantitative questions. For test-taking tips specific to the question types in the Quantitative section of the GMAT exam, sample questions, and answer explanations.

Verbal Section
The GMAT Verbal section measures your ability to read and comprehend written material, to reason and evaluate arguments, and to correct written English. Because the Verbal section includes reading section from several different content areas, you may be generally families with some of the material; however, neither the reading passages nor the questions assume detailed knowledge of the topics discussed.
Three types of multiple – choice questions are used in the Verbal section:
• Reading comprehension
• Critical reasoning
• Sentence correction

These question types are intermingled throughout the Verbal section.

For test-taking tips specific to each question type in the Verbal section, sample questions, and answer explanations.