GMAT: Your Key to Success
Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) is computer based adaptive test which is used by Universities and Colleges Worldwide to shortlist students for their Graduate and Postgraduate courses. GMAT, like GRE, assess a candidate on analytical writing, quantitative aptitude and verbal ability (In English). The GMAT examination is going on for the last 60 years and more than 6000 business and management programs accept GMAT Score to finalize the intake of students.
GMAT examination is created by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and it is a not for profit council of business schools. The objective of the exam is define the parameters which will help the institutes the predict the chances of success for the test takers. The score that a test taker gets after GMAT is a reflection of the parameters. Higher the score, more is the chance to achieve success. These tests have designed after years and years of research and this exam is a reliable predictor of the academic performance of a test taker.
The GMAT exam has four sections namely, Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude and Verbal Ability. Total duration of the test is three and a half hour however, total time taken for the test along with the breaks is 4 hours
| A | B | C |
|---|---|---|
Section |
Duration |
Number of Questions |
| Analytical Writing Assessment | 30 | 1 essay |
| Integrated Reasoning | 30 | 12 |
| Quantitative Section | 75 | 37 |
| Verbal Section | 75 | 41 |
Let’s understand this sections.
- Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA): AWA is a 30 minute writing assignment where you have to analyze the reasoning followed by an argument. You have to write a critique of that argument while explaining flaws or gaps in the reasoning of the argument. There are more than 50 structural and language based attributes like flow of ideas, articulation, topical analysis, text organization that are evaluated in this part. It is graded on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 6 (maximum) in half point intervals. A score of 6 represents that the essay is outstanding. Most of the institutes expect the test takers to score 4+ grade in AWA.
- Integrated Reasoning: This section was introduced in GMAT in 2012 and is targeted at measuring a test taker’s ability to understand and analyze information/data in multiple formats and sources. It has four main question types: table analysis, graphic interpretation, multi score reasoning and two part analysis. Most of the question asked are yes/no, true/false type and fill in the blank type.
- Quantitative Section: The quantitative section of the GMAT has 37 questions and questions are primarily divided into two types: Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency. In order to solve these question, a test taker requires knowledge of Algebra, Geometry and Arithmetic. It must be highlighted that questions are not very difficult to solve and basic understanding of concepts is required. Moreover, only few topics of Algebra are normally asked. Score ranges from 0 to 60, however, GMAC reports score between 6 and 51. Use of calculator is not allowed and rough work has to be done on the sheet given at the examination center.
- Verbal Section: Verbal Section of GMAT is divided into three main parts namely, sentence correction, critical reasoning and reading comprehension. Total number of questions is 37. This section is a very beautiful mixture of reasoning and verbal ability and is quite challenging for non native English speakers. Verbal scores range from 0 to 60 but score below 9 and above 44 are very rare.
GMAT is most widely used test to shortlist students for business related courses world wide. If the preparation of the test is planned properly, then it is not very difficult to achieve 700+ score. As already mentioned above, for native English speakers, Verbal Section is challenging. At the same time right approach and right guidance will help you achieve the desired score in GMAT.
All the best!!!