GMAT
The Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) is the test required for admissions
to nearly all MBA programs, as well as a growing number of other business-related
graduate education programs. The GMAT is an important part of your application for
two reasons.
First, it is probably the only element of your application that admissions committees
can use to objectively compare candidates. Things like work experience, extracurricular
involvement, and even GPA are often seen as subjective elements of an applicant’s
candidacy.
Second, the GMAT is one of the few controllable aspects of your application. You
can get a great GMAT score with diligent preparation and practice.
On test day, expect to spend about four hours taking the GMAT. You will see
the following four sections tested:
Analytical Writing Assessment
The first section of the GMAT is the (AWA) which consists of one essay,
timed at 30 minutes. You’ll be required to write a type of essay that’s
known as an . This section is graded on a scale of 0.0 to 6.0, but this score
does not count towards your final GMAT score and is reported separately.
Integrated Reasoning
The second section on the GMAT is (IR). This section has replaced the
second essay of the AWA since June 2012, since the test makers’ own research
showed that the types of questions on IR are more relevant for business school.
You’ll see requiring you to process multiple data sources, much
as you would in real life business interaction. This section is scored on a scale
of 1 to 8, in 1-point increments.
Math
The next section of the GMAT tests your math skills, where you will have 75 minutes
to answer 37 multiple choice questions. You’ll see two types of math problems
on the GMAT:
- Problem Solving – Multiple choice math questions that you’re already familiar
with
- Data Sufficiency – Special type of math problems where you’re given two pieces
of information and are asked whether you have sufficient data to answer a given
question
Verbal
The final section of the GMAT tests your verbal skills. You will have 75 minutes
to answer 41 questions. There three types of questions tested on the GMAT verbal
section:
- Sentence Correction – Grammar questions where you will be asked whether the underlined
portion of a sentence is correct, and if not to select the best answer
- Critical Reasoning – Questions asking you to evaluate the structure of an argument
- Reading Comprehension – Questions testing your understanding of a passage