The Graduate Management Admission Test or the GMAT is usually taken by students wishing to pursue management or business programs in India or abroad. The GMAT is a globally accepted, computer-based multiple-choice test, conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Most graduate business schools list the GMAT as a necessary requirement in order to get admitted into their institution. So, if you are planning to take the GMAT, you need to know the following:
Sections of GMAT
The GMAT consists of four sections— Verbal reasoning, Quantitative reasoning, Integrated reasoning, and Analytical writing assessment. The scores of the Analytical writing assessment and Integrated reasoning are calculated individually, whereas the Verbal reasoning and Quantitative reasoning scores are calculated together, which contributes to your total score that ranges from 200 to 800.
Duration of the GMAT
The duration of the GMAT exam is around three and half hours, where each component of the test is timed accordingly. The time allotted to each section are as follows:
| Section | Time allotted |
| Verbal Reasoning | 65 minutes |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 62 minutes |
| Integrated reasoning | 30 minutes |
| Analytical writing assessment | 30 minutes |
| Optional breaks | 2 x 8 minutes |
| Total | 3 hours 23 minutes |
Score Range
The scores for each of the sections are as follows:
| Section | Score |
| Verbal reasoning | 0 to 60, increases by ten-point increment |
| Quantitative reasoning | 0 to 60, increases by ten-point increment |
| Integrated reasoning | 1 to 8, increases by one-point increment |
| Analytical writing assessment | 0 to 6, increases by half-point increment |
The average score for the GMAT is 552, whereas the average scores for each section are— Verbal reasoning is 27 and Quantitative reasoning is 39.
The number of questions per section are as follows:
| Section | Number of questions |
| Verbal reasoning | 36 |
| Quantitative reasoning | 31 |
| Integrated reasoning | 12 |
| Analytical writing assessment | 1 timed task |
The GMAT is a computer adaptive test, this means that as you progress through each section, the difficulty level increases as compared to the previous section you’ve attempted. Hence, the score of each question is calculated based on its difficulty level.
GMAT Registration
Registering for the GMAT is a rather simple procedure. All you need to do is log onto the official GMAC website and create an account. The account creation will require you to fill in all your basic information and education qualifications. Once you’ve registered yourself, you can proceed to pick the dates of the GMAT exam and the test center closest to you. The last thing left for you to do is make the payment for the GMAT exam. The GMAT exam fee is 250 dollars, however from February 2020, the fee has been increased to 275 dollars. The new revised fee is not applicable to regions located in the US and Canada. The GMAT exam 2021 has no particular dates during which you have to apply, it is offered all around the year at various test centers. Although, due to the Covid-19 pandemic some of these test centers might be temporarily shut. So, make sure to check the availability of these centers before you apply. In fact, you can take the online GMAT exam from the comfort of your home.
In order to prepare effectively for the GMAT exam, it is highly advisable that you draft a productive study plan. For you to be able to draft a study plan, you are required to acquaint yourself with the GMAT syllabus so that you can allot an equal amount of time to each component. To enhance your preparation further and to be able to navigate the difficulty levels of the questions, you can take as many mock tests as possible. You can also track your time and progress with each test.
We hope to have created a comprehensive guide to GMAT. Now all that you need to do is prepare and ace the GMAT!
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