GMAT

Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a test for admission to a graduate management program like MBA. It is a computer based standardized test conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

About 250,000 students take the GMAT exam annually. It is held in over 600 test centres across 114 countries. Its scores are accepted by about 2100 universities/business schools in US and other countries

 

GMAT Exam Pattern and Duration

The GMAT exam consists of 4 sections to be attempted in three and a half hours.

• Analytical Writing Assessment – 30 minutes for writing 1 essay
• Integrated Reasoning – 30 minutes for 12 questions
• Quantitative- 75 minutes for 37 questions
• Verbal- 75 minutes for 41 questions

Analytical writing Section

The test taker is given an argument to evaluate. He is expected to analyse the argument in detail and write a critique on it. The essay is given 2 ratings- one by the computerized reading evaluation and another is given by a person at GMAC. An average of these 2 ratings is taken to determine the candidate’s final score. It is graded on a scale of 0 to 6 in half point increments. In case there is a difference of more than a point in the 2 ratings – a third evaluation of this section is done by an expert and the final score is arrived at. Performance in this section does not contribute to the overall GMAT Score

Integrated Reasoning Section

This section was introduced in 2012 and tests the ability of a candidate to evaluate data presented in multiple formats from multiple sources. The 12 questions of this section are presented in 4 different formats

• graphics interpretation
• two-part analysis
• table analysis
• multi-source reasoning

This section is graded from 0 to 8. This also does not contribute to the overall GMAT score.

Quantitative Section

This section has 2 types of questions

• Problem solving
• Data Sufficiency

The use of calculators is not allowed in GMAT exam. All calculations must be done manually. Data sufficiency questions are unique to GMAT exam which evaluates the candidate’s ability to determine whether the amount of information is sufficient to reach the answer of the question.

Verbal Section

The verbal section of the GMAT consists of 3 types of questions

• Reading comprehension- tests the ability to analyse information and draw a conclusion
• Critical Reasoning- Assesses the reasoning skills
• Sentence Correction- assesses the grammar and effective communication skills

Both the Quantitative and Verbal sections have multiple choice questions presented in a computer adaptive format. The sections begin with questions of average difficulty and as the candidate answers them correctly the difficulty level increases. If the candidate answers incorrectly the difficulty decreases.  

GMAT Syllabus

Quantitative Section Syllabus

Integers	Percentage	Permutation & combination
Decimals	Ratio and proportion	Linear equations
Fractions	Profit and loss	Quadratic equations
Number properties	Simple and compound interest	Sets Theory
Order of operations	Speed, distance and time	Statistics: Average, Median, Mode, Range, Standard deviation
Probability	Polygon	Powers and roots
Pipes, cisterns, work, time	Quadrilateral	Volume and surface area
Lines and angles	Circles	Co-ordinate geometry
Triangles

 

Verbal Section Syllabus

Basic Sentence structure: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives	Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions	Modifiers
Verb Tense	Pronoun Agreement	Parallelism
Subject Verb Agreement

 

           

GMAT Scores

The total GMAT Score ranges from 200 to 800. This is based on the performance of Verbal and Quantitative Section. Typically, for admission to  top schools like Stanford , Harvard etc- the score that you should aim for is close to 700.

The GMAT score is valid for a period of 5 years. The candidate gets to know his score immediately after completing the test. He gets a choice to decide whether he accepts the score or he rejects it. In case the candidate is not happy with his score , he might decide to retake the exam.

GMAT Registration & Fee

The registration fee for GMAT is $250 which is approx. Rs 16250. The rescheduling fee is $50 (approx. Rs 3250). To register for GMAT one needs to visit the  website www.mba.com/india and fill up the registration form and create an id and password. Post that pay up the fee through credit card, debit card or net banking.  Post the payment the candidate can log in and select a date and place for the exam.  There are 17 test centres in India which conduct the GMAT exam throughout the year. They are in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Bangalore, Kochi, Indore, Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Jaipur, and Kolkata.

Candidates can retake the GMAT exam only 16 days after the attempt. A maximum of 5 attempts are only allowed in an year.

GMAT Exam Eligibility

GMAC does not have any specific eligibility criteria except that the candidate should be at least 18 years of age. However, candidates should be aware of the admission criteria of various institutes that they are applying to.

 

A great mastery of essential English words will no doubt be very helpful to you in achieving a satisfactory GMAT score and improving communication skills. You won’t be asked to provide definitions, find synonyms, complete analogies, or demonstrate your knowledge of highly sophisticated vocab. However, you will need to have a good grasp of high-school and college-level English vocabulary in order to succeed in the Verbal section. Sentence Correction questions (which require you to correct errors in grammar and sentence structure) require knowledge of these words. The Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning question types don’t usually include very complex vocab, but you do need to know some key terms in order to understand what’s being asked of you.

Our experts have accordingly come up with a list of must-do words to help with your GMAT preparation.