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 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
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
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
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 |
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Decimals |
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Fractions |
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Number properties |
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Statistics: Average, Median, Mode, Range, Standard deviation |
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Polygon |
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Pipes, cisterns, work, time |
Volume and surface area |
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Co-ordinate geometry |
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Verbal Section Syllabus
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.