GMAT Exam Structure, Timing and Scoring

The GMAT is a standardized test created and administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council. This exam is primarily taken by individuals who plan on applying to a graduate business school. Many business schools, particularly MBA programs, use GMAT scores to evaluate an applicants potential to succeed in a business related program. GMAT Structure The GMAT has a very defined structure. Although questions can vary from test to test, the exam is always split into the same four sections: Â   Analytical Writing AssessmentIntegrated ReasoningQuantitativeVerbal Lets take a closer look at each section to gain a better understanding of test structure. Analytical Writing Assessment The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) is designed to test your reading, thinking and writing ability. You will be asked to read an argument and think critically about the arguments validity. Then, you will have to write an analysis of the reasoning used in the argument. You will have 30 minutes to accomplish all of these tasks. The best way to practice for the AWA is to look at a few sample AWA topics. Most of the topics/arguments that appear on the GMAT are available to you prior to the test. It would be difficult to practice a response to every article, but you can practice until you feel comfortable with your understanding of parts of an argument, logical fallacies and other aspects that will help you write a strong analysis of the reasoning used in the argument. Integrated Reasoning Section The Integrated Reasoning section tests your ability to evaluate data that is presented to you in different formats. For example, you may have to answer questions about data in a graph, chart, or table. There are only 12 questions on this section of the test. You will have 30 minutes to complete the whole Integrated Reasoning section. That means that you cant spend much more than two minutes on each question. There are four types of questions that can appear in this section. They include: graphics interpretation, two-part analysis, table analysis and multi-source reasoning questions. Looking at a few sample Integrated Reasoning topics will give you a better understanding of the different types of questions in this section of the GMAT. Quantitative Section The Quantitative section of the GMAT consists of 37 questions that require you to use your math knowledge and skills to analyze data and draw conclusions about information that is being presented to you on the exam. You will have 75 minutes to answer all 37 questions on this test. Again, you shouldnt spend more than just a couple of minutes on each question. Question types in the Quantitative section include problem-solving questions, which require use of basic math to solve numerical problems, and data sufficiency questions, which require you to analyze data and determine whether or not you can answer the question with information available to you (sometimes you have enough data, and sometimes there is insufficient data). Verbal Section The Verbal section of the GMAT exam measures your reading and writing ability. This section of the test has 41 questions that must be answered in just 75 minutes. You should spend less than two minutes on each question. There are three question types on the Verbal section. Reading comprehension questions test your ability to comprehend written text and draw conclusions from a passage. Critical reasoning questions require you to read a passage and then use reasoning skills to answer questions about the passage. Sentence correction questions present a sentence and then ask you questions about grammar, word choice, and sentence construction to test your written communication skills. Â   GMAT Timing You will have a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete the GMAT. This seems like a long time, but it will go quickly as you are taking the test. You must practice good time management. A good way to learn how to do this is by timing yourself when you take practice tests. This will help you to better understand the time constraints in each section and prep accordingly.