Hi

Below, I have tried putting together some vital information on the GMAT Exam. Please go through it and feel free to post replies if you need any clarification or more information.

The GMAT exam measures basic verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills that you have developed in your education and work. It does NOT measure:

• your knowledge of business,
• your job skills,
• specific content in your undergraduate or first university course work,
• your abilities in any other specific subject area, or
• subjective qualities—such as motivation, creativity, and interpersonal skills.

Your GMAT score is valid for five years. If at first you don’t succeed, you can take the GMAT exam again. Remember, though, that all of your GMAT scores from the past 5 years will appear on your Official Score Report. However it is generallt recommended to appear maximum twice, as all your attempts are reported to the schools and too many attempts may reflect your insecurity and lack of self-confidence.

You have three and a half hours in which to take the GMAT exam, but plan for a total time of approximately four hours.

Analytical Writing Assessment

The GMAT exam begins with the Analytical Writing Abillity (AWA). The AWA consists of two separate writing tasks—Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. You are allowed 30 minutes to complete each one.

Quantitative Section

Following an optional break, you then begin with the Quantitative Section of the GMAT exam. This section contains 37 multiple-choice questions of two question types—Data Sufficiency and Problem Solving. You are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section.

Verbal Section

After completion of the Quantitative Section (following an optional break), you begin the Verbal Section of the GMAT exam. This section contains 41 multiple choice questions of three question types—Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction. You are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section.

While preparing for the GMAT, it is very important to remember that it is a Computer-Adaptive Test

Each of the first two sections consists of an analytical writing task; the remaining two sections (Quantitative and Verbal) consist of multiple-choice questions delivered in a computer-adaptive format. Questions in these sections are dynamically selected as you take the test; the multiple-choice questions will adjust to your ability level, and your test will be unique.

For each multiple-choice section of the GMAT exam, there is a large pool of potential questions ranging from a low to high level of difficulty. Each section of the test starts with a question of moderate difficulty. If you answer the first question correctly, the computer will usually give you a harder question. If you answer the first question incorrectly, your next question will be easier. This process will continue until you complete the section, at which point the computer will have an accurate assessment of your ability level in that subject area.

In a computer-adaptive test, only one question at a time is presented. Because the computer scores each question before selecting the next one, you may not skip, return to, or change your responses to previous questions.

More to follow..

Tanya Agarwal

An MBA from the prestigious NMIMS, Mumbai, Tanya is an expert English mentor for the GMAT and the CAT. Her rich experience of mentoring students for the GMAT spans various countries and continents! Tanya currently anchors the development of the GMAT offering at Roots Education and mentors the CAT aspirants at MBAGuru, India’s fastest growing CAT coaching, for the English section and the GD-PI stage.