GMAT

The Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) is used by most school to determine if an individual will be able to excel in an MBA program. The test uses a standardized, multiple choice format.

What it Tests

May people believe that the GMAT test a person’s business knowledge, case study analysis ability, creativity, and ability to work on a team. However, the GMAT does not directly test any of these. Rather, the GMAT focuses on an individual’s knowledge of English, Math, and Analytical writing skills. These basic skills are tested rather than business skills because it is thought that the business school should be the provider of a business education and it is not expected that an individual that does not have an MBA know all there is about business. If this were true, an MBA would be needless. The GMAT is made up of three sections. The GMAT Verbal, the GMAT Math, and the Analytical writing section (AWA).

GMAT Verbal

The verbal section consists of 41 questions that are required to be answered in 75 minutes. Sentence correction, critical reasoning, and reading comprehension are the three types of questions asked on the verbal section of the GMAT. Many students make the mistake of focusing on grammar parts rather than usage, which is what the GMAT is designed to test. A good way to think about the critical reasoning portion of the test is that it is designed to be tricky. The reading comprehension portion is designed to be straight forward. To secure a good score, the test taker must be able to shift gears effectively and quickly.

GMAT Math

This section of the GMAT consists of 37 questions that are to be answered within a time limit of 75 minutes. The two types of questions that are posed are problem solving and data sufficiency. Some of the most common mathematical concepts that are tested include ratio and proportion, percentage, speed and distance, simple and compound interest, areas and volumes, permutations and combinations, probability, set theory, functions, equations and inequalities, and algebraic expressions.

Writing Analysis

This portion of the test requires GMAT takers to write to essays. One issue concerns an issue while the other concerns and argument. These two essays are designed to measure a person’s ability to reason and persuade.