GMAT for MIM & MBA - GradSquare

GMAT Examination for MBA & MIM

Graduate Management Aptitude Test is an International Computer Adaptive Test conducted at over 600 test centers across 114 countries. The examination evaluates the Analytical, Quantitative, Verbal and Reading, and Written Communication. GMAT is taken by students aspiring to pursue management education viz. Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Masters in Management (MIM), and Executive MBA at top-notch B- schools across the world. The GMAT examination is conducted by GMAC. GMAC not only administers the GMAT examination, but it also plays a part in providing study materials (Official Guides), Practice Tests, and in making available the scores to universities across the globe and verifying the student scorecards.

The GMAT examination was first started in the year 1953 and was taken by just more than 2000 test-takers in the initial years, but today it is the most popular management entrance examination across the world with more than 200,000 candidates writing the exam annually. The GMAT exam consists of four sections: Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, and Verbal Aptitude. The examination lasts for more than three hours and one of the most important aspects of the GMAT examination is also time management.

Structure of Examination

***The total duration of the exam is three hours and seven minutes.

GMAT Eligibility

Before registering as a candidate for the GMAT exam one must know the eligibility criteria. Following are the key points required to assess your eligibility for this examination:

Nationality: Candidates of any nationality can register themselves for this exam
Age Criteria: The candidate must be of 18 years of age or above and there is no maximum age limit to appear for this exam.
Academic Qualification: Under Graduate Degree from a recognized university (Final year students can also apply)

GMAT Registration

The steps to register for GMAT is as follows

Step 1 – Visit the official GMAT website
Step 2 – Create an account on the website using your email ID
Step 3 – Provide personal details such as name, date of birth, address, etc.
Step 4 – Provide Educational Qualification details and Work experience details if any.
Step 5 – Verification of the details submitted by the candidates.
Step 6 – Scheduling the examination and choosing the preferred test center.
Step 7 – Selecting the date, time, and the preferred examination slot as per the availability.
Step 8 – Make payment for GMAT Registration using a debit card or credit card.

After the payment of the GMAT examination fees, candidates will receive a confirmation mail acknowledging the payment and with the details of the schedule chosen by the student. Apart from scheduling their exams online, a candidate can also schedule their exam by contacting GMAT Customer care service by phone. The GMAT exam is conducted in a total of 17 different centers in India – Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi, Indore, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Nagpur, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Kolkata, and Chandigarh.

GMAT Syllabus

Integrated Reasoning: This section tests the ability to evaluate and assess the data presented in the form of a graph or table. This section consists of 12 different kinds of questions of the following type

Table Analysis: This section measures a candidate’s ability to sort and analyze a table comprising data, for example, a spreadsheet may be given and you have to determine the important information given or according to the conditions that are given in the question.
Two-part Analysis: These kind of questions are used to measure the candidates’ skills to solve the complex problems so here the problems given could be verbal or quantitative or both.
Multi-source Reasoning: These kind of questions scrutinize a candidate’s ability to assess the data from different forms. It can be provided as data presented in the forms of tables or bar graphs and graphics or text passages or a combination of certain different forms. A few questions may be where a candidate can be asked to find the discrepancies in the data provided to assess a candidates’ observation skills.
Graphical Interpretation: It measures a candidate’s ability to interpret the data provided in the graphical form like scatter plot, line chart, bar chart pie chart, or statistical curve distribution.

Quantitative Reasoning: The quantitative section comprises two sections including Data Sufficiency and Problem Solving. The questions are objective types and will have multiple choices as answers. There will be 18 questions from Data sufficiency and other 18 questions from the Problem-Solving part. In Problem-solving questions, a candidate’s logical reasoning is assessed as they have to use analytical reasoning to solve these quant questions, whereas, in Data sufficiency a candidates ability to examine a problem is assessed as they have to identify which data is important and at what point there is enough data to solve the given problem.

The Quantitative Reasoning topics are further divided into the following categories: Geometry, Elementary Algebra, Ratio and Proportions, Properties of Integers, Permutation and Combination, Exponents and Roots, Arithmetic, Linear Equations, Multiples and Factors, Inequalities and Basic Statistics, Mixtures and Alligations, Descriptive Statistics, Speed Time and Distance, Simple and Compound Interest.

Verbal Reasoning: This section consists of 36 multiple-choice questions. This section is divided into Critical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Sentence Correction. This section also analyzes a candidate’s ability towards writing skills and reading skills and they have to assess the logical relationship between the points mentioned in the passage and the concepts.

Critical Reasoning: It assesses a candidate’s skill to make an argument and evaluate those arguments and formulate a plan of action.
Reading Comprehension: It measures a candidate’s skills to draw inferences and draw logical relationships between the texts provided, the questions given and the choices of multiple-choice answers.
Sentence Correction: This section examines the two main aspects of a candidate’s language proficiency. The first aspect is to assess the sentence that is grammatically and structurally sound and the second aspect is to assess an effective expression while referring to the sentences which express an idea of relationships clearly and grammatically.

The following areas will be covered in the verbal reasoning section: Critical Reasoning, Rhetorical Construction of Sentences, Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension, Subject-Verb Agreement, Misplaced Modifiers, Countable vs Uncountable Nouns, Parallelism, Verb Tenses

Analytical Writing Assessment: This section will be consisting of a topic on which the candidate has to write an essay (Opinion based on a query that is posed). A passage may be given from which the questions may be asked and based on the given passage the candidate has to answer the questions, this will analyze the candidates’ skill to draw in inferences and how well he understands the text. The way to attempt this task is not to assess the argument but to come out with your opinion on the argument. This task is not the test of your opinion but a test of your writing style.

GMAT Scoring Pattern

The overall GMAT score ranges from 200 to 800. Candidates are scored based on a fixed scale on all the sections of the GMAT exam. The GMAT scorecard consists of GMAT Verbal score and GMAT Quant score. On average the test-takers score between 400 to 600. Most of the prestigious B – schools like The Harvard Business school, Wharton School, Stanford Graduate School of Management, The University of Toronto, Kellogg School of Management, etc. all of these accept a minimum score of 650 and above, but these top B-Schools will look for a score of above 720+ if your profile is not extraordinary.

Who should be taking this exam? Does it ever expire?

Yes, the GMAT score of a candidate is valid for up to five years.
The GMAT score is used to get admission to some top B-schools to pursue MBA but these scores can also be used to get a job as some of the recruitment companies provide jobs based on a candidates’ GMAT score.
If a candidate is not satisfied with his GMAT score, then he can retake it after 16 days or more of the previously taken exam.
A candidate can appear only 5 times in a year for the GMAT examination.

GMAT Fee

GMAC charges you a sum of US $250 for the registration of the GMAT exam. One can also reschedule their exam but to reschedule your exam one has to pay a sum of US $50 every time they reschedule their exam. But in case a candidate wants to cancel their exam a sum of US $80 is charged. One can pay their GMAT exam registration fees either by online or offline modes.

GMAT Preparation

Following are the tips and strategies a candidate must follow during the prep time of their GMAT exam:

Any candidate appearing for the GMAT exam should understand the computer adaptive test. This structure is used to test the candidate more accurately and also to test him on what he is good at rather than penalizing him for what he doesn’t know. The test starts with questions of average difficulty level and as the candidate answers the questions correctly, the difficulty level of the questions increases. A candidate who gets his questions wrong will find that the subsequent question of a lower difficulty level. Therefore, it is necessary that the candidate prepares across all topics and all kinds of questions.
It is advisable to pay proper attention to the questions at the beginning because the first few questions in the computer optimized structure determine the category of the candidates. A correct answer to a difficult question also gives you more marks than a correct answer to give an easy answer.
An incorrect answer to a question can cause harm, but not more than not completing the test. So, students should practice finishing the test on time to avoid penalties.
Once the candidate starts answering questions in the GMAT exam, he should not waste time in familiarizing the testing interface, this should be already done while attempting practice tests or at least by going through the help screen before starting the GMAT Exam. The help screen will help understand the interface and familiarize with all the keys and functionalities of the examination. All this should be done in advance, or else, it will be impossible to complete the exam on time.
Candidates should read the questions well; this advice may seem very common, but it is very important. Many times the candidates answer incorrectly as they have misinterpreted the question or they have omitted key details in a hurry to answer the questions.
Questions will be presented one at a time. Therefore, if you do not know the answer to any question, then make an intelligent guess by eliminating options so that you have a higher probability of getting the answer correct.
Don’t forget to take the mock test, it will not only be helpful in your practice but will also give you an idea about the questions asked and you will feel comfortable with the examination pattern.
If you have done enough practice for the examination, then you will get into the habit of making the right choice with your own method. But the best way to choose your answer is to deliberately ignore the wrong choices.
The key to success in the GMAT exam is to practice more and more. Only practice can give you good marks in this exam. Therefore practice should be done regularly until the examination. The real secret behind success in any exam is persistence if you can set up a routine and give it time regularly with patience and determination. 700+ is no big deal. Even an average student can achieve it with proper guidance and planning.