GMAT Syllabus and Exam Pattern

What is GMAT?

The Graduate Management Admission Test is a computer adaptive test that assesses your analytical, writing, quantitative, verbal, and reading skills. GMAT is an entrance exam required for admission to graduate management programs, such as an MBA program. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the GMAT pattern assesses analytical writing and problem-solving abilities, as well as data sufficiency, logic, and critical reasoning skills that are vital to real-world business and management. For clearing the GMAT, you must be well versed with the knowledge of English grammar, algebra, geometry, and arithmetic. It can be taken up to five times a year but no more than 8 times total.

Why GMAT?

More than 7,000 programs at approximately 2,300+ graduate business schools around the world accept the GMAT as part of the selection criteria for their programs. Business schools use the test as a criterion for admission into a wide range of graduate management programs, including MBA, Master of Accountancy, Master of Finance programs and others. The GMAT is administered in standardized test centres in 114 countries around the world. According to a survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep, the GMAT is still the number one choice for MBA aspirants despite the increasing acceptability of GRE scores.

GMAT Pattern:

The GMAT Pattern is divided into the following 4 sections:

Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)

There is just 1 topic to tackle in this section – the essay.

Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) requires you to understand the reasoning behind the given argument and write an essay explaining the argument in your words.

This section will assess your writing skills as well as your critical thinking skills. 

PSA: For this section, you are expected to write a critique of the argument already presented, and NOT your own about the topic at hand.

Integrated Reasoning (IR)

In an increasingly data-driven business environment, you will be faced with the need to make decisions based on information from multiple resources. And since the GMAT prides itself on being hand in hand with the world outside classrooms, this section of the GMAT, “Integrated Reasoning” (which was introduced quite recently in – 2012), tests your problem-solving and data analysis skills through the following 4 types of questions:

• Multi-source reasoning – you’ll have to solve given problems by using information from various sources.
• Graphics interpretation – you’ll have to interpret the data given in the form of a graph/ image and arrive at a solution for the given problem.
• Two-part analysis – the given problem will have a two-part solution. You’ll have to find the solution to both the inter-related questions.
• Table analysis – you’ll have to sort the data given in tabular format and answer the questions based on the same.

PSA: A single question in the IR section may have multiple parts; every part will have to be answered correctly in order to get the full marks. You have to answer all the sub-parts of a question in order to move on to the next IR question.

Quantitative Reasoning (QR)

This GMAT section will test your ability to solve mathematical & data-related problems. There are two types of questions given in mixed order throughout this section:

• Problem Solving (PS): Questions of this type will assess your mathematical skills which are acquired in high school.
• Data Sufficiency (DS): You’ll be expected to judge whether the given information in a question is sufficient to solve the problem.

PSA: Contrary to popular myths, the GMAT Mathematics syllabus is not very tough to crack. If you’re familiar with the maths topics taught up until secondary school (class 10) such as basic arithmetic, geometry, algebra & word problems.

Verbal Reasoning (VR)

The Verbal section of the GMAT will test your fluency in the English language through the following questions:

• Reading comprehension: Here, your ability to read and comprehend the given material is tested
• Critical reasoning: Here, your ability to evaluate given arguments and your reasoning strength is tested
• Sentence correction: Your grammar skills, ability to construct clear and proper sentences are assessed here

PSA: The verbal/ English syllabus for GMAT will become super easy to you if you are well versed with: Pronouns, Parallelism, Subject-Verb Agreement, Diction, Grammatical Construction, Idioms, Logical Predication, Verb Tense, Misplaced Modifiers etc. (If you’re not, start working on these topics as they are the crux of the VR section!)

The time-based breakdown for the 4 sections is as follows:

This is it for the GMAT Pattern, so noted the data down and get going with your prep plans!