The Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) examination is a standardized test designed to measure an aspirants’ aptitude for business studies at graduate school. The GMAT® is required for admission to more than 2500 B-schools across the world. GMAT® is also accepted by more than 130 Indian schools.

GMAT® is administered round the year and candidates should book a slot on www.mba.com to take the test. GMAT® score is valid for five years.

The application for the test is to be submitted with a payment of US$275. One should have a valid passport at the time of applying for the test. Students can report the score to 5 B-Schools for free. This facility is valid for 48 hrs from receiving the official score. So, they don’t need to decide on B-Schools before taking the exam. Students receive the official score within 7 days. This facility is part of the US$ 275 fee that is charged for the test. A further payment of US$37 (per copy) should be made for additional score reporting. The test can be taken 5 times in a year and there must be a gap of at least 16 days between two attempts.

GMAT® is a Computer Adaptive Test which indicates that the test adapts itself to the correctness / incorrectness of your responses. There is a Data Insight section which is adaptive. The first few questions in Verbal Ability and Quantitative sections are of moderate difficulty. With correct responses, the level of difficulty increases, and conversely - with incorrect responses the level of difficulty decreases. The score does not depend only on the number of correct and incorrect answers. It also depends on the difficulty level of the questions encountered. The weightage for tougher questions is more than for the easier questions. The test is administered on the computer and the questions have to be tackled in the order in which they appear; you cannot skip a question. Neither can you revert to an earlier question to change the answer. The final score will be in multiples of 10. It is essential that all questions are completed as there is a heavy penalty for the questions not attempted. These factors make time management very critical in GMAT® .

It is enough if you are familiar with the basic functions of the computer and no special expertise is needed. An online calculator is provided only for the Data Insight Section.

You can view the total score obtained on completion of the test. However, if you are dissatisfied with your performance, and wish to have the test attempt cancelled, this can be done immediately on completion of the test and following your score preview, or for a fee, within 72 hours of your scheduled exam time.

You can choose to purchase an Enhanced Score Report that will provide you with personal insights by question type, focus area and pacing.

A score of 715/805 will give an aspirant a decent chance of getting into top Indian schools like ISB, PGP-X of IIMs and top-10 schools across the world. A score of about 665 is required to get into top-25 schools across the world. A score of about 695 is required to get into top-100 schools across the world. However, GMAT® is just one of the factors influencing the admission. Other factors like quality of SOPs, work experience, recommendations and under graduate GPA/percentage also play crucial roles