GMAT Test Format

Found this on the net, figured will be helpful for some of the newbees.

Sequence of Exam Sections
The two AWA sections are administered consecutively and always before the Quantitative and Verbal sections of the exam. However, the two AWA sections may appear in either order. Here's how the two AWA sections fit into the overall format of the GMAT CAT:

CAT System Tutorial, Practice, and Demonstration of Competence
Analytical Writing Assessment (60 minutes)
Analysis of an Issue (30 minutes, 1 topic)*
Analysis of an Argument (30 minutes, 1 topic)*
10-minute break (optional)
Quantitative Section (75 minutes)**
Problem Solving (23–24 questions)
Data Sufficiency (13–14 questions)
Total number of questions: 37 (28 scored, 9 unscored***)
10-minute break (optional)
Verbal Section (75 minutes)**
Sentence Correction (14–15 questions)
Critical Reasoning (14–15 questions)
Reading Comprehension (4 passages, 12–14 questions)
Total number of questions: 41 (30 scored, 11 unscored***)

TOTAL TESTING TIME: 3 hours, 20 minutes
* The two AWA sections may appear in either order on the exam.

** The Quantitative and Verbal sections may appear in either order, and the different types of questions included within each section are interspersed.

*** Either 9 Quantitative and 11 Verbal questions or 10 from each section are unscored—totaling 20 unscored questions on the exam altogether.


http://www.west.net/~stewart/awa101.htm

Nice post !... among sticky ones now

Only one exception: the breaks are 10 mins each

Hi, I'm new here. Thanks for the useful information.

Just have a one questions. Why are some of the questions unscored?

Good question - there many reasons GMAC has experimental questions; here are a few thoughts:

1. Estimate difficulty level of questions to be included in future tests. Questions on the GMAT tests change every calendar month or every 30 days - that's why you can take the test only once every 31 days. Since GMAT is an adaptive test, that's quite a few new questions that GMAC needs to develop and one of the hardest things about developing new questions is understanding how hard/easy they are. To help solve this issue, about 20-30% of the questions you will see on the test are experimental questions (to be used on future tests) that GMAC is trying out and measuring difficulty level. This is one reason some test takers get scared when suddenly they get an easy question after a hard one, which could mean that they missed previous question, but in reality they just got served an experimental question that does not have a difficulty level assigned to it yet.

2. Measure question fit and quality - regardless of difficulty, a question may still be of poor quality - meaning it does not measure one's performance well enough, has multiple interpretations, or confusing answers. Having experimental questions on the test helps GMAC weed these out and ensure that the questions that count are close to perfect, which increases the accuracy and consistency of the test across 5 years.

3. Eliminate controversial questions. Some questions may prove controversial or inappropriate in certain cultures or parts of the world.

thanks bb
that was helpful

Thanks and you are welcome.

I also updated the FAQ thread to include this info.
http://www.gmatclub.com/forum/1-p570461

This information is very valuable. I thank you BB for starting this website and everyone who contributes

My advice is to take those breaks to clear up your head and prepare for the next round of questions.

Thanks asaf and bb. This is helpful information.

I didn't know about the unscored questions. I am learning so much on this club!

hi i am new to gmat club and gmat as well
I thought the test time is 3hrs 30 min....but the first post says its 3hrs 20 min...think its a typo...

The first post is from 2007, the information is a bit dated.

This thread is locked.