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This is a funny question because it could be interpreted in a few rather different ways.<\/p>\n
(1) What do you receive in a GMAT score report, including the scales of the individual scores?<\/p>\n
(2) What is the mechanism by which the answers you enter on the GMAT are interpreted and scored?<\/p>\n
(3) What skills does the GMAT measure and how can you prepare for a solid performance?<\/p>\n
You may care about only one of these or all of these.\u00a0These three discussions will take us in three different directions, and you can read the sections that most concern you.<\/p>\n
A full GMAT consists of four sections.\u00a0 On test day, you will take:<\/p>\n
1) The Analytical Writing Assessment<\/a> section (AWA, 30 minutes)<\/p>\n 2) The Integrated Reasoning<\/a> section (IR, 30 minutes)<\/p>\n 3) The Quantitative Section<\/a> (75 minutes)<\/p>\n 4) The Verbal Section<\/a> (75 minutes)<\/p>\n Once you begin, you will be allowed an optional 8-minute break between #2 and #3, and another between #3 and #4.\u00a0 We certainly recommend availing yourself of both of these optional breaks.<\/p>\n Your score report for this GMAT will contain a kind of “score” for each of the four separate sections, as well as an overall GMAT score.\u00a0 Thus, the score report contains:<\/p>\n The total GMAT Score is derived from (c) and (d), from the Quant & Verbal subscores only; the AWA score and IR score have absolutely no effect on the total GMAT score.\u00a0 The total GMAT score, the 200 to 800 score, is certainly the most important number here, and for some test-takers and some folks in adcom, this is the only number that matters at all.\u00a0 According to at least some sources, the IR section may be gaining traction<\/a> as an admission tool.\u00a0 The AWA score is arguably the least important<\/a> score on the GMAT score report.<\/p>\n See also:<\/p>\n Introduction to the GMAT<\/a><\/p>\n Understanding Your GMAT Score Report<\/a><\/p>\n Now, a very different set of questions surrounds how the GMAT changes the answers you enter into those various scaled scores. The first salient fact is that everything except the essay is graded immediately by the computer: as soon as you are done with your IR, your Quant, or your Verbal sections, the computer already knows your score.\u00a0 Thankfully, it doesn’t share any of this score information with you until you are done with your test.\u00a0 At the end of your exam, you will see your total GMAT score and every subscore except the essay.<\/p>\n The essay takes longer to grade.\u00a0 It is graded once by a computer program (don’t ask us how this happens!) and once by a human grader.\u00a0 If those two are the same or close, that’s the AWA score.\u00a0 If the human and the computer disagree, a second human adjudicates and decides the AWA score.\u00a0 You will find out your AWA subscore when you receive your official GMAT score report, about 20 days after the test.<\/p>\n The IR questions have a few unique features.\u00a0 The 30-minute IR section consists of 12 “questions,” but each “question” is really a computer screen, many of which have multiple questions<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 One such IR screen contains what I call multiple dichotomous choice questions (DMCQs).\u00a0 The screen with DMCQs will present some information, and then a box: each row will have a statement or question, and buttons to select in two columns.\u00a0 The columns may be “Yes\/No,” “True\/False,” or some other kind of simple binary choice, and your job will be to decide, for each statement or question, which button to select.\u00a0 Now, here’s the kicker about how IR is scored: there’s no partial credit on IR<\/strong>.\u00a0 If there are two or three separate tasks or separate questions on a single screen, you must get every single thing correct on the screen to get credit for that screen.\u00a0 See the link earlier in this paragraph for some of the strategies that this challenging condition implies.<\/p>\n The Quant and Verbal sections share many similarities.\u00a0 These two are the only two sections that count in the total GMAT score.\u00a0 They both are 75 minutes.\u00a0 They both consist exclusively of 5-choice multiple-choice questions\u2014assuming that you recognize Data Sufficiency<\/a> as a modified kind of 5-choice multiple choice question!<\/p>\n Most importantly, both the Quant and Verbal employ Computer Adaptive Testing<\/a> (CAT).\u00a0 The CAT changes the difficulty, question by question, as you move through the section.\u00a0 As a rough general pattern, if you are getting questions right, the CAT gives you harder questions, and if you are struggling, the CAT will give you easier question.\u00a0 That’s the overall trend, although this highly complex algorithm also does sweeps through different difficulties: for example, you may get an easy question out of the blue even if you did nothing wrong. \u00a0\u00a0The grading for the CAT does NOT depend simply one number of questions right or wrong: instead, the score depends on the difficulty of the questions one saw.\u00a0 The irony is that the person who gets a 450 and the person who gets a 750 might have gotten about the same number<\/em> of questions right & wrong, but the difficulties<\/em> were in very different zones.\u00a0 The complexity of the algorithm is such it is impossible to suggest any strategy to get an advantage from it.\u00a0 The only meaningful strategy on the CAT is to do your best with each and every question as you see it.\u00a0 Once gain, CAT is employed only on the Q & V sections, not on IR and of course not on the AWA.<\/p>\n You may be curious about how the GMAT determines the difficult of questions.\u00a0 In general, this is a sophisticated topic known as Item Response Theory<\/a>.\u00a0 GMAC gathers a vast amount of information about individual questions before they ever are used as GMAT questions.\u00a0 As a general rule, I don’t think it’s helpful to worry too much about the “level” of an individual practice question<\/a>.<\/p>\n Simplistically, we could say that the Quant assesses math skills<\/a>; the Verbal assesses reading<\/a>, argument<\/a>, and grammar<\/a> skills; the IR assesses graph-reading skills<\/a>; and the AWA assesses writing skills<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes, that’s the bare minimum.\u00a0 Of course, rhetoric<\/a> and logic<\/a> are as important as grammar on the SC questions.<\/p>\n In many ways, the entire test assesses critical thinking abilities<\/strong>, the ability to see beyond the obvious and draw the necessary inferences from a situation.\u00a0\u00a0 The Quant section often demands the ability to reframe problems and make creative leaps<\/a>.<\/p>\n All of the skills mentioned so far could be called intellectual or academic skills.\u00a0 Many students mistakenly believe that this is the only category of skills relevant for a good GMAT performance<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact, a strong GMAT performance requires emotional balance & clarity under pressure as well as tremendous emotional resilience.\u00a0\u00a0 A rigorous practice of stress-management skills<\/a> can be a tremendous aid.\u00a0 Arguably, the effective skill of genuine curiosity<\/a> can be a particular help on the RC questions.\u00a0 Paradoxically, one emotional skill that can help tremendously in reaching the goal is non-attachment to reaching the goal<\/a>!<\/p>\n This blog discussed several different perspectives on “how is the GMAT scored?”\u00a0 The linked blogs will provide a detailed understand of many aspects of the GMAT.\u00a0 If you have more questions about how the GMAT is scored, please let us know in the comment sections.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The post How is the GMAT scored?<\/a> appeared first on Magoosh GMAT Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a funny question because it could be interpreted in a few rather different ways. 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The Scoring of the Answers You Enter on the GMAT<\/h2>\n
What Skills Are Assessed on the GMAT?<\/h2>\n
Summary<\/h2>\n