GMAT Scoring

Hi sarahf93,

To answer your immediate question: YES - the Quant and Verbal sections are the only two sections to contribute to your overall Score (out of 800). That does NOT mean that you should avoid preparing for the IR and Essay sections though. For example, many Schools expect Applicants to be able to score at a minimal level on the Essay (that typically means a 4.0 or higher out of 6.0) - and Schools can actually ask GMAC for access to read your Essay response. As such, you wouldn't want to do anything lazy or careless with that part of the GMAT.

Before I can offer you any additional advice, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) Have you taken any practice CATs/mocks yet? How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Yes. Only the quant and verbal sections contribute to the main score. You can "tank" your AWA and IR if you are sure that your target schools will not hold that against you, and that you will not apply to other schools in the future.

Getting a reasonably good score in AWA and IR may not be as difficult as you might think. Try taking a GMATPrep practice test. That will give you a good idea of what to expect.

Hi sarahf93,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. So, although IR and AWA are scored separately from and considered less important than quant and verbal, schools still do care about your IR and AWA scores in that scoring very low in those sections would probably be a red flag on your application.

The good news is that you can master AWA without a significant amount to prep. Furthermore, IR contains components of both verbal and quant, so if you can master those sections first, you should be able to prep for IR fairly easily.

Feel free to reach out with further questions. Good luck!