GMAT Score Guide

The total length of the GMAT is 2 hours and 15 minutes, with 64 questions in total and no writing assessment. You can have an optional 10-minute break.

The new Total Score (based on all three sections) range for GMAT is between 205 and 805. In reality, candidates generally score around 425-715. Anything over 715 will put you above the 99th percentile.

Here’s a quick summary of these 3 sections and how they are scored:

All three sections have a score range from 6 to 90, with a score interval of 1. The Total Score has an interval of 10. All questions will be multiple choice. This approach may alleviate some of the stress that test takers experience when faced with the challenge of writing extensive timed essays alongside quantitative, verbal, and critical thinking topics in a single sitting.

It’s important to be aware that the new GMAT has removed the Analytical Writing Assessment. As a result, certain institutions, including Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan, may ask for an extra official writing assessment. If your GMAT 10th Edition scores remain valid when you submit your application, you can meet this requirement. Otherwise, you may need to complete the GMAC Business Writing Assessment, depending on the specific requirements set by the admissions committees of your chosen schools or programs.

When you complete your exam, you will be shown your unofficial GMAT scores (Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Data Insights, and Total Score). Your GMAT score will be available only to the schools that you designate as recipients either on the test day or, for a fee, after the test day.

Before taking the test, you are not obligated to choose which business school programs will receive your Official Score Report. This means you will not need to cancel your score if it is not satisfactory. You can send your scores to the schools of your choice, and if you decide not to share your Official Score Report after the exam, those schools will not have access to it. Your score will only be available for you to view through your account.

Your test fee entitles you to request that scores be sent to as many as five programs for free within 48 hours of receiving your Official Score.

Your GMAT score includes a percentile ranking that compares your skill level with other test takers from the past three years. Here’s how each score range correspond to the score percentile:

A good GMAT score varies from country to country. For example, GMAT is far more competitive in China and India than in other nations.

Hence, if you are from either of those countries, then you should aim to score above 750 (99 percentile) to get selected in a reputable management school.

Singapore residents need a score in the range of 720-740 to qualify in a good enough school.

Students from countries like Croatia and Kazakstan can make do with an average GMAT score of around 620.

Management schools in the UK need a score of around 700 or more. Schools in the US usually ask for more than 730.

That said, the top-rated MBA institutions around the world need a GMAT score of more than 740.

The Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT) is exclusive to only the Quantitative Analysis and Verbal Reasoning sections of the GMAT. In short, it is an algorithm that will adapt to your ability to tackle a series of questions.

For instance, answering a hard question correctly will lead you to an even harder question. But answering it incorrectly will bring you down to an easier question.

Easier questions are worth very few points, whereas harder ones are worth a lot more.

Correctly answering an easy question won’t change your score much. But answer it wrong, and your score will drop considerably.

Conversely, get a hard question right, and your score will take a big leap upward. Get it wrong, and it won’t affect your score much.

In essence, you should keep climbing up the ladder. Answer as many harder questions right as you can to score well in the Quantitative and Verbal reasoning sections.

An important point to note – only the Quantitative Analysis and Verbal Reasoning sections contribute to your total GMAT score – out of 800.

Here are some sample GMAT scores requirement at top business schools around the world.