The GMAT is a three and a half hours test carrying a maximum score of 800 points.

The entire
GMAT syllabus is divided into four broad sections:
Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)
Integrated Reasoning (IR)
Quant
Verbal

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)
This is the first section of the GMAT and test takers need to finish this section in 30 minutes. You
need to write essays just as you would in your school days. Through AWA, B-schools assess your
writing skills.
In the AWA section, GMAT looks for:
Your writing skills and abilities
Clarity and logic in your argument
Overall relevance of your essay with respect to the given topic
AWA is not counted towards the overall 200-800 score. Instead, the score range for AWA ranges
from 0-6, with increments of 0.5.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Integrated Reasoning
Test takers will be given 30 minutes to finish with the IR section on the GMAT. This section was
recently added to the GMAT (in June 2012). It is a combination of both verbal and quant and
similar to the Data Interpretation (DI) section on the CAT.
The IR section consists of 12 questions of 4 types:
Multi source reasoning
Graphics interpretation
Table analysis
Two-part analysis
In the IR section, GMAT looks for:
Developing relevant information presented in text, numbers and graphics
Assessing appropriate information from different sources
Combining and arranging information to observe relationships among them and solving
complex problems to arrive at correct interpretation.

Just like AWA, even IR is not counted towards the overall 200-800 score and is evaluated on the
range of1-8.
*Infact, neither AWA nor IR will make a big impact in your overall application and our advice is
not to worry on both these sections.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quant
In this section, the test takers will be provided with 37 quant questions which need to be
solved in 75 minutes.

Question types will be based on:

Problem solving (PS) questions given, answers to be calculated
Data Sufficiency (DS) interpret whether the given data is
enough to solve the given question
The Quantitative section of the GMAT evaluates the fundamental mathematical skills of the test
takers such as those learnt in school and the caliber to reason quantitatively.
The various topics under Quant are as follow:

Arithmetic
Number Systems &
Number Theory
Multiples and factors
Fractions
Decimals
Percentages

Averages
Powers and roots
Profit & Loss; Simple &
Compound Interest
Speed, Time & Distance
Pipes, Cisterns & Work
Time

Algebra
Permutation & Combination
Monomials, polynomials
Algebraic expressions and equations
Functions

Ratio and Proportion

Mixtures & Allegations
Descriptive statistics
Sets
Probability

Exponents
Quadratic Equations
Inequalities and Basic statistics

Geometry
Lines and angles
Circles
Triangles
Rectangular solids and Cylinders
Quadrilaterals
Coordinate geometry
_____________________________________________________________________________

Verbal
This is the third section on the GMAT. The test takers will be provided with 41 verbal
questions which need to be solved in 75 minutes.
In the Verbal section of the GMAT, the test takers are assessed for:
reading and understanding the written material,
reasoning out and appraising the arguments,
rectifying the written material in accordance with the standard written English

Question types will be based on:

Reading Comprehension (RC) You will be given a passage and you need to answer
questions related to it.
Critical Reasoning (CR) A short passage would be given. You need find the premise,
conclusion, assumption etc.
Sentence Correction (SC) A part of the sentence would be underlined and five options
would be provided. You need to spot the error and mark the right option.