Understanding GMAT Scoring Methodology
The GMAT report consists of four parts:
- The marks from the Verbal section that ranges on a scale of 0 to 60
- The score from the Quantitative section that ranges on a scale of 0 to 60
- Total Scaled Score from both the verbal and quantitative section calculated on the score range of 200 to 800 points. This overall total score is helpful in determining the students performance on the whole
- The grade from the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) section which ranges between the scales of 0 to 6.
The results report would also contain the test results of the student’s previous appearance in a five year time period. The digital photograph and all the personal information such as
- Telephone number
- Date of graduation
- Name of the institute attended during under graduation
provided during registration will appear on the score sheet. All these information are not mandatory and can be provided only if the student wishes to do so. The test report would be directly sent to the graduate schools that student has selected and had been informed to produce these reports.
Though the score scale of the student remains the same, the score percentile of the student keeps wavering. This is so because the score percentile rank is calculated on the number of students who score less than the score range of the student. It is calculated based on the entire number of students who appeared for the test in a period of five years.
GMAT Score – Verbal and Math
About two third of the students taking the exam usually have a total scaled score of 400 to 600. It is impossible to find a score below 9 in the Verbal section and a score below 7 in the Quantitative section. The maximum score from the Verbal and Quantitative sections never exceed 60 and 50 range. Since the score is on a fixed scale it is comparable with all the test administrators. As the Verbal and Math section measure the different skillset of the student they cannot be compared with each other.
It is crucial that the student finishes his test on time. The results are calculated based on the number of questions answered by the student and any unanswered questions will lead to a decline in the score result.
GMAT Score – Essay Section
The scores in the Essay section are calculated based on the assessment of the Analytical Writing skills of the student. The average of the score is divided between the two topics provided to the student for assessment. This section measures the student’s skill in analyzing an issue and an argument. The ratings for both the essays are separate and an average is calculated to produce the overall Essay score. The score range is provided in half point increments on the scale of 0 to 6. The score from this section is not included with the scores from the Verbal and Math sections or to the total scoring.
The score is evaluated manually and by an electronic system that computes the score based on the structural and linguistic features use by the student in his essays. The computer that scores these essays also assesses the students
- Association of ideas
- Syntactic variety
- Analysis of the topic
If the evaluation results differ on a range of more than one point, an expert reader helps resolve the situation. This is done through taking into consideration the
- Quality of the ideas presented on the topics
- Organization of the essay
- Expression
- Development of Ideas
- Example use with relevance
- students ability of using the elements of Standard English
The results of the Verbal and Math sections along with the total score report is available immediately to the student on completion of the test. The score sheet comprises the
- Result in Verbal section
- Marks in Math section
- Total score range of Verbal and Math section
- Score result of the AWA
and are sent to the student by two weeks through post.