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What is the Total GMAT Score?

What is the Total GMAT Score?

The GMAT is scored on a range of 200 – 800; 800 being the highest GMAT score and 200, the lowest. The total GMAT score is a scaled scored arrived at after computing the raw scores of only the sections on Quantitative Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning. Although the GMAT score card indicates the separate section scores, the Analytical Writing Assessment and Integrated Reasoning scores are provided separately and these scores do not add up to the total GMAT score. Practice with full-length GMAT tests to get your desired GMAT scores.
 

GMAT Sections Score Range No. of Questions Types of Questions Mean Scores
Analytical Writing Assessment 0 to 6 1 Analysis of an Argument 4.49
Integrated Reasoning 1 to 8 12 Graphic Interpretation, Table Analysis, Multi-source Reasoning, Two-part Analysis 4.41
Verbal Reasoning 6 to 51 36 Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction 27.08
Quantitative Reasoning 6 to 51 31 Data Sufficiency, Problem Solving 40.2
Total Average GMAT Score 563.43

Source: mba.com, sample size: 739752, TY 2015 – TY 2018

How is the GMAT graded?

GMAC does not share the algorithm it follows for grading the sections on GMAT and arriving at the raw and the scaled scores. However, there are a few factors that affect the scoring system on GMAT:

  • The total no. of questions answered on GMAT
  • The total no. of questions correctly answered on GMAT
  • The difficulty level of each of the questions correctly answered on GMAT

An important point to consider in this aspect is that GMAT does not use the concept of negative marking or penalizing for incorrect responses; however, unanswered questions on GMAT can seriously affect the total GMAT score. The GMAT is primarily a computer-adaptive test, that is, the difficulty level of each question keeps on increasing with every correct answer that you provide. If you happen to provide a wrong answer to a particular question, the difficulty level of the next question will adjust itself to be of the same level as the last correctly answered question. It is said that the first few questions on each section of the GMAT are essential to setting the pace of the test. Hence, you must pay careful attention while solving the first few questions on GMAT.

While you must always target completing all questions on each of the GMAT sections, do not panic if you happen to mismanage time during the test. On an average, you get only 2 minutes to solve each of the questions on GMAT; use these 2 minutes wisely to solve the first few questions. If you happen to run out of time towards the end of the test section, you can simply take an educated guess. As already explained above, it is better to take an educated guess and mark your response than to leave the question unanswered.

An intriguing factor about the GMAT test pattern, however, is that it includes a set of experimental questions – questions that do not carry any marks and are used only to assess the competency of the test. GMAC strives to improve the test-takers’ experience as well as keep the questions as competent and original as possible. Hence, the experimental questions are introduced as a form of collecting data. It is, however, not possible to say the experimental questions from the actual test questions. Do not worry about the experimental questions; simply concentrate on completing the test to the best of your ability.

Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning Scores on GMAT

Both Quant and Verbal sections on GMAT are graded on a range of 6 to 51 and reported in 1 point increments; with 51 being the highest Quant/Verbal GMAT section score and 6, the lowest. The total GMAT score is calculated out of the raw scores obtained in only the quantitative and verbal reasoning sections.
However, as the GMAT scoring algorithm has not been publicly disclosed by GMAC, it is difficult to suggest if a 51 in either Quant or Verbal section and a less than 40 marks in the respective other section will ensure 700+ total marks on GMAT. You may refer to the following table to understand how the respective section scores compare on GMAT:

GMAT Scores

Thus, your total GMAT score will be 790 if

  • You have a scaled score of 50 on both Verbal and Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 51 on Verbal and 49 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 51 on Verbal and 51 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 51 on Verbal and 47 on Quant

Thus, your total GMAT score will be 780 if

  • You have a scaled score of 50 on Verbal and 48 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 48 on Verbal and 50 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 50 on Verbal and 59 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 47 on Verbal and 51 on Quant

Thus, your total GMAT score will be 760 if

  • You have a scaled score of 47 on Verbal and 48 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 48 on Verbal and 46 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 47 on Verbal and 49 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 46 on Verbal and 48 on Quant

Thus, your total GMAT score will be 740 if

  • You have a scaled score of 39 on Verbal and 51 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 38 on Verbal and 51 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 40 on Verbal and 50 on Quant
  • You have a scaled score of 48 on Verbal and 43 on Quant

Integrated Reasoning (IR) score on GMAT

The IR section on GMAT is scored on a range of 1 to 8 and reported in 1 point increment; with 8 being the highest score in the GMAT IR section and 1, the lowest. This section is not computer-adaptive, that is, the difficulty level of the next question does not depend on whether you answered the last question correctly or not. However, the GMAT IR section consists of questions with multiple parts to it. Ensure that you answer all parts of the question correctly for the question to be considered rightly answered.

Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) score on GMAT

The AWA section on GMAT is scored on a range of 0 to 6 and reported in 0.5 point increment; with 6 being the highest GMAT AWA score and 0, the lowest. This is the only section on GMAT that is graded twice and by a human grader. Once an e-rater grades the section and once a human reader grades the section; the scores provided by both the ratings are averaged to arrive at the total GMAT AWA score. If the marks happen to deviate by 1 point, a second human reader grades the section.

What are GMAT percentiles?

The GMAT percentile rankings show you the proportion of students that you performed better than. Thus, the 99th GMAT percentile indicates that you performed better than 99% of the students who took GMAT with you. The GMAT score report typically indicates the percentile ranking for each section score and the total GMAT score.

The following table indicates the percentile rank for total GMAT score:
 

Total GMAT Score Percentile Ranking
760-800 99%
750 98%
740 97%
730 96%
720 94%
710 90%
700 88%
690 85%
680 82%
670 80%
660 77%
650 73%
640 68%
630 66%
620 62%
610 58%
600 55%
590 51%
580 48%
570 45%
560 41%
550 38%
540 36%
530 32%
520 30%
510 28%
500 26%
490 24%
450 16%
400 10%
350 5%
300 3%
250 1%
200 0%

Source: mba.com

How to get the perfect 800 on GMAT?

You can get the perfect 800 on GMAT, or the maximum GMAT score if you score a 51 in both Quant and Verbal sections. However, it is difficult to suggest exactly how many questions you need to correctly answer to be able to score the perfect 800. GMAC sources its questions for GMAT from a vast pool of resources that ensures that none of the questions are repeated. Hence, use the best prep resources for GMAT, for instance online GMAT training or free GMAT mobile app, to prepare well for the GMAT test. Only 99% of the GMAT test-takers have reportedly scored the perfect 800 on GMAT; on the day of the exam, answer the questions with utmost concentration and to the best of your ability, you can surely score the perfect 800.

It is, nonetheless, not mandatory that the perfect 800 on GMAT will confirm your admission to top-ranked B-schools. The B-schools’ Admissions Committee consider your profile in entirety while selecting your application for admission. Your professional experience, your career goals, your GMAT score, your leadership experience, your passion for the industry or career goal that you project in your essays or at your interviews, etc., are all determining factors influencing the Admissions Committee’s decision in favour of your application. Thus the high percentile ranking will only help you stand apart from the crowd of applicants and enable your chances of admission to the top-ranked B-schools.

How important is my total GMAT score?

GMAT scores are a part of the process of application to MBA and Master programs. However, the GMAT score is only a part of the many factors that help the Admissions Committee shortlist candidates from the pool of applicants. The total GMAT score forms an important aspect of your application to only suggest your quantitative and analytical skills to the Admissions Committee. Besides, the average total GMAT scores of the last incoming batch of each school also form a crucial factor in determining the ranks of the B-schools. Hence, while it is recommended that you target a competitive GMAT score, usually in the range of 760 to 800, GMAT scores are not the only criteria determining your admission prospects to B-schools.

How important are my GMAT AWA and IR section scores?

A pertinent question may be the importance of the IR and the AWA section scores in influencing admission decisions as they do not contribute to the total GMAT score. The B-schools only declare their average GMAT score requirement and it is not possible to exactly assess the importance of the individual section scores, particularly AWA and IR section scores on GMAT. In actuality, the IR section has only been introduced in 2012 and hence, does not necessarily act as an analytical tool. However, the IR section has continued to gain in importance as suggested by the surveys conducted each year. According to the Kaplan Test Prep Survey, 2015, only 59% of the Admissions Committee officials for MBA programs confirmed assessing IR section competency while shortlisting applicants as against the report submitted by 41% of the same group of officials who had participated in the survey few years prior to the 2015 study.

At the same time, the Admissions Committee asks you to submit definite MBA essays as part of the MBA application. Thus, although they receive your AWA essays, the Admissions Committee prefers to assess your essay writing skills through essays composed in a justified environment and not in a controlled environment allowing only 30 minutes to read and comprehend information and draft an essay on the same. Nonetheless, if you are a non-native English speaker, the AWA section score will help to justify your competency in using the standard rules of the English language: the ability to produce strong, coherent passage in a limited time actually helps to determine your fluency in the language, acting as a positive enabler of your admission chances.

Therefore, although the IR and AWA section scores do not add to form the total GMAT scores, they should not be regarded as sections with the minimum importance. That the GMAT score card reports the total GMAT score as well as the individual section scores implies that the score obtained on each section of GMAT are equally important. Each GMAT section is designed to test particular skill-set of the test–taker. Thus, besides targeting a good or brilliant total GMAT score, you must also target a good or brilliant score in individual GMAT test sections because skewed GMAT score care will indicate your weakness in particular sections.

What is a good total GMAT score?

A good GMAT score is one that adequately confirms your quantitative, analytical, and verbal skills as competitive. That is to say that it is generally perceived that the higher the total GMAT score, the higher your skill set to analyse situations and effectively solve the same. Hence, if one is to consider the range of total GMAT score, the brilliant GMAT score will fall in the range of 760 – 800: only 99% students acquire this score; the good and respectable GMAT score will fall in the range of 700 – 750: about 88% to 98% students acquire this score. Scores below 600 are typically considered weak scores.

Your ideal GMAT prep routine should begin with a mock test to help you understand your present skill-set. Thus, take a free GMAT mock test to figure out your preliminary GMAT score and accordingly plan your GMAT routine.

What is the minimum total GMAT score requirement?

B-schools mostly provide the average GMAT score of their last enrolled batch; however few schools also state the minimum GMAT score requirement to be eligible for the MBA program, for instance, 600 is the minimum GMAT score requirement for NTU. Ideally, you must check the average GMAT score of the most recent batch for your program to determine the minimum GMAT score requirement; your target GMAT score should be actually be 30 grades higher than the stated average GMAT score.

The lowest GMAT score is 200 and only 10% of the test-takers score less than 400. Further, almost 44% of the test-takers scored less than the average GMAT score of 2018, 565. Hence, the lowest you can score in GMAT will be in the range of 200 – 400 and the minimum GMAT score requirement, in that context, will be between 500 and 600.

What is the average GMAT score?

The average GMAT scores gives you an idea of the ideal GMAT score that will give you the competitive advantage in your MBA application process. The total average GMAT score in 2018 was 563.43. The average GMAT score requirements of some of the world’s top-ranked programs, sorted according to geography, are provided below:

USA MBA Programs: Average GMAT Score

Sr. No. School Average GMAT Score
1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 732
2. Stanford University 732
3. Harvard University 731
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 728
5. University of Chicago (Booth) 731
6. Columbia University 736
7. Northwestern University (Kellogg) 732
8. University of California–Berkeley (Haas) 726
9. Yale University 724
10. Duke University (Fuqua) 704
11. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (Ross) 720
12. Dartmouth College (Tuck) 722
13. New York University (Stern) 716
14. University of Virginia (Darden) 718
15. Cornell University (Johnson) 699
16. University of California–Los Angeles (Anderson) 716
17. Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) 690
18. University of Southern California (Marshall) 705
19. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) 702
20. University of Texas–Austin (McCombs) 702
21. Emory University (Goizueta) 686
22. Indiana University (Kelley) 675
23. University of Washington (Foster) 696
24. Georgetown University (McDonough) 693
25. University of Florida (Warrington) 685
26. Rice University (Jones) 706
27. University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) 671
28. Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) 693
29. Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller) 681
30. Vanderbilt University (Owen) 678
31. Ohio State University (Fisher) 676
32. Brigham Young University (Marriott) 672
33. Arizona State University (W.P. Carey) 694
34. Pennsylvania State University–University Park (Smeal) 657
35. University of Minnesota–Twin Cities (Carlson) 682
36. University of Wisconsin–Madison 670
37. University of Georgia (Terry) 665
38. Michigan State University (Broad) 668
39. University of Texas—Dallas 671
40. Texas A&M University–College Station (Mays) 643
41. University of Maryland–College Park (Smith) 638
42. University of Rochester (Simon) 666
43. Boston College (Carroll) 637
44. Southern Methodist University (Cox) 655
45. University of California–Irvine (Merage) 667
46. University of Pittsburgh (Katz) 621
47. Iowa State University 607
48. University of California–Davis 671
49. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 666
50. Boston University (Questrom) 681
51. University of Alabama (Manderson) 650
52. CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College (Zicklin) 637
53. University of Arizona (Eller) 665
54. College of William and Mary (Mason) 618
55. University of Tennessee–Knoxville (Haslam) 655
56. University of Utah (Eccles) 659
57. Baylor University (Hankamer) 607
58. Northeastern University 627
59. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey–Newark and New Brunswick 683
60. University of Oklahoma (Price) 25
661. George Washington University 611
62. Texas Christian University (Neeley) 631
63. Babson College (Olin) 615
64. Fordham University (Gabelli) 656
65. Tulane University (Freeman) 646
66. University at Buffalo–SUNY 592
67. Howard University 485
68. University of Kentucky (Gatton) 591
69. Auburn University (Harbert) 586
70. Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge (Ourso) 601
71. University of California–San Diego (Rady) 656
72. University of Missouri (Trulaske) 606
73. Oklahoma State University (Spears) 521
74. Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead) 623
75. Pepperdine University (Graziadio) 633

European MBA Programs: Average GMAT Score

Sr. No. School Name Average GMAT Score
1. INSEAD (France) 700
2. London Business School (UK) 707
3. IMD (Switzerland) 670
4. Judge Business School, University of Cambridge (UK) 696
5. Said Business School, University of Oxford (UK) 690
6. HEC (Paris, France) 690
7. Imperial (UK) 642
8. Warwick (UK) 660
9. Manchester (UK) 650
10. Cranfield (UK) 640
11. Cass, City University (UK) 653
12. Lancaster (UK) 600
13. IESE (Spain) 690
14. IE (Spain) 670
15. ESADE (Spain) 660
16. SDA Bocconi (Italy) 650+
17. Rotterdam (Netherlands) 650
18. St Gallen (Switzerland) 723
19. Streathclyde (UK) 590
20. Tias Nimbus (Netherlands) 620
21. Manheim (Germany) 675
22. Dublin: Smurfit (Ireland) 640
23. Vlerick (Belgium) 600+
24. Bath (UK) 600+
25. Birmingham (UK) 573
26. Durham(UK) 600
27. Lisbon (Portugal) 645

Canadian MBA Programs: Average GMAT Score

Sr. No. School Name Average GMAT Score
1. University of Toronto: Rotman School of Business 673
2. Schulich School of Business, York University 660
3. University of Western Ontario: Richard Ivey School of Business 667
4. University of British Columbia: Sauder School of Business 646
5. Queen’s School of Business 650
6. McGill University: Desautels School of Business 650
7. HEC Montreal 625
8. Alberta School of Business, University of Alberta 630
9. John Molson School of Business, Concordia University 648
10. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria 589
11. Telfer School of Business, University of Ottawa 612
12. Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary 635
13. Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University 615
14. Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University 590
15. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University 627
16. Goodman School of Business, Borock Unoversity 610
17. Shannon School of Business, Cape Breton 580
18. Sprott School of Business, Carleton University (Ottawa) 600
19. Vancouver Island University 560
20. Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University 550
21. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba 590
22. Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University 628
23. Memorial University MBA 590
24. Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatoon 570
25. Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University 550
26. University of New Brunswick 550
27. Odette School of Business, University of Windsor 580

Asian MBA Programs: Average GMAT Score

Sr. No. School Name Average GMAT Score
1. INSEAD (Singapore) 708
2. IIM-A: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 720
3. ISB: Indian School of Business- Hyderabad and Mohali 709
4. IIM-B: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore 709
5. NUS: National University Singapore (Singapore) 662
6. Nanyang Business School (Singapore) 720
7. IIM- C: Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (India) 685
8. IIM-L: Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (India) 680
9. XLRI, Jamshedpur (India) 700
10. HKUST (China) 680
11. CEIBS (China) 686
12. University of Hong Kong (China) 670
13. CUHK (China) 625
14. SP Jain, Mumbai (India) 680
15. IIM-I: Indian Institute of Management, Indore (India) [EPGP] 650
16. Lee Kong Chian, Singapore Management University 660
17. BiMBA: Peking University (China) 670
18. Fudan University (China) 650
19. Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 670
20. Great Lakes, Chennai (India) 680
21. Shanghai: Antai (China) 600
22. Tsinghua University (China) 658
23. Sungkyunkwan University GSB (South Korea) 550
24. AIM: Asian Institute of Management, Manila (Philippines) 652
25. Waseda University (Japan) 625
26. Graduate School of International Management, International University of Japan (Japan) 550
27. Graduate School of Business, Seoul National University (South Korea) 650

Indian MBA Programs: Average GMAT Score

Sr. No. School Name Average GMAT Score
1. IIM-A: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (PGPX) 720
2. ISB: Indian School of Business- Hyderabad and Mohali (PGP) 709
3. IIM-B: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (EPGP) 709
4. IIM- C: Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (PGPEX) 685
5. XLRI, Jamshedpur (GMP) 700
6. SP Jain, Mumbai (PGPM) 680
7. IIM-I: Indian Institute of Management, Indore (EPGP) 650
8. IIM-L: Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IPMX) 680
9. Great Lakes 680

Australian MBA Programs: Average GMAT Score

Sr. No. School Name Average GMAT Score
1. Melbourne Business School, the University of Melbourne 687
2. AGSM: Australian Graduate School of Management 550
3. Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University 680
4. La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University 650
5. University of New South Wales 660
6. College of Business and Economics, Australian National University ANU 600+
7. Monash Business School, Monash University 650
8. UWA Business School, University of Western Australia 630
9. Queensland University of Technology Graduate School of Business 550
10. Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University 550
11. The University of Adelaide 590
12. Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong 650

All the best!

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