Helpful for: MBA Applicants Read Time:  10 minutes Quick Facts:

  • The total GMAT score is the sum of the Verbal and Quantitative sections. The highest possible score a test taker can achieve is 800.
  • The GMAT is a computer adaptive test (CAT), meaning that the question difficulty corresponds to your abilities while taking the test. Laura adds:

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Getting a medium question incorrect will result in fewer moderate or advanced-level questions and more easy ones, while getting easy or medium questions correct will lead to more moderate and difficult questions to gauge your overall level relative to your peers. Since your GMAT score relies not only on how many questions you get right, but on how many easy, moderate, and difficult questions you get right, there is no one magic number of right answers that will guarantee you an 800.

  • There are three parts to your score: the raw score (how many questions you got correct); the scaled score (1-60 for Verbal and Quantitative); and your percentile ranking which compares your score to the rest of the test takers.
  • Students speculate that a scaled Verbal score of 51 and a scaled Quant of 48 could result in total score of 800.
  • In order to get a high score, you should focus both on the Verbal and Quant sections and not skip answering any questions. Which one do you struggle with more? Share your thoughts in our forum.
  • Preparing extensively means putting enough hours in the day dedicated to targeting your weak areas of the GMAT. Get as specific as possible when trying to pinpoint where you could improve your performance.
  • Read answer explanations on official GMAT practice tests, and try to break down your thought process into parts to see where your logic falls apart.
  • The average GMAT scores of recent incoming students from Harvard, Stanford, Berkely Haas, Dartmouth and Yale ranges from 717-730. This goes to show that you definitely don’t need a score of 800 to get accepted at a top business school.
  • Other factors such as GPA, work experience, reference letters play an important role in your application and should not be disregarded.

Useful Information:

  • GMAC shares that two-thirds of GMAT test takers score between 400-600. The number of students who achieve an 800 is very small— out of roughly 200,000 test takers only 2,000 score above 760.

Check Out: 9 Tips for a 700+ GMAT Score (Video)

Source: Prep Scholar GMAT