How is my GMAT exam score calculated?

Are you an aspiring graduate school Business major?

Are you trying to work out how GMAT scores are calculated?

Illustration of female sitting using a calculator with images of GMAT Test information and calendar in the background

Getting a good GMAT score for your target business school is one indicator of your ability to meet the academic challenges of an MBA program.

The score includes more than just calculating the number of correct answers to questions on the test.

How the GMAT System Works

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a computer-based test used globally by business schools as a standard for admission to MBA programs.

The GMAT measures your skills and abilities in critical thinking, logical reasoning, writing evaluation, and quantitative problem-solving skills, in four scored test sections.

Illustration of female at desk with laptop taking an online exam, floating screenshots of correct questions and bar charts

Its scoring system is a computer-adaptive test. It monitors how you perform answering questions on the GMAT and evaluates your ability by the accuracy of your response to the different types of questions.

Did you know?

The GMAT adapts the difficulty level of the exam question as you progress through the test. When you answer a question correctly, you're given harder questions until it identifies the highest level of your ability. Similarly, it adjusts and gives you easier questions when you give a wrong answer to a question until it identifies the lowest level of your ability (www.gmatninja.com, "How to Calculate GMAT Scores", 2022).

How the GMAT Scores are Used

The GMAT exam has four scored test sections, and the information that will be used to calculate your scores include

your score from verbal reasoning
your score from quantitative reasoning
your performance & other exam factors

Only scaled test scores from the verbal and quantitative reasoning sections are used.

Table of the GMAT four test sections, Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning 👉 Learn more about the GMAT section scores mentioned in the above table here

The analytical writing and integrated reasoning sections are scored independently. The scores aren't calculated in your GMAT total score but are added separately in the Official Score Report.

Did you know?

During the admission process scores from the analytical writing assessment and integrated reasoning sections are used to assess your command of the English language in written form, and to measure your level of analytical reasoning skills (www.gmac.com, The GMAT Exam & Other Assessments, "How to Use the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) Score" & "IR Scores Help Predict Success").

How Your GMAT Score is Calculated

GMAT Score Range chart from 200 and 800 with emoji expressions representing poor to excellent scores.

Your GMAT total score is a combination of the assessment of your performance on the quantitative reasoning and verbal reasoning sections of the test. You can expect to receive a score between 200 and 800.

Scaled scoresfrom the verbal and quantitative sections are converted to a number in the GMAT score range.
Your GMAT score includes more than the number of correctly answered questions in each section of the test.
Note that...

A good performance on the test can generate high scores (>600) for:

Flaticon Icon of happy male with a thumbs-up next to a green check mark to indicate success.

more questions correctly answered
more difficult questions correctly answer
accuracy of answers to difficult questions

A poor to moderate performance on the test can drastically reduce your score (<600) and add penalties for: Flaticon Icon male with a sad expression with a red cross in a circle indicating disappointment

questions you give a wrong answer to
questions you leave unanswered
sections you skip or leave incomplete
not finishing the exam in the allotted time

Did you know?

Achieving a GMAT score of above 600 will put your MBA application in a good position as many MBA and business master’s programs consider this a good score. Even the most competitive business schools are known to accept scores in the 500s each year (www.mba.com, "Why You Should Look Beyond Business Schools' Average GMAT Scores", August 2022).

⚡Knowledge Quiz

Illustration of female wearing a red headscarf at desk taking an online test on laptop with test paper image in background

Nadia is taking the GMAT exam for the second time. She took her first GMAT exam when she was ill and didn't perform well. She earned a high score on quantitative reasoning but received a low score on verbal reasoning. Nadia received a total score of 585.

Nadia knows she can achieve a score of 680 for her target business school. In her previous proctored practice tests, she gained high GMAT scores of 675 and 690 respectively.