Scoring Ranges

What are GMAT Scaled Scores?

A scaled score is not simply the number or percentage of questions answered correctly. Instead, it is a score that has been adjusted in such a way that a particular scaled score reflects the same level of ability regardless of the difficulty of the questions or the number or type of questions included in a particular test.

GMAT verbal and quantitative scaled scores range from 0 to 60, although scores below 10 or above 50 are rare. GMAT total scaled scores range from 200 to 800 with scores below 250 or above 750 being rare.

How are GMAT Scores calculated?

The GMAT presents each test taker with an individually selected set of questions. Within each section —Verbal and Quantitative— the computer selects your questions on the basis of your responses to previous questions. The rule that the computer uses for selecting questions is intended to give you questions that are neither too easy nor too hard for you. When you answer questions correctly, the computer tends to give you harder questions. When you answer incorrectly, it tends to give you easier questions. Your scaled score is determined by a complex mathematical procedure that takes into account the difficulty of the questions that were presented to you. When you answer the easier questions correctly, you get a chance to answer the harder questions that make it possible to earn a high score. After you have completed all of the questions on the test —or when your time is up— the computer will calculate your scaled scores. Your scores on the Verbal and Quantitative sections are combined to produce your total score. If you have not responded to all of the questions in a section (41 Verbal questions or 37 Quantitative questions), your score is adjusted using the proportion of questions answered.

Scoring of the AWA

The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) consists of two writing tasks: Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. The responses to each of these tasks are scored on a 6-point scale, with 6 the highest score and 1 the lowest. A score of nought (0) is given to responses that are not written on the assigned topic, that are in a foreign language, or that merely attempt to copy the topic or consist only of keystroke characters. The readers who evaluate the responses are college and university faculty members from various subject matter areas, including management education. These readers read holistically —that is, they respond to the overall quality of your critical thinking and writing. In addition, responses may be scored by E-rater™ an automated scoring programme designed to reflect the judgment of expert readers.

To ensure the greatest possible accuracy and consistency in scoring, the readers are required to pass a certification test. Those who qualify are then rigorously trained, using actual candidates’ responses that have been annotated by a “chief reader” chosen for his or her expertise in the holistic reading process. In addition, each response is given two independent ratings. If the ratings differ by more than a point, a third reader adjudicates. (Because of ongoing training and monitoring, discrepant ratings are rare.)

Your final score is the average (rounded to the nearest half point) of the four scores independently awarded to your responses —two scores for the Analysis of an Issue and two for the Analysis of an Argument. For example, if you earned scores of 6 and 5 on the Analysis of an Issue and 4 and 4 on the Analysis of an Argument, your final score would be 5: (6 + 5 + 4 + 4) / 4 = 4.75, which rounds up to 5.

Your Analytical Writing scores are computed and reported separately from the multiple-choice sections of the test and have no effect on your Verbal, Quantitative, or total scores. The schools that you have designated to receive your scores may choose to receive a copy of your responses to the two writing tasks that comprise the Analytical Writing Assessment. Your own copy of your score report will not include copies of your responses