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Applying to MBA Programs — How Important are GMAT Scores?
Q: What sort of scale is used to score the GMAT?
A: Your official GMAT score report, which you'll receive by mail within a few weeks after the test, will consist of four separate scores:
- a Quantitative score (on a 0-60 scale)
- a Verbal score (on a 0-60 scale)
- a Total (combined) Quantitative/Verbal score (on a 200-800 scale)
- an AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment) score (on a 0-6 scale)
On each scale a higher score indicates better performance. Let's focus on the first three scores, which are based entirely on the two GMAT multiple-choice sections: the Quantitative section, which contains 37 questions, and the Verbal section, which contains 41 questions. The 0-60 and the 200-800 scaled scores do not simply reflect the number of questions you answered correctly. These scaled scores also account for the difficulty level of the questions you answered correctly, as well as the extent to which those questions cover disparate question types and skills. It's a complex calculation, of course.
As for why the test designers employ the 0-60 and the 200-800 scales, rather than other numerical ranges, there's no compelling reason. The ranges are arbitrary and were established many years ago. The testing service continues to use these scales so that older scores can be compared directly with more recent ones.
Your fourth scaled score — for the GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment — is the easiest to understand. There's no conversion or complex calculation; the score is based on the overall quality of your writing and your reasoning, as determined by two GMAT readers, who follow general scoring guidelines established by the testing service.
Q: What do your GMAT scores tell you in terms of your performance on the exam?
A: Accompanying each of the four scaled scores on your official GMAT score report will be a percentile score, or rank, which indicates the percentage of test takers scoring lower than you. For example, a percentile ranking of 65% indicates that out of every 100 test takers 65 scored lower than you, while 34 scored higher than you. Percentile rankings are based on the entire GMAT test-taking population during the three most recent years.
Percentile rankings are solely for your information — to help you assess your relative performance. They aren't reported to the B-schools. Even if they were, the schools would ignore them, because each B-school is interested in ranking you among only its applicants, not among all GMAT test takers.
Q: How do the B-schools evaluate and process your four scaled GMAT scores?A: The first step in the evaluation process ignores all but your combined Quantitative/Verbal score — the one on the 200-800 scale. It's this score, along with your GPA, that B-schools generally use to evaluate applicants during their initial screening. In other words, if your GPA and combined GMAT score, considered together by whatever formula the school uses, falls below a certain level, the school rejects your application without considering other factors — such as your GMAT AWA score, letters of recommendation, personal statement(s), and work experience.
Once you're past the first cut, the school will take a closer look at your GMAT AWA score. If you've scored very high in GMAT Analytical Writing — perhaps 5 or 6 — the admissions committee might rank you higher among its remaining applicants despite a relatively low GMAT Verbal score. (This is where the individual Verbal score can become a factor in the admissions process.) In reality, though, applicants with lower GMAT Verbal scores typically score poorly on the AWA as well. What's more, in this case an outstanding personal statement would not accomplish much toward redeeming your application, because too many applicants obtain help in writing their personal statements. In other words, the personal statement is not a reliable indicator of your writing ability, or you verbal skills generally.
Q: Does the overall performance among the GMAT testing population remain about the same from year to year. If not, how does the scoring system account for performance trends?
A: The overall performance of the GMAT testing population has been improving gradually over the last decade or so. The reason for this trend has to do with the fact that the MBA degree has become increasingly popular, and that as a result the B-schools have become increasingly selective in admitting new students. The end result is that a given GMAT score doesn't get you as far as it used to in B-school admissions. Thus, test takers are taking the GMAT more seriously than ever before; they're studying harder, and therefore scoring higher.
Another factor contributing to the trend toward higher GMAT scores is that, since the introduction of the computer-adaptive GMAT in October of 1997, test takers can take the GMAT any month of the year, as many as a dozen times a year, rather than only four times per year — as was the case when the GMAT was offered as a paper-based test. Repeat test takers tend to score higher than first-time test takers, and with year-round availability of the GMAT there are more repeat test takers.
Since the current testing system has been in place for well over a decade, it's safe to conjecture that these performance trends have leveled off by now. In any event, the GMAT scoring system makes no attempt to account for such trends.
Q: How do the B-schools process GMAT scores of applicants who have repeated the test?
A: First of all, your three most recent sets of GMAT scores are reported to the B-schools to whom you direct your score report. So if you take the GMAT a fourth time, scores from your first GMAT are dropped from your score report. Of course, if a school is sent a score report after your first three tests, then sent another report after your fourth test, the school will have all four sets of GMAT scores in its file. But the schools generally don't consider scores that are not on an applicant's current report.
Each B-school establishes its own policy for processing multiple GMAT scores. The most common policy is to average multiple scores. (Quantitative, Verbal, Combined Q/V, and AWA scores are each averaged separately.) A minority of schools will disregard all but your highest scores. (Again, Quantitative, Verbal, Combined Q/V, and AWA scores are each considered separately.) A few schools have adopted a hybrid approach, whereby they average scores from multiple tests unless there is a large enough discrepancy between scores — in which case they look only at your highest score. In any event, most B-schools disregard GMAT scores that are more than five years old.
Q: What do B-school policies regarding multiple GMAT scores suggest in terms of application strategies — whether and how often to repeat the test? What else should a test taker consider in deciding whether to repeat the test?
A: Before identifying the factors that should enter into your decision, let's identify a couple of factors that definitely should not influence that decision. First, keep in mind that B-schools don't frown on repeat test takers. In other words, you won't be penalized merely because you've repeated the test. Secondly, take any advice you receive from others through online discussion forums with a grain of salt — these people don't know you or your specific circumstances.
The chief consideration in deciding whether to repeat the GMAT is that approximately 90% of test takers improve their combined Quantitative-Verbal score by repeating the test. So the statistics weigh in on the side of repeating the test. This doesn't mean, however, that every GMAT test taker should repeat the test. Other factors should influence your decision as well. Perhaps you prepared diligently for the exam, during which your concentration and your pace were both good, you felt alert and clear in your thinking, and you had time to consider all 78 multiple-choice questions without panicking or rushing. If so, think twice about repeating the exam; you run a real risk of sabotaging yourself by performing worse the next time around — especially if you're applying to schools that average multiple GMAT scores.
Many test takers hold unrealistic expectations in terms of their GMAT scores. It's understandable that you might want to gain admission to a top-tier B-school, which will require very high GMAT scores. But don't base your decision about whether to repeat the test on the admission standards of your first-choice school. Instead, focus on whether you performed as well as you can realistically expect, given your innate cognitive abilities and your English-language skills.
Q: How do you know if you've performed just about as well as you can reasonably expect on the GMAT? What's the best way to measure your performance against your potential?
A: Prior to taking the actual GMAT, you should take several full-length practice tests under simulated exam conditions. This advice might seem obvious, but many, many test takers fail to follow this advice strictly. They'll take one exam section now, then another later. Or they'll cheat a bit on the time limit during a section. Or they'll take practice tests at the time of day they function best — even if it isn't the same time they'll be taking the real exam. Without a true GMAT simulation, you really can't gauge whether you performed optimally on the actual test.
This advice assumes, of course, that your practice tests actually simulate the style and difficulty level of the real GMAT. Much of the online discussion at the various GMAT forums centers around this issue — specifically, what books and software products do the best job at simulating the real test.
Q: Helping you decide whether to repeat the test isn't the only reason to take practice tests under simulated exam conditions, right?
A: Of course not. Obviously, by taking practice tests you hone your skills, find your optimal pace, build up endurance, and so forth. Another good reason to take simulated exams is that doing so will help you decide whether to cancel your score immediately after the test. When you finish the GMAT, the computerized testing system will ask you to decide whether to cancel your scores or to see them immediately. (You'll be given five minutes to decide, and you should use that time to compose yourself, gather your thoughts, and reflect a bit on your performance.) Once you elect to see your scores, you forfeit the opportunity to cancel them, and they automatically go on your GMAT score report. The more experience you've already had with practice tests, the better you can gauge whether you've performed optimally on the real test — and whether you should cancel your scores.
Q: So is taking practice tests the best way to prepare for the GMAT?
A: Simulated testing should be an integral part of GMAT prep — no doubt about it. But to optimize your score you'll also need to identify your weak areas within each test section, and strive to improve your performance in those areas. Remember: your GMAT score for each section depends in part on the breadth of cognitive abilities measured among the questions you've answered correctly.
Taking full-length practice tests will help you identify your weak areas. But to improve in those areas you should focus on building skills rather than rote practice. Most general bookstores stock a variety of workbooks targeted at specific areas of the GMAT.
Besides, placing undue emphasis on practice-test scores can easily result in performance anxiety, which can be counterproductive. Instead of obsessing about scores, you should focus on what you can realistically do before exam day to improve the skills needed to better those scores.
Q: If you're reasonably sure your GMAT scores are as high as they're going to get, but not high enough to get into your first-choice B-school, is there anything you can you do for damage control on your application for admission?
A: Any B-school admissions officer would agree that you should refrain from apologizing for or otherwise explaining a low GMAT score. Calling attention to your weaknesses won't help your case; its bad salesmanship. A better approach is to call attention to the highest among your AWA, Quantitative, and Verbal scores, in terms of percentile rank, then present yourself throughout your application as particularly keen in that area.
Another idea is to look carefully at the admissions criteria of the schools you're interested in, to see which ones focus less on the numerical data (particularly GMAT scores) and instead take a holistic approach toward the admissions decision. There's a strong trend in this direction anyway, as schools are beginning to acknowledge that other intelligences, such as leadership and other interpersonal skills, have just as much bearing on success after B-school as your performance on one half-day standardized exam.
