GMAT
Admission to MBA and business Master's programmes at over 7,700 programmes worldwide, including Indian School of Business (ISB) and the one-year MBAs at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). Scores are valid for five years.
Eligibility
No educational qualification is prescribed; candidates must be 18+, while 13–17-year-olds need written parental consent. In India a valid passport is required at test centres. You may attempt the GMAT five times in any rolling 12-month period, with a lifetime cap of eight attempts across centre and online deliveries.
Age limit: 18+ (13–17 with written parental consent)
Exam pattern
A 2-hour-15-minute computer-adaptive test — the current format (formerly called the Focus Edition) has three equally weighted 45-minute sections: Quantitative Reasoning (21 questions), Verbal Reasoning (23 questions) and Data Insights (20 questions), 64 questions in all with one optional 10-minute break. There is no essay, no sentence correction and no geometry. Question-level adaptivity means early accuracy matters, but a review-and-edit feature lets you change up to three answers per section. You choose your own section order. Each section is scored 60–90 and the total runs 205–805 in 10-point steps.
Syllabus at a glance
Quantitative Reasoning tests arithmetic and elementary algebra through problem solving — logic over heavy computation, with no geometry. Verbal Reasoning covers reading comprehension and critical reasoning. Data Insights, the newest section, combines data sufficiency, multi-source reasoning, table analysis, graphics interpretation and two-part analysis, testing how well you read real business data.
Upcoming dates
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | Open year-round via mba.com — book up to six months ahead | confirmed |
| Test dates | Continuous through 2026 — centre slots weekly in major Indian cities; online GMAT almost every day | confirmed |
| Official score release | Within 3–5 business days of the test | confirmed |
| Peak-season booking | Book Sep–Dec 2026 slots early for Round 1/Round 2 MBA deadlines | expected |
Expected dates follow the usual calendar; confirm on the official notification before planning.
Free prep material
Standard books
- GMAT Official Guide 2025–2026 Bundle — GMAC
- GMAT Official Advanced Questions — GMAC
- All the GMAT (3-book set) — Manhattan Prep
- The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible — David M. Killoran
How toppers play it
- The algorithm penalises unfinished sections heavily — if time is dying, guess and move; never leave questions unanswered at the buzzer.
- Use the review-and-edit feature deliberately: bookmark doubtful questions as you go, then spend leftover minutes on your three permitted answer changes.
- Data Insights is the differentiator most Indian candidates under-prepare — drill data sufficiency logic (decide sufficiency without fully solving) and graph/table reading daily.
- Pick a section order that fronts your strongest section to bank confidence, since all three sections weigh equally in the 205–805 total.
- Calibrate with the two free official mocks early and late in prep; third-party mocks routinely misestimate the adaptive scoring.