The GMAT, or Graduate Management Admission Test, is a widely recognized tool for evaluating the aptitudes of business school applicants. The GMAT is designed to measure an applicant’s analytical writing aptitude, mathematical ability, and verbal skills. Online test prep will help you prepare, at your own pace, for the kinds of questions to expect.

The first section of the GMAT is the Analytical Writing Assessment, or AWA. Thirty minutes are given to complete each of two writing tasks. The first involves analysis of a particular issue, and the second is analysis of an argument. Online GMAT Test Preparation will help you understand what sort of issues and arguments to expect and how to prepare your answer.

The second section of the GMAT is the quantitative, or mathematical, section. Seventy-five minutes are allowed for the completion of 37 randomly-generated multiple-choice questions. Some of these questions will ask whether the right information has been supplied to answer a specific question. Others will be calculation and word problems. A quality online GMAT test preparation course will familiarize you with these two different forms of quantitative questioning.

The last section of the GMAT evaluates verbal skills, including critical reasoning, reading comprehension and sentence correction. Online GMAT test preparation will guide you through reading samples and comprehension questions, sentences and their possible errors, and how to identify assumptions and draw conclusions from a given argument.

The verbal and quantitative portions of the test feature randomly generated questions that adapt to your answers. If an easier question is successfully answered, the next one will be slightly harder. Incorrect answers are scored higher than skipped questions. Online test prep will help you get the feel for how this adaptive component of the GMAT works.

A GMAT score includes a ranking in each of the three skill areas. The total score for the verbal and quantitative sections will range from 200 to 800, with the median being about 500. This is what is usually referred to as the GMAT score. The AWA section is scored separately from the two other sections. Top business schools require GMAT scores above 700 for admission.