The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT^®), a standardized test, primarily intends to aid graduate schools of business access the potential of aspirants for advanced study in business and management and make admission decisions. It is created by ACT and administered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the Graduate Management Admission Council. Admission committees also use GMAT^® scores as a useful guide to compare the credentials of candidates from widely varying backgrounds.

In most of the cases, students wishing to take up an MBA degree from abroad, have to take the GMAT^® Of the several thousand graduate management programs worldwide, nearly 1,700 use GMAT^® and more than 1,000 require it. In addition to that, there are several institutions within India, which consider the GMAT^®scores for entry like the Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, SP Jain, NMIMS, MICA etc.

GMAT^® includes Analytical writing, Quantitative and Verbal questions using a computer-adaptive format. Questions are chosen from a very large pool of test questions categorized by content and difficulty. The GMAT^® consists of four separately timed sections. Each of the first two sections contains a 30-minute writing task; the other two sections are 75 minutes each and contain multiple-choice questions. The various tests areas under consideration are as

Analytical Writing Assessment: this section comprises two essays topics selected by the computer. Students are allowed 30 minutes to respond to each topic. One task is to analyze an issue; the other is to analyze an argument. The Analytical Writing Assessment measures the ability to think critically and communicate complex ideas through writing.

Quantitative Section: this section contains multiple-choice questions of either two question types, Data Sufficiency or Problem Solving. Students are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the section. The Quantitative section measures basic mathematical skills and understanding of elementary concepts, and the ability to reason quantitatively, solve quantitative problems, and interpret graphic data.

Verbal Section: this section contains multiple-choice questions of any of three question types, Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction. Students are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the section. The Verbal section measures the ability to understand and evaluate what is read and to recognize basic conventions of standard written English.

In India, the GMAT^® is only administered as a multiple choice (except the AWA section) COMPUTER ADAPTIVE TEST (CAT). GMAT^® is conducted round the year at the various VUE Testing Centres spread across the country. The fee for GMAT^® exam is US$250.