GMAT: An exam with greater profit margin than Apple
Certification: Test Prep GMAT - Graduate Management Admission Test
GMAT has been continuing it’s journey since the last Sixty years along with brilliant worldwide accreditation as a qualifying benchmark for the admissions exam to get admitted in the MBA degree and other business related masters programs. It’s success has mounted over many giant companies like, Apple.
Fundamentals of the GMAT
The term refers to the GMAT (The Graduate Management Admission Test ), which is one type of computer adaptive test (CAT). This test evaluates the ability of an individual in analytical, reading, writing, verbal, and quantitative skills through the Standard English. This is a written exam. The motto of this exam is to take preparation for getting admission into a graduate-level management program, like, MBA. However, the GMAT does not compute the business expertise or knowledge or intelligence. The GMAT test only validates the aptitude of the candidates that is how well the candidates are performing in the GMAT. Graduate Management Admission Council has approved the GMAT test as their registered trademark.
Test details of GMAT exam
The GMAT test is consisted of total four sections: analytical writing assessment, verbal section, integrated reasoning and quantitative section. The test spans for three and a half hours time. However, in reality the test takes about four hours along with breaks. The Test takers get 30 minutes to attain the AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment). Then, they get 30 minutes to attain the ‘integrated reasoning’ section to solve 12 questions containing compound parts. After that the candidates get about 75 minutes to attain the ‘quantitative’ section to solve about 37 questions. Finally, the test takers get 75 minutes to attain the ‘verbal’ section to solve about 41 questions.
In the GMAT test both the quantitative as well as verbal sections are comprised of multiple-choice type questions. These sections are administered through the standardized computer-adaptive format, which adjusts the test according to the level of ability of the test taker. At the beginning of the quantitative as well as verbal sections, the test takers need to face a range of questions with ‘average’ or medium-scale difficulty. As the test-takers answers the questions correctly, the computer-adaptive format gradually presents more complicated questions to the test takers. Now if those questions are answered erroneously, then the computer-adaptive format presents a range of questions maintaining a flow of declining difficulty to the test takers. This process is followed as the test takers proceed and attain each section. When the computer-adaptive format will make a precise assessment on the level of ability of the test taker in a particular section, then the computer will bring a raw test-score for every section.
The GMAT scoring system ranges between scales of 200 to 800. This system measures the performance of the candidates in the quantitative as well as the verbal sections jointly. However, the performance-score on the AWA section as well as the IR section is not counted in the total scoring system and those sections get scoring separately. The scores are awarded on 10 points increments, such as, 510, 520, 530, 540, etc. According to data derived from the GMAC, the average score of all test takers in the GMAT test is about 540. The higher the test-score represents the higher the level of ability in the GMAT. The higher the obtained GMAT score would be, the higher the probability that the test taker will get admission in the Business schools; as the test taker’s united result of quantitative and verbal score is reported to the schools during the graduate admission program. The higher the average GMAT scores of a particular graduate school is, the choosier the school. The GMAT score distribution is presented through a bell curve along with demonstrating the standard deviation of about 100 points.
Popularity of GMAT exam
GMAT exam has worldwide approval and accreditation by the global schools offering graduate programs. Above 5,900 programs administered by about 2,100 universities and educational institutions require the GMAT exam-score as part of their selection criteria for getting admission in those programs. Especially, the business schools prefer the GMAT test as a admission selection criterion in numerous graduate management programs, such as, Master of Finance programs, MBA, Master of Accountancy, etc.
The GMAT test is proctored in 112 countries worldwide through standardized and legalized test centers. The GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) updated the question pattern of the GMAT test on the 5th June in 2012. This updated version has applied an incorporated reasoning section in the test that has been designed to evaluate the aptitude of a candidate in evaluating data presented from multiple sources and in diverse formats. GMAC executes validity studies in order to confirm statistically that the GMAT exam certified candidates are doing well in the graduate-level programs in the business schools. Kaplan Test Prep According conducted a survey, which revealed that the GMAT is still occupying the top-most choice for MBA applicants in spite of the ever increasing acceptability and popularity of the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) scores.
GMAT’s greater profit margin than Apple
Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is an approved organization that manages GMAT exam. GMAC has been earning great profits through GMAT exam. Interestingly, GMAT’s profit margins have over mounted the Apple’s profit margin by 0.57% made from their latest iPad and smart phone sales. In the year of 2012, the GMAC earned $87.7 million in fees. However, the organization had to spend only $45.7 million for administering the GMAT exam. Therefore, the gross profit on the GMAT exam process is about 47.9%, which is about 11 points or more higher than the latest gross profit margins of the techno giant company Apple. Moreover, as a non-profit organization GMAC has been excluded from tax burden, so every year GMAC has been generating massive profit through GMAT exam system.