Kaplan - Kaplan Portable GMAT

Portable GMAT

The Staff of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions

Verbal Section: 75 minutes, 41 questions

• Reading Comprehension questions

• Sentence Correction questions

• Critical Reasoning questions

Some important things to note:

• After you have completed the second essay, you'll get a 10-minute break. Then, between the two multiple-choice sections, you will get another break.

• So-called experimental questions will be scattered throughout the test. They will look just like the other multiple-choice questions, but won't contribute to your score.

We'll talk more about each of the question types in later chapters. For now, note the following: You'll be answering roughly 78 multiple-choice questions in two and a half hours. That's less than two minutes per question, not counting the time it takes to read the passages. Clearly, you'll have to move fast. But you can't let yourself get careless. Taking control of the GMAT means increasing the speed of your work without sacrificing accuracy!

You will receive four scores for the GMAT:

• Overall scaled score, from 200-800

• Quantitative scaled subscore, from 0-60

• Verbal scaled subscore, from 0-60

• AWA score, from 1-6. This score is separate from your overall score for quantitative and verbal.

Because the test is graded on a preset curve, the scaled score will correspond to a certain percentile, which will also be given on your score report. A 590 overall score, for instance, corresponds to the 80th percentile, meaning that 80 percent of test takers scored at or below this level. The percentile figure is important because it allows admissions officers at business schools to quickly get a sense of where you fall in the pool of applicants.

About 20 days after your test date, your official score report will be available online. You'll receive an e-mail when yours is ready. Reports will only be mailed to candidates who request that service. The official score report includes your scores for the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), Verbal, and Quantitative sections, as well as your total score and percentile ranking.

In the chapters that follow, we'll cover techniques for answering the GMAT questions. But you'll also need to go into the test with a certain attitude and approach. Here are some strategies.

Test takers are given noteboards (booklets of laminated paper) and a black wet-erase pen to work with during the test. Here are the specs, so you know what to expect on test day:

• 5 sheets, 10 numbered pages

• Spiral-bound at top

• First page has test administration and chair operation instructions, and is not suitable for scratchwork. Pages 2-10 consist of a gridded work surface.

• Black, fine-point, wet-erase pen

You will not be given an eraser, and you are not supposed to reuse the noteboard. Each time you fill up your noteboard during the test, the administrator will replace your used noteboard with a clean one. You can also request a new pen, if necessary. The note-boards cannot be removed from the test room during or after the exam, and you must return them to the administrator when your exam is complete.

Most test takers have not had any difficulties using the note-boards and pens on test day. However, nothing is perfect, so based on all the feedback we've received from test takers, here are two snags that you just can't prepare for and how to tackle them:

1. Erasable ink you're not supposed to erase: Say you make a mistake during a calculation, or you smudge your work with your hand. The noteboard's surface probably won't lend itself to quick-and-easy erasing (not surprisingly, since you are not meant to reuse it). So what should you do? Just start over.

2. A problematic pen: Difficulties with pens are not common at all. The test administrators are careful to provide good writing utensils so test takers don't have any extra anxieties. Also, keep in mind that you should recap your pen when you are not using it so that it doesn't dry out. If you do get a pen that's dry from the start, however, just get a new pen.