New Integrated Reasoning section in GMAT from June 2012
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is launching Next-Gen GMAT, the tenth version of the GMAT exam, from June 2012. The new GMAT exam pattern has introduced a new ‘Integrated Reasoning (IR)’ section, which has replaced one of the two ‘Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)’ sections.
The new exam pattern with gauge a candidate’s analysis and interpretation skills, which are much in demand by business schools worldwide for the concurrent management programmes they offer.
The Integrated Reasoning Section of GMAT will have twelve multiple-choice questions, which will be of four types:
- Graphic Interpretation: It will have questions based on information presented as charts and graphs.
- Table Analysis: It will have questions based on information presented as tables or Excel spreadsheets.
- Multi-source Reasoning: It will have questions based on information presented in different formats, which may include graphics, text passages, tables and charts. Students will have to find relation in the given information and answer complex questions based on it.
- Two-part Analysis: It will be a bit tricky as the students will first have to deduce whether the given information is related or not and then, answer the questions accordingly.
Replacing one of the essays from the AWA section, the new IR section will also be of 30 minutes.
The total GMAT score will remain 800 and the performance of each section will be judged on a scale of 0-6.
GMAT at a glance:
| GMAT sections | No. of Questions | Time | What the Section Measures |
| Analytical Writing Assessment Section (Analysis of an Argument) | 1 essay | 30 minutes | The ability to think critically and communicate ideas in English |
| Integrated Reasoning (Graphic Interpretation, Table Analysis, Multi-Source Reasoning, and Two-Part Analysis) | 12 questions, many of which have more than one answer assessment to assess | 30 minutes | The ability to interpret and analyse data from multiple sources and in different formats and to convert that data into relevant information to answer questions and solve problems, something we all do every day. |
| Quantitative (Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency) | 37 | 75 minutes | The ability to reason quantitatively, solve quantitative problems, and interpret graphic data. |
| Verbal (Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction) | 41 | 75 minutes | The ability to read and comprehend written material, reason and evaluate arguments, and correct written material to express ideas effectively in standard written English. |
| Total Exam Time | 3 hours 30 minutes |
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