Differences Between The GMAT And GRE

By Uchechi Moses

An advanced education forges one’s career or enterprise forward. Whether you desire to go to graduate school or business school – it is an important step in one’s life and career. In order to achieve this, you must write certain examinations (LSAT, IELTS, TOEFL, EJU, GRE, GMAT etc). The GRE and GMAT are amongst the most sought after, with the former being the most preferred for graduate studies and latter for business and management programs.

GMAT

The GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test) is organised by the Graduate Admission Management Council (GMAC). It is a computer-based standardised examinations taken majorly by candidates aspiring to study management courses, including MBA, MSc. Accountancy, MSc. Finance amongst others. Founded in 1965 and accepted by more than 7, 000 business and management programs in circa 2. 300 graduate business schools globally, the GMAT assesses the possibility of graduate student success in business school. It is formulated to assist business schools and candidates understand their readiness for the rigorousness and intellectual activities you will experience in a graduate management program. These skills, the GMAC says, are important prerequisites for classes and activities you will face in a graduate program commencing from Day 1. It has four sections:

- Analytical Writing Assessment
- Integrated Reasoning
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Verbal Reasoning.

The AWA assesses one’s critical thinking skills and measures how you communicate ideas. Candidates are given an argument to analyse critically and write a critique of it in 30 minutes. Basically, it is all about how you analyse an argument. Only a topic is given and the duration is 30 minutes. One’s score in this section does not count into the final assessment. The IR section evaluates candidates’ ability to process information presented in multiple formats from different sources. According to the test makers, this is necessary in an increasingly data driven economy. This section has four question types: Table analysis, Graphics interpretation, Multi-source, reasoning and two-part analysis and is slated to be done in 30 minutes. The quant section of the examination assesses one’s knowledge of quantitative reasoning, problem solving skills, interpretation of data, and analysing a given information accurately. Knowledge of secondary school (high school) mathematics is important: Geometry, algebra and arithmetic etc. There are two types of questions here: Problem solving and data sufficiency. Where the former assesses your ability to reason quantitatively and solve problems, and the latter for understanding and analysing a problem and noting relevant information, while discarding irrelevant information. Calculators are not allowed in the quant section of the GMAT. Finally, the verbal section deals with your analyses of information and drawing a conclusion. It assesses your ability to read and understand written material, gauge arguments and sentence correction. Both the quant and verbal section are slated to be completed in 75 minutes respectively.