Graduate Management Admission Test by GMAC (GMAT)

The Graduate Management Aptitude Test Focus edition, globally administered by the GMAC, serves as a critical yet specialised pathway to the premier MBA Programs in India. Unlike hyper-competitive national exams like CAT/XAT that gatekeep entry to the academically excellent students, GMAT Focus Edition is the exam for smart test takers who aim to study management from the top MBA Colleges in the country. The GMAT Focus Edition is the exclusive key for admission to the top B school, the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. ISB Hyderabad gives tough competition to B schools abroad and is placed among the top MBA colleges according to the QS World Ranking. 

The GMAT Focus Edition offers year-round testing flexibility with the score validity for up to five years. With a focus on real-world business reasoning, this exam caters to students who are interested in application-based studies. This test is the best choice for students who aim to pivot careers, ascend to leadership roles and gain global exposure without pausing their career growth. The top MBA colleges in India that accept the GMAT focus edition score are ISB, SPJIMR, XIM Bhubaneshwar, BITSoM, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi and Great Lakes Institute of Management. 

By keeping GMAT focus edition scores as a part of the shortlisting process, the top B schools assess candidate’s analytical agility and data-driven decision making. This reflects the candidate’s readiness for the rigorous curriculum of MBA education.

Exam Pattern and Attempts

The exam is conducted for 135 minutes+ 10 minutes break (optional), with 45 minutes for each section. The sectional score ranges from 60-90, while the overall exam score ranges from 205-805. It has three sections- the Verbal review, Data insights and Quantitative Review. 

To excel in the verbal review section, one must be good at critical reasoning because 13-14 questions are from critical reasoning with the rest 9-10 questions from reading comprehension. The Quantitative ability section is way easier as compared to the CAT and the XAT exam. The main topics are Number system, Probability, Arithmetic, Algebra and Coordinate geometry. Students need to be aware of all the formulas with a fast calculation speed to score high in this section.The Data Insights Section is considered to be comparatively tougher. It has 20 questions to be solved within 45 minutes. The candidate must be fast at reading and analyzing charts, graphs and data, fast calculation speed also plays a significant role to excel in this section. 

This exam is known for the flexibility it provides to the aspirants. They can appear 5 times within a year with a minimum 16 days gap between any two attempts. The students can also appear for this exam from their laptops at home. This saves the travel money and time for students who belong to the tier 3 cities that do not have enough exam centres. 

The colleges that accept the GMAT focus edition scores offer a great return on investment (ROI) to the students as ISB has 200+ global recruiters for this program.

Graduate Record Examination by ETS (GRE)

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE), developed and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in India has emerged as a strategically viable and popular alternative to GMAT for MBA aspirants. The top colleges accepting the GRE score for their two-year PGDM program are BITSoM, SPJIMR for its Global Management Program and the Indian School of Business. 

This exam focuses on the Revised Test Structure. This follows a streamlined computer-based adaptive exam for MBA aspirants. The exam evaluates key skills related to business education. The exam is more cost-effective as compared to the GMAT. Colleges actively accept the GRE scores to encourage a diverse applicant pool. Success in this exam requires dedicated preparation focused on vocabulary building, reading comprehension, core mathematical fundamentals, data interpretation and essay writing, with resources tailored for Indian students. 

This is a credible, flexible and standardized test option for candidates to demonstrate their academic capabilities and strengthen applications to highly ranked MBA colleges. 

Exam Pattern and Attempts

The GRE format includes one Analytical Writing Section with two separately timed writing tasks. The exam lasts 3 hours and 45 minutes with a 10-minute break after the third section. There are a total of six sections and the score ranges from 130-170 in the two sections each of Verbal Ability and Quantitative Ability. In the Analytical Writing section of this test, the score varies in one score point from 0 to 6, with 0 being the lowest and 6 being the highest. The Verbal section is divided into two parts and so is the Quantitative ability section. In verbal ability, there are 30 minutes for each part and in the quantitative ability, there are 35 minutes for each section. An unscored section may appear at any time during the exam, for which the number of questions and time allotted vary. The score in this section is not counted towards the total score of the test taker. The candidates are allowed to cancel an attempt if they are not happy with their performance. 

The exam is flexible with the number of attempts as a student can attempt this exam up to five times within 12 months, with a gap of 21 days between each attempt. The GRE scores can be used for MBA admissions for up to of five years. The GRE follows a ‘superscoring’ method. This means that the students can appear five times and then choose the best score. This helps to maximise the student’s profile for admission into the desired MBA colleges.

 The GRE is ideal for students exploring other management programs, this is so because not many colleges accept the scores from this exam for their two year PGDM program. This is more suited for students who are open to both management education in India and abroad. In this way, they can apply to a larger number of colleges and choose the ones offering the best return on investment (ROI).