What to Expect from the GMAT Verbal Section
Friday, August 19, 2016 | 12:00 AM
The GMAT verbal section is the final section of the GMAT, with a time restriction of 75 minutes. The GMAT verbal scoring occurs on a scale of 0-60 in whole-number increments, and it comprises half of your overall score on a scale of 200-800 in 10-point increments. The GMAT verbal section consists of 41 questions in three types: critical reasoning, sentence correction and reading comprehension.
Critical Reasoning
On average, the GMAT verbal section contains 11 critical reasoning questions. These questions consist of an argument and a question analyzing that argument. You will then select the best of the five potential answers. Examples of these questions include
- Which of the following is an assumption made by the author?
- What is the author’s main point?
- Which of the following would strengthen the argument?
- What role does the boldface section play?
Sentence Correction
There are usually 17 sentence correction questions. These questions consist of a sentence, a segment of which is underlined. You select the answer choice the replaces the underlined segment in the most grammatically correct manner. Option A is always the original sentence, and options B-E make up the variations.
Reading Comprehension
The remaining 13 questions are reading comprehension. There are four reading comprehension passages, each followed by several questions about the passage. These questions range from general inquiries, such as “What is the author’s main point?” to very specific ones, like “why do proponents of theory A claim that the insects lose their wings?”
Other than grammar rules, there is not much content you need to study for the GMAT verbal section. This means that you can devote the majority of your study time for this portion of the test to learning strategies and answering practice questions.
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