GMAT Format: Sections, Timing and Question Types

The current GMAT, the version GMAC now calls the GMAT Exam and previously marketed as the Focus Edition, runs 2 hours and 15 minutes and contains 64 questions in three sections of 45 minutes each. You choose the order of the three sections before you start. There is one optional 10-minute break after the first or second section, and you cannot leave the test-center building during it.

The section that was an essay on the classic GMAT no longer exists: there is no Analytical Writing Assessment, no standalone Integrated Reasoning section, and no Sentence Correction in Verbal. The classic 3 hours 7 minutes became 2 hours 15 minutes.

The GMAT is computer adaptive question by question within each section. It starts around medium difficulty; answer correctly and the next question tends to get harder, answer incorrectly and it tends to get easier. Your score comes from three inputs: the questions you answered correctly, how difficult those questions were, and how many you left unanswered.

There is a penalty for not finishing a section, so GMAC's own myth-buster says it plainly: if you are running out of time, an educated guess is better than a blank. The engine adapts within sections; your work in one section does not change the difficulty of another.

The current GMAT lets you revisit questions before a section ends: you can review any question and change up to three answers per section. If time runs out with no time remaining, you do not get the review screen at all, so the feature rewards good pacing rather than replacing it. Budget your two minutes per question first and treat the three edits as insurance.