Overview of GMAT Scoring

Categories of GMAT Scoring

The two main types of scores reported for the GMAT are total score and section scores. A test-taker's total score is determined by his or her performance on the Verbal, Data Insights, and Quantitative sections of the GMAT only, and is given on a scale of 205-805. The Verbal, Data Insights, and Quantitative sections are scored from 60-90 after being converted from "raw scores" to "scaled scores." A raw score is the number of correct answers in a given section, which is adjusted up or down by question difficulty to produce a scaled score. (An identical number of correct answers can and often does correspond to different scaled scores.) The formula for calculating total scores from scaled Verbal, Data Insights, and Quantitative section scores is not publicly disclosed.

GMAT Score Reporting

Unofficial scores are calculated by test center computers and shown to students right after they finish the test or time expires. Test-takers are notified by email when their official score report is ready, usually within three calendar days (occasionally 20 days) of the test date. The email includes a link with instructions for accessing the score report. Students who no longer have access to the email account they used to register can contact Pearson VUE or the appropriate regional GMAT Customer Service branch. GMAT score reports include personal information, total scores, section scores, percentiles for each category, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Score reporting was updated with the introduction of the GMAT Focus Edition in 2023. Test-takers are still be able to send their scores to up to five schools for free. The previous GMAT prompted you to select up to five schools to send your test results to before you began the exam. With the Focus Edition, you are prompted to send your score to up to five schools after you have completed it and viewed your final score. There is an additional fee if a test-taker wishes to send additional reports. 

Any Official Score Report you send will not include your entire GMAT score history—it will only include a single score, which will be your latest, or most recent, GMAT score. The schools you select on test day will only see your score from the most recent test you took, not your scores from the previous five years. This means you are not required to disclose past results to colleges if you choose not to.

The following data pertains to the period before the 2023 introduction of the GMAT Focus Edition.

Recent Growth in Average GMAT Scores

GMAC data shows that overall GMAT performance has been trending upward in recent years. The average total score in 2007-08 was 542, which dipped slightly to about 540 in 2008-09. The following year, average scores went up to almost 546, and further rose to 548 by 2011-12. By 2016, the average GMAT total score was just below 552, a growth of nearly 10 points in less than a decade. With intense competition for business school rankings (to which student GMAT scores contribute), there is every reason to believe test scores will continue to rise.

Average GMAT Scores by Discipline

Surprisingly, the highest GMAT scores are most often achieved by students who majored in undergraduate subjects not directly related to business. GMAC data demonstrates that physics majors outperform all other disciplines with an average score of 607.4, followed by mathematics (603.4) and engineering (592.8). Next are philosophy majors at 588.2, and other high-performing liberal arts disciplines including economics (581.2) and history (572.2). Many fields with obvious relevance to graduate business study were among the lowest mean scores of all subjects analyzed, especially marketing (493.2) and accounting (517.6), although actuarial science and operations management majors were in the top 10 of all fields at 580.4 and 575.4 respectively.

Countries with the Highest GMAT Scores

The United States has the largest number of test-takers with about 90,000 annually, but the U.S. ranks 53rd worldwide with average GMAT scores of 532 (which is also behind Canada's mean of 565 among North American countries). The highest mean GMAT scores in the world are in New Zealand (608), Singapore (605), and Argentina (591). Belgium is the leading country in Europe at 591, followed by the United Kingdom and Austria, each at 590. The top Asian countries are China and South Korea at 582 and 581 respectively, and Morocco leads Africa at 505. The lowest scoring countries are mostly in Africa and the Middle East, although the statistics are likely skewed by the fact that very few students from those countries take the GMAT.

Looking for more details on GMAT Scoring?

To learn about how the GMAT is scored and all other issues pertaining to GMAT scoring, take a look at the following topics: 

• GMAT Scoring System
  See this page for a discussion of how GMAT total scores and section scores are calculated. Learn how computer-adaptive scoring affects how the content of the Verbal, Data Insights, and Quantitative sections of the exam are assessed. Also included is a discussion of how understanding the GMAT scoring system can be used to the test-taker's advantage, as well as a summary of how section scores affect applications.
• GMAT Score Confidentiality
  GMAC privacy policies and relevant laws with respect to the confidentiality of GMAT scores are covered on this page. Read about the test-taker data collected by GMAC, how this data is used, student rights and responsibilities, and exceptions to the confidentiality of student information.
• GMAT Retakes
  All of the necessary information on retaking the GMAT can be found by consulting this page. Topics covered include official retake policies, data on student performance and retakes, how business schools view multiple test attempts, and how to decide whether or not to retake the GMAT.
• GMAT Limits on Retakes
  Read this page to find out about limits on retaking the GMAT. Learn everything you need to know about official limits on GMAT attempts, how the GMAT's retake policies compare to other standardized tests used for graduate school admission, minimum admission standards as they apply to GMAT retakes, taking the GMAT again for scholarships, and the consideration of GMAT retakes in business school admissions.
• GMAT Cancelling Scores
  All of the relevant information about GMAT score cancellation can be found on this page. Read about GMAC procedures for the voluntary cancellation of GMAT scores, the circumstances under which GMAT scores can be involuntarily cancelled, common testing issues that necessitate score cancellation, and making informed decisions about cancelling scores.
• GMAT Reinstating Scores
  A discussion of the reinstatement of GMAT scores is featured on this page. Among the issues relevant to this topic are official score reinstatement policies, how to reinstate scores, how the new score reinstatement policies compare with earlier practice, how score reinstatement is likely to affect GMAT score inflation, and advice for students considering score reinstatement.