GMAT Syllabus | GMAT Focus Edition Syllabus and Format

Verbal Reasoning tests how you read and argue. Every question falls under Reading Comprehension or Critical Reasoning, together measuring how carefully you interpret dense text and how tightly you follow an argument’s logic.

Quantitative Reasoning is entirely Problem Solving, drawing from Arithmetic and Algebra, and checks whether you can apply math concepts to realistic business scenarios rather than solve equations in isolation.

Data Insights is the newest of the three and covers Data Sufficiency, Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation, and Two-Part Analysis. Business decisions today run on data, and this section checks whether you can pull a decision out of a messy dataset.

You get one optional 10-minute break, placed between any two sections. Total testing time across all three sections runs a little over two hours.

The GMAT gives you six ways to sequence Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights. Pick the order based on where you’re strongest, not what feels conventional. Starting with your strongest section builds confidence early. Starting with your weakest gets it out of the way while you’re fresh. Either can work, but it has to be a deliberate choice. Read the full breakdown in our guide to GMAT section order selection.

Every Quant question is Problem Solving, drawn from Arithmetic, Algebra, and Modern Math.

Arithmetic

Numbers and number line: the GMAT tests every category of real number, positive, negative, integer, fraction, rational, irrational, along with evens, odds, primes, and co-primes.

Factors, multiples, divisibility, and remainders: a factor divides a number evenly; a multiple is the product of a number and any other natural number.

Exponents: repeated multiplication of a number by itself, written as a base with a small raised power.

Ratio and proportion: a ratio compares two quantities; a proportion states that two ratios are equal. Split ₹150 between two people in a 2:3 ratio, and each of the 5 total parts is worth ₹30, so one person gets ₹60 and the other ₹90.

Percentages: “percent” means “out of 100.” 40% is 40/100, or 2/5, and 3/4 expressed as a percentage is 75%.

Rate, work, and mixture problems: these ask how fast something moves, how long a task takes, or how substances combine. Distance = speed × time and work = rate × time solve almost all of them.

Algebra

Algebraic expressions and equations: an equation sets two expressions equal, and solving it means isolating the unknown variable.

Linear equations: no variable raised above the first power, graphing as a straight line.

Quadratic equations: written as ax² + bx + c = 0, where a is never zero.

Inequalities: instead of stating two expressions are equal, an inequality uses >, <, ≤, or ≥. Read more in our complete guide to GMAT inequalities.

Functions and graphing: functions describe how one set of numbers relates to another, sometimes using custom symbols to define a rule. Graphing puts that relationship on a coordinate plane.

Modern Math

Statistics: reading, analyzing, and interpreting data using mean, median, and mode.

Overlapping sets: Venn-diagram-style word problems that ask you to structure data across groups that share members.

Counting methods: permutations and combinations, for counting how many ways something can be arranged or selected.

Probability: expressed as a fraction under 1 or a percent under 100, found by dividing desired outcomes by possible outcomes.

Sequences and series: a sequence is an ordered list of terms; a series is the sum of those terms.

Verbal splits into Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. Expect 3 to 4 RC passages with 3 to 4 questions each, and 10 to 13 CR questions built around a short passage or argument.

Reading Comprehension

Every RC question tests how well you read a passage’s main point, its structure, its tone, and its purpose. You’ll also separate stated information, which can be paraphrased many ways but still means exactly what was written, from inferred information, which is implied but never directly said. Read our detailed guide on how to score well on GMAT Reading Comprehension.

Critical Reasoning

Critical Reasoning tests your logic directly. You’ll identify assumptions an argument depends on but never states, weaken it by finding information that undercuts it, or strengthen it with supporting evidence. Evaluate questions ask how new information would affect the argument’s validity. You’ll also resolve paradoxes, spot a logical flaw, explain a method of reasoning, or analyze the role of a bolded portion of text.

Data Sufficiency (DS): you don’t solve anything here. You only decide whether the information given is enough to answer the question.

Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR): you’re handed three tabbed sources, which could be charts, articles, or emails. You won’t necessarily need every piece of information to answer the questions attached to it.

Table Analysis: a sortable table similar to a spreadsheet. The task is to analyze and interpret what it shows.

Graphics Interpretation (GI): you’re given a graph or graphical image and asked to interpret what it represents. Our ultimate guide to Graphics Interpretation questions breaks this down further.

Two-Part Analysis (TPA): a short passage with instructions, testing either quant or verbal skills, where you select two related answers from a table based on the information given.

Data Sufficiency alone accounts for over a third of this section, worth knowing before you assume Data Insights is purely a data-reading exercise. It’s still testing the same logical rigor as the rest of the GMAT, just applied to a spreadsheet instead of a paragraph. See our related guide on solving Multi-Source Reasoning questions.