The GMAT Focus Edition, explained
The GMAT was rebuilt in 2023: shorter, three sections instead of four, no essay, and a new scoring scale. If your mental model of the test comes from an older sibling's prep books, most of it no longer applies.
Three sections, equally weighted
Each section runs 45 minutes and counts the same toward your total. That last part matters: Data Insights is as important as Quant, and it's the section most test takers have never practiced properly.
Quantitative Reasoning
21 questions · 45 minutes
Arithmetic and algebra as problem solving. No geometry to speak of, and no calculator. The difficulty comes from reasoning under time, never from exotic math.
Verbal Reasoning
23 questions · 45 minutes
Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. Sentence Correction is gone, so grammar drills no longer buy you anything. Argument logic does.
Data Insights
20 questions · 45 minutes
Data Sufficiency plus charts, tables, two-part analysis, and multi-source reasoning. The on-screen calculator lives here and only here. This section is where most prep material is thinnest.
How scoring works
The test is question-adaptive: answer correctly and the next question gets harder, miss and it eases off. Your score reflects the difficulty you can handle consistently, so two people with the same number right can land far apart.