The Verbal Section of the GMAT Exam seeks to measure the test taker's ability to read and comprehend written material, reason and evaluate arguments and correct written material to express ideas effectively in standard written English. The question types are reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence correction questions. Scores range from 0 to 60, although they only report scores between 11 and 51.
Reading comprehension passages can be anywhere from one paragraph to several paragraphs long. Reading passages contain material from subject areas like social sciences, history, physical sciences, and business-related areas (marketing, economics, human resource management, etc.). Reading comprehension passages are accompanied by interpretive, applied, and inference questions. This section measures the following abilities:
1. Understanding words and statements in reading passages
2. Understanding the logical relationships between significant points and concepts in the reading passages
3. Drawing inferences from facts and statements in the reading passages
4. Understanding and following the development of quantitative concepts as they are presented in verbal material
5. Understanding the author's point of view and their proposed arguments
Critical reasoning questions are designed to test the reasoning skills involved in making arguments, evaluating arguments, and formulating or evaluating a plan of action. Questions are based on materials from a variety of sources. This section measures the following abilities:
1. Argument construction
2. Argument evaluation
3. Formulating and evaluating a plan of action
Sentence Correction questions present five options for the construction of a sentence from which the test taker must select the most effective construction which expresses the intent of the sentence clearly and concisely following the requirements of standard written English"
