What Is a Good GMAT Score

By Muntasir Jul 15, 2026 9 min read

TL;DR

A good GMAT Focus Edition score starts at 565, the 50.9th percentile in the score concordance table GMAC published in July 2025. One mba.com page sets the midpoint lower, at 545, so treat any score near the line as unsettled and check both official pages. A total of 655 or higher reaches the 90.5th percentile and counts as competitive. A total of 705 or higher reaches the 98th percentile and counts as elite. The scale runs from 205 to 805 in 10-point steps, built from three equally weighted sections scored 60 to 90 each. GMAC refreshes the percentile table every year in the third quarter, so verify the current figures before you fix a target.

The GMAT Focus Edition total score runs from 205 to 805 in 10-point steps, and topping the scale is not the goal for every applicant. A good score depends on your target programs, not on one fixed number. This guide splits the scale into three bands, good, competitive and elite, using the percentile table GMAC published in July 2025. It then covers how to turn a diagnostic mock result into a personal target.

Your total is built from three equally weighted sections: Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights. Two applicants with the same total often reach it through different section scores, and admissions teams read those section scores alongside the total. Use the bands below as a starting point, then set your own number against the program you are applying to.

GMAT Score Bands: Good, Competitive and Elite

GMAC ranks every GMAT Focus total against the percentile of test takers from the prior five years. The table published in July 2025 uses test-taker data from 1 July 2020 through 30 June 2025. Every percentile quoted in this guide comes from the July 2025 table. GMAC refreshes the table each year in the third quarter, so confirm your figures against the current PDF on gmac.com before you fix a target. The bands below group the July 2025 figures into three tiers, each anchored to a total score and its exact percentile.

Band	Total score	Percentile, July 2025 table	What it signals
Good	565 and up	50.9th and up	Above the midpoint of all test takers
Competitive	655 and up	90.5th and up	Top 10 percent, a solid target for well-ranked programs
Elite	705 and up	98th and up	Top 2 percent of test takers

Two official GMAC sources disagree about where the midpoint sits. An mba.com explainer states a 545 places a test taker at or above the 50th percentile, while the July 2025 concordance table puts 545 at the 41.9th percentile and 565 at the 50.9th. This guide follows the concordance table, because it carries a stated data period and a published refresh date. Percentile ranks shift each time GMAC rebuilds the table against a newer five-year sample, so any stated percentile is tied to the table in effect when it was written. If your score lands between 545 and 565, read both pages before you call it above or below average.

A 645 on the current scale sits at the 86.7th percentile in the same table. mba.com confirms a 645 matches a 700 on the retired 200 to 800 scale, landing at close to the same percentile rank. If you studied against the old scale, or heard 700 quoted as the benchmark, treat 645 as the equivalent reference point. For the full percentile list across every 10-point step on the scale, see our GMAT percentile breakdown.

Set a Target Score from Your Diagnostic Mock

Take a full-length diagnostic mock under timed conditions before you set a target. The diagnostic total shows where you stand today, and the gap to your target band shows how much work is ahead. Section scores from the same sitting show where the gap is widest, so record all three separately. Work through the steps below in order.

Sit a full-length GMAT mock under real time limits. Our free GMAT practice tests reproduce the section order and timing of the real exam, with no signup required.
Record your total score and each section score, Quant, Verbal and Data Insights, separately.
Compare your total against the bands above and pick the tier your target program sits in.
Run your section scores through our GMAT score calculator to see where each section stands and where the gap is widest.
Work backward from your application deadline. GMAC allows up to five attempts in a rolling 12-month period, with a minimum 16-day wait between attempts, so leave room for at least one retake.
Your score stays valid for five years from the test date, so an early strong result stays usable if your deadline shifts. Read our guide on how long GMAT scores stay valid to plan your reporting deadline.

Repeat the diagnostic after each block of study and track the three section scores, not the total alone. Compare every new result against the same band table, so progress reads in percentile terms rather than raw points. Our GMAT mocks and drills stay free with no signup, so a monthly re-test costs nothing but the time it takes.

How Section Scores Shape a Good Total

Quant, Verbal and Data Insights each carry equal weight toward your total, and each section is scored from 60 to 90 in 1-point steps. Because the three scores combine on equal terms, a strong section offsets a weaker one, and different section combinations reach the same total. The table below sets out the scale for each section.

Section	Score range	Increment	Weight toward total
Quantitative Reasoning	60 to 90	1 point	Equal
Verbal Reasoning	60 to 90	1 point	Equal
Data Insights	60 to 90	1 point	Equal

Your Total Score is built from the three section scores, weighted equally, so no single section counts for more of the total than another. Every percentile band in this guide applies to total scores only. Your own section percentiles arrive on your Official Score Report, which lists your Total Score, each section score and a percentile ranking for each. GMAC also publishes section-level concordance tables separately from the total-score table, built on an older data period, so a section percentile and a total percentile rest on different samples.

The Verbal Reasoning concordance table GMAC published in January 2024 covers 866,640 test takers across the 2017 to 2022 period and shows how tightly the section scale packs the field. A Verbal 90 sits at the 100th percentile, an 80 at 60.1, a 75 at 19.2 and a 70 at 3.7. Ten Verbal points, 70 up to 80, therefore cover the span from the 3.7th percentile to the 60.1st, so one point of section score carries several percentile places. Each section is ranked against its own table, which means identical section numbers across Quant, Verbal and Data Insights do not represent identical standing. GMAC refreshes the section tables annually in the third quarter, on a data period separate from the July 2025 total-score table. For a full walkthrough of how the total is assembled, read our guide to GMAT scoring.

When a Lower Total with Strong Sections Still Works

mba.com's guide to good GMAT scores sets no universal cutoff and points readers to each school's class profile for the scores its programs accept. The page does state one reference point, scoring above 700 is highly competitive at the vast majority of schools worldwide, next to school ranges such as 540 to 790 for the Harvard Class of 2026, 690 to 760 at MIT Sloan and 590 to 780 at Chicago Booth. Those figures sit on the retired 200 to 800 scale, so read the 700 reference as a 645 on the Focus scale. The official FAQ adds the same advice: research the median or middle 80 percent score range for recently admitted students, and expect schools to weigh the GMAT alongside your work experience, essays and recommendations. A total below the competitive band still works when it sits inside or near the published range of the program you are applying to.

Equal weighting also decides where a retake pays off. One weak section drags the total down while the other two hold it up, and the section furthest from 90 has the most room left to gain. A retake plan aimed at the weakest section lifts the total faster than effort spread evenly across all three. Check each program's published range before you read one total as a pass or fail line, and see our MBA admissions guide for school-by-school ranges.

Good Scores for Scholarships and Non-MBA Masters Programs

mba.com's guide to good GMAT scores applies one rule to MBA and business masters programs alike: read the incoming class profile of the program you are considering and check its published score averages and ranges. No official GMAC or mba.com page setting a separate good-score standard for scholarship awards turned up in our sourcing, so this guide quotes no scholarship band. Prep-site figures for masters in finance or business analytics circulate widely, and no official source verifies them, so they are left out here on purpose. The percentile table fills the rest of the gap, because it converts any stated percentile requirement into a total score.

Masters programs and scholarship committees often state a percentile threshold, or a class profile in percentile terms, rather than a total score. The wording shows up as top quarter, top 10 percent, or a numbered percentile rank. The table below converts the common thresholds using the July 2025 concordance data, showing the lowest total at or above each mark and the step below it.

Stated threshold	Lowest qualifying total	Its percentile	Next step down
Top half, 50th percentile	565	50.9	555 at 47.8
Top 40 percent, 60th percentile	585	60.6	575 at 57.4
Top quarter, 75th percentile	615	76.4	605 at 70.3
Top 20 percent, 80th percentile	635	81.9	625 at 79.2
Top 10 percent, 90th percentile	655	90.5	645 at 86.7
Top 5 percent, 95th percentile	685	95.8	675 at 94.8

All six rows come from the July 2025 GMAC concordance table and move with each annual refresh. A program asking for the top quarter of test takers therefore wants a 615, since a 605 stops at the 70.3rd percentile. When a program or funder publishes nothing at all, work through the steps below.

Confirm the program accepts the GMAT Focus Edition, and check whether it states a minimum score or a class median.
Read the class profile for the most recent intake. A median and a middle-80 percent range describe admitted students better than a stated minimum.
Convert any percentile wording into a total score with the table above, then aim one 10-point step higher for margin.
Check the funding deadline against your test date. Scores stay valid for five years from the test date, so one strong sitting covers several application rounds.
Email the admissions office for the current range when the program page publishes no numbers.

Requirements outside MBA admissions change program by program and year by year, so the official program page stays the only current source for the number you need. Practice is the part you control. Our free GMAT practice tests and drills need no signup, and every mock returns a total plus all three section scores, so you are able to test a target band before you book the real exam.