The GMAT Exam administered in October 1976 consisted of the following sections.
In this year the Analogy and Antonym questions were removed and the Sentence Completion questions were changed to Usage questions. Of course, the most significant change to the exam was the name change. In 1976 the Admission Test for Graduate Studies in Business (ATGSB) became the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).
Usage – 15 Minutes
Directions: The following sentences contain problems in grammar, usage, diction (choice of words), and idiom. Some sentences are correct. No sentence contains more than one error.
You will find that the error, if there is one, is underlined and lettered. Assume that all other elements of the sentence are correct and cannot be changed. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.
If there is an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed in order to make the sentence correct, and blacken the corresponding space on the answer sheet.
If there is no error, mark answer space E.
Example 1
| He spoke | bluntly | and | angrily | to | we | spectators. | No error. |
Answer: C
Example 2
| He | works | everyday | so | that | he would become | financially | independent in his old age. | No error. |
Answer: A
Practical Business Judgment – 40 Minutes
Directions: The passage in this section is followed by two sets of questions: data evaluation and data application. In the first set, data evaluation, you will be required to classify certain facts presented in the passage on the basis of their importance, as illustrated in the following example.
Data Evaluation:
(This passage is much shorter than passages appearing on the test, but it is representative of the data evaluation material.)
Fred North, a prospering hardware dealer in Hillidale, Connecticut, felt that he needed more store space to accommodate a new line of farm equipment and repair parts that he intended to carry. A number of New York City commuters had recently purchased tracts of land in the environs of Hillidale and there had taken up farming on a small scale. Mr. North, foreseeing a potential increase in farming in that area, wanted to expand his business to cater to this market. North felt that the most feasible and appealing recourse open to him would be to purchase the adjoining store owned by Mike Johnson, who used the premises for his small grocery store. Johnson’s business had been on the decline for over a year since the advent of a large supermarket in the town. North felt that Johnson would be willing to sell the property at reasonable terms, and this was important since North, after the purchase of the new merchandise, would have little capital available to invest in the expansion of his store.
Consider each item separately in terms of the passage and choose
A if the item is a MAJOR OBJECTIVE in making the decision, the is, one of the outcomes or results sought by the decision-maker;
B if the item is a MAJOR FACTOR in making the decision, that is, a consideration, explicitly mentioned in the passafe, that is basic in determining the decision;
C if the item is a MINOR FACTOR in making the decision, that is, a secondary consideration that affects the criteria tangentially, relating to a Major Factor rather than to an Objective;
D if the item is a MAJOR ASSUMPTION in making the decision, that is, a supposition or projection made by the decision-make before weighing the variables;
E if the item is an UNIMPORTANT ISSUE in making the decision, that is, a factor that is insignificant or not immediately relevant to the situation.
DATA EVALUATION QUESTION
(1) Increase in farming in the Hillidale area
(2) Acquisition of property for expanding the store
(3) Cost of Johnson’s property
(4) State of Johnson’s grocery business
(5) Quality of the farm equipment North intends to sell
Answers:
1. D
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. E
A second set of questions, data application, requires judgments based on a comparison of the available alternatives in terms of the relevant criteria, in order to attain the objectives stated in the passage.
Data Application
Each of the following questions relates to the passage. For each question, choose the best answer.
DATA APPLICATION QUESTION
I Potential demand for farm equipment in the Hillidale area
II Desire to undermine Mike Johnson’s business
III Higher profit margin on farm equipment than on hardware goods
(A) I only
(B) III only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III
ANSWER: A
Verbal – 25 Minutes
Directed Memory (Reading Recall) – 35 Minutes
Directions: In the test you will be given a period of time for the study of several extended prose passages. Then, without looking back at the passages, you will answer questions based on their contents. The following exercise is much shorter than those appearing on the test, but it illustrates the general nature of the passages and the questions. Remember, though, that on the test you will not be allowed to refer back to the passage.
Soon after the First World War began, public attention was concentrated on the spectacular activities of the submarine, and the question was raised more pointedly than ever whether or not the day of the battleship had ended. Naval men conceded the importance of the U-boat and recognized the need for defense against it, but they still placed their confidence in big guns and big ships. The German naval victory at Coronel, off Chile, and the British victories at the Falkland Islands and in the North Sea convinced the experts that the fortune still favored superior guns (even though speed played an important part in these battles); and, as long as British dreadnoughts kept the German High Seas Fleet immobilized, the battleship remained in the eyes of naval men the key to naval power.
Public attention was focused on the submarine because
(A) it had immobilized the German High Seas Fleet
(B) it had played a major role in the British victories at the Falkland Islands and in the North Sea
(C) it had taken the place of the battleship
(D) of its spectacular activities
(E) of its superior speed
Answer: D
Quantitative – 75 Minutes
Directions: In this section solve each problem, using any available space on the page for scratch work. Then indicate the one correct answer in the appropriate space on the answer sheet.
Data Interpretation
Percent of the Total Value of U.S. Lend Lease Supplies Received by U.S. Allies | ||
| 1st Year | 2nd Year | |
| Britain | 68% | 38% |
| Russia | 5 % | 30% |
| All others | 27% | 32% |
| otal Value of Supplies>br> (in billions of dollars) | 2 | 8 |
What percent of the total value of lend-lease supplies for both years was received by Russia and Britain combined?
(A) 31
(B) 44
(C) 69
(D) 70.5
(E) 141
Answer: C
Problem Solving
If the length of a rectangle is increased by 10 percent and the width by 40 percent, by what percent is the area increased.
(A) 4
(B) 15.4
(C) 50
(D) 54
(E) 400
Answer: D
Data Sufficiency – 15 Minutes
Directions: Each of the questions below is followed by two statements labeled (1) and (2), in which certain data are given. In these questions you do not actually have to compute the answer, but rather you have to decide whether the data given in the statements are sufficient for answering the question. Use the data given in the statements plus your knowledge of mathematics and everyday facts (such as the number of days in July)
(A) If statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked
(B) If statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked
(C) If BOTH statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
(D) If EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked
(E) If statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed
In a four volume work, what is the weight of the third volume?
(1) The four volume work weighs 6 pounds.
(2) The first three volumes together weigh 5 pounds.
Answer: E
Directed Memory (Reading Recall) – 35 Minutes
Directions: In the test you will be given a period of time for the study of several extended prose passages. Then, without looking back at the passages, you will answer questions based on their contents. The following exercise is much shorter than those appearing on the test, but it illustrates the general nature of the passages and the questions. Remember, though, that on the test you will not be allowed to refer back to the passage.
Soon after the First World War began, public attention was concentrated on the spectacular activities of the submarine, and the question was raised more pointedly than ever whether or not the day of the battleship had ended. Naval men conceded the importance of the U-boat and recognized the need for defense against it, but they still placed their confidence in big guns and big ships. The German naval victory at Coronel, off Chile, and the British victories at the Falkland Islands and in the North Sea convinced the experts that the fortune still favored superior guns (even though speed played an important part in these battles); and, as long as British dreadnoughts kept the German High Seas Fleet immobilized, the battleship remained in the eyes of naval men the key to naval power.
Public attention was focused on the submarine because
(A) it had immobilized the German High Seas Fleet.
(B) it had played a major role in the British victories at the Falkland Islands and in the North Sea
(C) it had taken the place of the battleship
(D) of its spectacular activities
(E) of its superior speed
Answer: D
These questions were published in 1984 in Appendix A of the Graduate Management Admission Test: Technical Report on Test Development and Score Interpretation for GMAT Users by William B. Schrader for the Graduate Management Admission Council.
The GMAT® questions, whether taken from the GMAT® mini-test, The Graduate
Management Admission Test: Technical Report on Test Development and Score
Interpretation for GMAT users (1984), or in any other form, are the property of the
Graduate Management Admission Council® and have been reprinted with its permission for
illustrative purposes only in the article titled “History of the GMAT and the associated
GMAT exams - 1954; 1961; 1966; 1972; 1976; 1977; 1984; 1994; and 1997
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