New GMAT data published by GMAC this month reveal that the last testing season (June 2012-June 2013) showed a drop of 48,173, or 17% in the number of GMAT test takers around the world as opposed to the previous year. This year, 286,529 candidates took the GMAT and sent 675,733 score reports to about 5,600 MBA programs around the world.

GMAC tried to minimize the significance of the drop in test takers, and explained that a record number of tests were taken in 2012 before the addition of the new Integrated Reasoning section in June in an attempt to avoid the change and face the test in its familiar form. GRE numbers also dropped in parallel to the test’s last alteration in August 2011.

A particularly significant drop of 22% was reported among U.S. test takers, while Western Europe showed only a 6.1% drop and Eastern and Southeastern Asia recorded a 10.9% drop.
Additional data shows that 42.5% of test takers are women, and the average score for all test takers was 546, two points lower than last year.

Put Me in Business (applying in less than a year)
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