Its official!!! Graduate Management Admission Council (or GMAC) has announced a new GMAT which will be launched later this year. Introducing –

The GMATTM Focus Edition!

In an announcement made by GMAC CEO, Mr. Joy Jones, on March 8th, 2023, he announced than in the ever-evolving business environment, the skills required to succeed in it also change. Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) has been a reliable and accurate assessment tool for these skills since 1954. Over the past two years, GMAC has been working collaboratively with business school professionals representing a wide mix of program types and sizes from around the world and conducted in-depth concept testing with candidates globally representing a mix of demographic characteristics. Through this process of research, GMAC was able to identify several driving themes.

The GMATTM Focus Edition is a more focused test-taking experience that hones in on the higher-order critical reasoning and data literacy skills that are more relevant and applicable in the business environment of tomorrow.

Let’s see how GMAT Focus Edition is different from the GMAT.

  1. No more Analytical Writing Assessment: The current GMAT has four sections- AWA, Integrated reasoning, Quantitative reasoning, and Verbal reasoning. The biggest and much needed change in the new test is the removal of AWA which is an essay writing section. The GMATTMFocus Edition will have 3 sections and the test will get shorter by one hour. Each section will be 45 minutes long and will be more efficient with reduced content to prep. This also means that all questions will be multiple choice type. While verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning will remain, there might be a change in the Integrated Reasoning as all the sections are equally long.
  2. Question Review and Edit: The GMATTM Focus Edition will give the flexibility to the test takers to bookmark and review as many questions as they want, and an option to change up to three answers per section, allowing them to optimize their test-taking strategy. The new test will continue giving the option to choose the section order as per preference.
  3. Sending scores to 5 schools for free after viewing your score: Unlike the GMAT, the GMATTMFocus Edition will give you the choice to select the 5 schools once you have seen the score at either the test center or online exam. Not only this, each official score report will only contain one exam score, which means you decide if you want to share previous scores with schools.
  4. More detailed official score report: The official score report of GMAT Focus Edition will have detailed performance insights.

Current GMAT takers do not have to worry! The current version of the GMAT™ exam will continue to be available until early next year to facilitate the candidates’ in-progress preparation and applications for business school. Also, GMAT™ Official Prep will be available to support the test taker in achieving success on either version of the GMAT.

In short, the GMATTM Focus Edition will be an improved element in the holistic admissions process. The test makers believe that the more focused exam allows candidates to optimize their preparation and helps schools attract a global pool of qualified and diverse applicants.