Magoosh will update this post as more information becomes available.
Latest update: April 14, 2020
Due to the new coronavirus, many of you have had your in-person GMAT exams canceled. Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), the makers of the GMAT, announced that they have launched their Interim GMAT Exam, allowing students take an online GMAT exam at home.
When Can I Take At-Home GMAT Exam?
The GMAT Online Exam is available for registration as of April 14, 2020! The online GMAT will be available to take 24 hours a days, 7 days a week, with available slots beginning April 20, 2020 until June 15, 2020.
Who’s Eligible?
GMAC plans to release the interim GMAT option to anyone in a market impacted by COVID-19. The exceptions are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Slovenia, and mainland China due to IP and/or regulatory restrictions.
How Similar Is the Interim Exam to the Regular GMAT?
The at-home exam will be cheaper, coming in at $200 USD for registration, where the in-person exam registration costs $250 USD.
There will be no AWA section. That feels like a substantial change in that you have thirty fewer minutes of testing. That’s 16% of your would-be total test-taking time!
The test will still have the Quant, Verbal, and IR sections, with the same amount of questions and time available as the in-person exam. That is, there will still be:
- 62 minutes for 31 Quantitative questions
- 65 minutes for 35 Verbal questions
- 30 minutes for 12 IR questions
The online test is expected to take approximately 3 hours with 2 hours and 37 minutes of online test-taking time. Test takers will receive 15 minutes to check into the online proctored system and have a 5 minute break before the IR section starts.
Taking the online exam will not count towards a student’s 12-month and lifetime GMAT limits. Usually, students are only allowed to take the GMAT no more than 5 times in a 12-month period, with a lifetime availability of 8 total GMAT exams possible. That said, students may only take the online exam once.
Regarding check-in protocols, the GMAC has said, “The check-in and security protocols will be modified to accommodate online delivery and remote proctors will be used to manage test integrity.” While we don’t know the specifics, we do know how the GRE is approaching at-home testing: recording your face via webcam and your screen as well as mandating specific equipment and set-up requirements. I wouldn’t be surprised if the at-home GMAT requires similar measures and requirements.
TL;DR
- The online exam registration costs $50 less than the in-person registration
- There will be no AWA section
- There will be the same amount of Quant, Verbal, and IR questions and time available
- You may only take the online GMAT exam once, no retakes or score cancelations, unless technical difficulties occur
- Your online GMAT will not count towards your 8 total available GMAT tests
Should I Plan to Take this Online GMAT Exam at Home?
If you’re finding yourself with an interest in applying to business school, having more free time on your hands to take the GMAT, and you have a private space at home where you could take a test, you may want to consider it. You’ll potentially be able to practice in the exact same environment as that of test day, and you’ll have a test that is thirty minutes shorter than the in-person GMAT.
We’ll update you as we learn more, so keep an eye on this blog. In the meantime, if you’re still studying, you can use our GMAT prep product, which has been used by over 50,000 students.
You can also read the full announcement on the GMAC website here.
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