A new version of the Graduate Record Examination (better known as the GRE) launches Sept. 22, 2023, with the new Focus Edition of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) arriving on November 7.
The good news is, both new versions are condensed for a shorter testing experience. “I think the test administrators are shortening the format to make the test less intimidating, in the hope that this will encourage more people to consider applying to business school,” says my fellow Fortuna cofounder and director Caroline Diarte Edwards.
But that means every question matters more in your overall score. For the GMAT in particular, test takers must be on top of their game, focusing mentally like a marathon runner preparing for race day, according to Stuart Park of Simply Brilliant test prep. “It’s going to be more important for people to be sharp on test day, ready to give that top performance. In the past, with a larger set of questions, if you miss one, there was more tolerance.”
As with anything changing this significantly, there remains some questions about the new test formats, timing, scoring, and which tests schools will accept. Fortuna coaches are keeping on top of these changes and have a rundown of what it all means for you.
While the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) designed the GMAT specifically to assess skills that are fundamental to business management and has been considered the gold standard for MBA admissions, today more than 90 percent of US and European schools will accept both tests. The release of the new GRE is imminent, so we’ll discuss that one first.
A Two-Hour GRE
The test becomes on Sept. 22, 2023, for test dates thereafter, and the old version will no longer be available. Did we say it’s shorter? We meant a lot shorter, clocking in at under two hours compared to about four hours for the previous version.
Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the GRE, says the changes are designed to balance two things — “maintaining rigor and validity, while improving the test-taker experience.” Other major changes:
- With the test now clocking in at one hour, 58 minutes, the 10-minute break was eliminated.
- The unscored section has been removed.
- The “Analyze an Argument” portion in the analytical writing section is eliminated.
- The number of questions in the quantitative and verbal reasoning sections are reduced.
- Scores are delivered faster, in eight to ten days.
At present, no test prep books or materials are yet available for the new GRE. Because it’s simply shortened and the material is expected to be the same, the need is not as great, although it would be useful to know how many questions are in each section, for example. ETS will likely release more information when the new test is available.
The GMAT Focus Edition
This “next gen” version of the GMAT is designed to be “flexible, efficient, and offer greater insights,” according to GMAC. Registration opened in late August for test dates starting Nov. 7, 2023. The “classic” test is expected to be retired sometime between January and March 2024.
Wharton has announced they will not accept the Focus Edition until Jan. 31, 2024, after Round 2 applications. Presumably Wharton is trying to ensure that they are evaluating candidates on a consistent set of scores from the same test. Harvard also is not accepting Focus Edition scores for the current admissions season, except for its 2+2 deferred admissions program. All other top-ranked business schools are on track to accept the new edition.
The Focus Edition has three sections: Quantitative, Verbal, and the new Data Insights.
Here is what’s new and what has been eliminated.
- There is no essay. The analytical writing section is eliminated, because both students and schools found it assessed the same skills as other application components, like essays.
- The sentence completion and grammar assessment has also been eliminated.
- Questions from the former Integrated Reasoning section have been blended into the Data Insights section.
- The quantitative section is reduced from 31 questions to 21. The section focuses on problem-solving, and geometry is no longer covered, like the Executive Assessment (EA) exam.
- The data insights section includes 20 problems covering data sufficiency, multi-source reasoning, table analysis, graphics interpretation, and two-part analysis.
- The verbal section includes 23 problems focused on reading comprehension and critical reasoning.
Data Insights
The new Data Insights section incorporates questions from the previous integrated reasoning section, as well as data sufficiency questions. Data sufficiency has been pared down and de-emphasized; pure math questions in this section have been replaced with word problems.
However, as GMAT has gotten rid of geometry, sentence completion, and the essay, integrated reasoning questions are now more significant, Park said. “In the past, in the test prep business hardly anyone cared about integrated reasoning because that’s not what the schools are focused on.
“Now this topic is going to be super important and one of the most challenging aspects of the exam from a time standpoint. Integrated reasoning tends to be a high-pressure topic. People are going to need to really put a big effort into preparing for that, to master these question types and get really fast at answering them.”
A More Flexible Format
Some of the most significant changes to the GMAT are in the test-taking process. Now you can take sections of the exam in any order you want, completing your strongest areas first to ensure your best score.
For the first time, the GMAT will now allow you to bookmark questions for review and go back to change up to three answers per section. Diarte Edwards says this addition may be designed to help balance the pressures of a condensed test.
“The potential disadvantage of a shorter test is that each response counts for more, so a silly mistake can have more influence. GMAC is perhaps looking to address this concern by offering the new benefit of being able to go back and change up to three responses,” she says. “But it’s a time pressured test – how much time will candidates have in practice to review their responses? I’m not sure how well this will work.”
Scoring and Reporting
GMAT initially indicated that the Focus Edition would report just a single, combined score for the exam rather than each section. This left b-schools wondering how they would assess quantitative scores without that specific score. Now it appears that GMAT will continue to report results for each section.
In an August 24 Zoom session with Fortuna coaches to review test changes, Park shared details on how GMAC has adjusted scoring curves. Total scores will now be “wildly different” than from the soon-to-sunset test, notes Fortuna expert coach Rachel Erikson Hee. Someone who scored 700 on the old test will receive a 665 on the new test, according to a comparison table GMAC released to help schools make sense of the scores,
“A 700 will now be a great score; there’s not going to be 730s. or 750s or 760s anymore,” says Erikson Hee. On the other end of the spectrum, a candidate with a score of 605 will be perfectly capable of handling business school curriculum.
This huge realignment in scores will significantly shift schools’ admissions profiles for the next few years until the change is thoroughly incorporated into statistics. In the meantime, some candidates who don’t have great scores may be able to slip in while the dust settles, and schools figure out what the scores mean.
Scores will be available to test takers faster —within three to five days — and now you can select which schools to send your scores to after you know how you performed, not before. GMAC is also promising an “improved Official Score Report with detailed performance insights,” but no specifics on that report have been released.
The uncertainty around the new tests and scores can be unnerving, but there’s no cause for alarm. Remember that academics are only one element of the admissions criteria. “Schools do not assess your GMAT or GRE in isolation; they practice holistic admissions,” says Diarte Edwards. “Your test score is one data point alongside your undergraduate track record. And it’s still very much about your overall profile. This hasn’t changed and we don’t foresee it changing.”
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