Does GMAT 750 has any value while everyone has 715-725?

­There's no need to retake. If many people score 715 or 725, then they won't be 99th percentile scores, and at the same time, 750 will remain a high score.

I have the opposite query. Will a similar percentile but lower GMAT focus score be looked on unfavourably?

 

­In most cases, no. Schools are aware of the differences between classic GMAT and Focus Edition scores and, in most cases, handle the two types of scores accordingly.

There are some qualifiers though.

One thing to be aware of is that some schools that have minimum GMAT score requirements haven't really differentiated between classic GMAT and Focus Edition scores. So, for instance, a school that has historically required a minimum GMAT score of 550 may now require a minimum GMAT Focus score of 555. I'm not sure why schools are operating that way, but maybe the reasons are that they don't think two types of scores are as different as GMAC has indicated they are in the concordance table and that they don't want to require scores with inconvenient numbers, such as 535. In other words, a score such as 555 is an easier standard score to deal with than something like 515 or 535.

Another qualiifier is that it's probably a good idea to view the concordance tables with some skepticism. For instance, according to the total score concordance table, 705, or even 695, is about the same as 750 on the classic GMAT. From what I'm seeing 705 could be more like 730 - 740. So, it's still a high score, but schools may not consider it as high as the concordance  table indicates it is.

So, the short answer is no, in general, schools will not automatically see a lower Focus Edition score as less valuable than a higher classic GMAT score. At the same time, you may want to score a little higher than the concordance tables indicate.­

I would also say that likely a good chunk of applicants this year in the fall of 2024 will still have a GE score that ends in a zero. There’s going to be a decent chunk of folks were applying with the Jerry and then the weird bunch with executive assessment Scores. Out of all of these, the admissions team likely feels most comfortable with the scores ending in zeros so having a nice 750 is just fine for this upcoming season.

Even if the scores for the focus test are somewhat inflated from a perception, the 750 is still a good and strong and very hard to get score that admissions will have no doubts about even if everyone applies with the 705’s.

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­Hi MartyMurray,

Are you saying that schools will also view the concordance table with skepticism? I ask because I've never heard anything like this before.

To be clear, I think it's reasonable to expect percentiles to change over time, especially as actual test data comes in. However, I don't think it's reasonable to expect schools to "discount" FE scores on their own.

Hi iamjojorabbit,

No. Some people did think that schools would look for scores similar to those they're familiar with, but that view is wrong. Here's what mba.com says about this:

Keep in mind that percentiles will be updated sometime Q3 this year, so how schools look at specific FE scores could change as well.