GMAT Focus Edition - Everything You Need to Know

Hi. Welcome to the mad house!

First of all, you are trying to buy a ticket on a train that you don't know when it is leaving. The new test may be here in April or Sept. It may also be here in April but be ridden with issues - there is risk.

At the same time, It seems no content is changing in terms of what is tested on the CR or RC or Quant based on all the evidence and so you can prep without SC or at least leave the SC portion for the very end. So far no indication is given that you cannot use the materials you have even the 2014 edition of the MGMAT guides - I would expect all of them to be valid because GMAC is not going to voerhaul and completely change their questions/content/etc - there is no reason really.... they may make some very small tweaks such as remove Geometry from quant just like on EA (it is missing from the list).

But the rest is the same material, so minus SC and minus Geometry.

Is there any information regarding total lifetime attempts? Since GRE does not have any limit, should we assume that GMAT FOCUS will go GRE's way?
bb

Hi. Potentially. I think moreover, people would have their lifetime counter reset on the Focus GMAT, so if you had 8 attempts, or got 800, I suspect you could take the GMAT again.... but that's speculation not corraborated by anything.


There is no information about cost, frequency of attempts, or how many life time attempts you can have.
EA has only 2 attempts for example and this test is getting modeled very closely after it.... but I think this GMAT Focus will be more like the GMAT - at least 8 attempts.... and likely a clean slate since the tests are different enough but don't hold your breath

You are correct - you will be able to take the current/old version of the GMAT until early 2024.
And I would guess you could take the new version of the test on the same day if you wanted since the 2 tests will not be connected...

I wonder if they will fix the ESR and all those other issues with the GMAT Online and at least make the same score reporting system for the new test that is the same for the online and offline test... I guess we now sort of know why they stopped investing into the GMAT and features

Thank you doublecool for confirming the new structure.

It's nice to see that IR is being made part of the main score. GMAC certainly took their time though (I remember asking them about it ~5 years ago ).


My main concern is that more RC (%) may also mean more timing issues. Some test takers slow down more than others when they hit an RC passage.

I agree. This isn't something test takers need to worry about. But as someone working in the field, I'll be tracking this (23 questions | 45 minutes, only RC and CR, and generally, RC > CR > SC), just to see whether it could lead to timing issues.


Haha. I get it, but give it a chance. IR is fun.

Hi MartyTargetTestPrep,

It's possible that you didn't understand the point I was trying to make.

1. As a tutor, I work closely with individuals, not big groups of students, and, as I mentioned in my first post, some test takers struggle with RC. It is those individuals I am thinking about, not test takers in general.

2. An ESR can't tell us how much time a test taker needs. It can only give us a limited view into one possible time/score combination for that test taker.

Just to be clear, I really do hope that those some ESRs you looked at of typical test takers who spend about 1:30 on each SC question are representative of the experience of most test takers.

Yes, I think it was the 2018 summit.

It'll be hard for GMAC to do anything about quant scores without increasing the difficulty of the quant section. Increasing the number of questions could have also worked, but they've opted not to do that.

Rolodex TTP has added IR and AWA both are in the bottom chapters

It's very distracting(which means I have already prepared one system and now introducing a new system) while preparing for a hard test like GMAT, especially for those who are in the almost final stage of their preparation.
Overall understanding, I will be able to take the current/old version of the GMAT until early 2024, which means from now almost a year. I don't need to think about what will happen in the next year.
I will take my Gmat test in between 2-4 months. I want to solely focus on my own preparation(current/old version).
What is your recommendation to me? bb

A small correction to these numbers

GMAC doesn't consider calendar year to consider the limits.

Ex: if a person gives his / her 5th attempt in the month of Dec'23, he/she will not be able to give the 6th attempt in Jan'24 (just because the year has changed).

The attempt limits are 5 in a rolling 12-month period.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the underlined part of the official statement:


It seems that "homing in on data literacy" will be accomplished by the GMAT's new Data Insights (aka IR+DS) section, but what about "higher-order critical reasoning skills"?
If the test-makers intend to continue asking the same types of Critical Reasoning questions, they wouldn't bother adding this line to their press release.

I have a feeling that higher-order critical reasoning skills is referring to the new sections titled Inductive Reasoning and Deductive Reasoning that were introduced in the 2022 OG. You can find them on pages 399 to 423 of the OG2022.

Historically, most of the GMAT'S CR questions require inductive reasoning.
The new Deductive Reasoning section of the OG2022 covers a lot of formal logic (e.g., If A then B is logically equivalent to if not B then not A), and I have a hunch we will be seeing a greater proportion of CR questions requiring deductive reasoning in the OG2023.

Those fans of the LSAT questions should say "wooohooooo"""

Hi BrentGMATPrepNow
Isn't so that the OG 2022 had no new questions?

By page numbers you referring to CR questions?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-officia ... l#p2733439






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The OG2021 and OG2022 had the same CR questions, but the OG2021 never had the Inductive Reasoning and Deductive Reasoning sections.

The Inductive Reasoning and Deductive Reasoning sections are on pages 399 to 423 of the OG2022.

Thank you so much for pointing this out. I feel like every time I go through the announcement I keep noticing something new and every time I go through the table of contents I’m noticing some thing you as well. First time, I did not spot the geometry has been cut.

I can see this being an attempt to win some market share from both GRE and LSAT and potentially consolidate executive assessment into this product as well. It would make G max job easier if they don’t have to administer two tests…




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BrentGMATPrepNow
Yeah sure
Let me make one as well..

Hope the new version is not limited to be an only online exam that way GMAC can save some more cost of renting centers