GMAT Focus Edition - Everything You Need to Know

Thanks mcelroytutoring for this.. Super helpful! I had couple questions..

- What do you mean when you say '5 counted?'
- How was the overall difficulty of the other existing question types (QA, RC, CR, IR)?
- Did you notice the incremental difficulty level between sections? I read in one of these posts that as you progress through sections, the difficulty is adjusted per performance in previous section.
- How about split of # of Questions in CR and RC?
- How about coordinate geometry? I understand this is also part of the new test.

Hi RahulJain293,

Happy to help! Below are my responses in bold.

- What do you mean when you say '5 counted?' About 15% of the questions on the current GMAT are experimental, so it's possible that 1 or 2 of the Data Sufficiency questions on Data Insights won't count toward your score. So when I say "5 counted?" I'm trying to indicate that not all 6 DS questions will necessarily count toward your score. For this reason it's also likely that not all 14 of the IR-style questions will count, either. My best guess is 5 counted DS questions, and 12 counted IR-style questions: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-many-experimental-questions-on-the-gmat-and-is-it-predictable-222648.html

- How was the overall difficulty of the other existing question types (QA, RC, CR, IR)? I would say about the same. The GMAT Focus is the the same GMAT, with the same questions—just shorter, with fewer question types (no more SC, AWA, or geometry).

- Did you notice the incremental difficulty level between sections? I read in one of these posts that as you progress through sections, the difficulty is adjusted per performance in previous section. Yes, that's what GMAC says. This adjustment is somewhat noticeable, according to my Focus students, but again, question difficulty is hard to measure at first glance: some questions are harder than they appear, and vice-versa. I suppose that if you wanted to test this theory, you could perform well / OK / poorly on your 1st Focus section, and then gauge the difficulty of the questions you are served at the onset of your 2nd section, via their GMAT Club question pages.

- How about split of # of Questions in CR and RC? Good question! You're going to see about 14 RCs and 9 CRs per GMAT Focus Verbal section. My best guess is that 2 of the RCs and 1 of the CRs will be experimental, meaning 12 counted RCs and 8 counted CRs.

- How about coordinate geometry? I understand this is also part of the new test. Yes, technically these types of questions have survived the geometry cut, but in reality they don't appear very often on the GMAT Focus.

Fantastic! Thanks a lot mcelroytutoring! Like to know rough split of CR and RC especially.

Happy to help! I also made a table comparing the two tests (see below). Please note that the number of questions listed is the known / presumed number of counted questions, not the total number of questions you will see on test day, due to the (presumed) presence of roughly 15% experimental questions on the Focus.

There is also an optional 10-minute break on the Focus, which can be taken after either the 1st or 2nd section—but not both.

Hello Everyone,

This was discussed earlier on this thread, but I am not sure whether we could reach a conclusion:

Can we conclude that Coordinate Geometry is retired from GMAT?

My analysis (after having gone through almost all official questions in the 2023-24 edition) indicates that...
- Coordinate Geometry questions are limited to those that can be called "functions" or "algebra" questions.
-- Questions around hardcore/slightly-advance coordinate geometry or those involving geometrical entities (such as equation of circle or area of figures on the basis of coodinates etc) could not be found. 
-- Number line and coordinate plane seem to have survived the pruning.

Besides, I wasn't fully sure whether "Solids" retired; I could not find anything on solids- theory or practice questions; hence, it may be safe to conclude that the topic has truly gone. Still, I will be happy to hear a confirmation from some experts.

Thanks all.

mcelroytutoring, carcass, GMATCoachBen

My opinion since the very first second after I concluded the tables for the new OGs is pretty straightforward: aside from geometry and coordinate geometry, even IF you will see a question during the real new exam does not change anything in the substance of your future score, the preparation and the topic to study must be roughly the same as the old one.

I did also notice (I do not remember now if one or two problems) three overlapping sets and NO theory whatsoever. I do believe also that in a moment of transition, as we do have right now, I would play conservative, studying the old way. Only a bit less for the area I confirm are gone, sort of.

Frankly, I reckon that the different stakeholders involved in the process: students, tutors, and companies are over-analyzing the matter.

Maybe things will change next year. But for now, we do have just the shortest exam.

Pretty neat

One question. In this new version of the exam, Quant, Verbal and DI share the same weight towards the final score?
I've taken a mock test and it looked to me that was the case

Posted from my mobile device

Yes, the exact same weight, and that weight is constant from one end of the score scale to the other. So, every three points of increase in your section score total is associated with a twenty-point increase in your total score.

Wharton website:

Please note: We will be accepting scores from the GMAT Focus when this newly released version replaces the legacy GMAT on January 31, 2024. We will not be accepting the GMAT Focus from the intervening period of approximately 15 weeks between its release in October 2023 and its merger with the legacy GMAT at the end of January 2024.

-contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm

Hey guys, I accidentally purchased the GMAT focused mocks instead of the classic GMAT mocks. I've booked an exam in the classic format. Any advice on what I can do ?

Posted from my mobile device

Hi anja2794,

They may be willing to offer you a refund (or an exchange). Have you tried reaching out to them (gmac@support-asknet.com, +1 415 200-4001)? If you haven't, do so as soon as possible.

Hi Ajitesh, thanks for your reply. I did reach out to customer care ( but not the number / email you mentioned)
Let me try my luck and contact them here.

Posted from my mobile device

Dude you were right.
Where do you get such rumor from?

"We will be accepting scores from the GMAT Focus when this newly released version replaces the legacy GMAT on January 31, 2024. We will not be accepting the GMAT Focus from the intervening period of approximately 15 weeks between its release in October 2023 and its merger with the legacy GMAT at the end of January 2024."

Source: https://executivemba.wharton.upenn.edu/ ... utive-mba/

Does Wharton know something that we don't know? Can anyone find confirmation of this 1/31/24 date on the GMAC or MBA.com websites?

Assuming the information cited by Wharton is correct, the "classic" GMAT will remain an option for fewer than 6 more months before being officially retired at the end of January 2024—at which time the transition to the GMAT Focus will be complete.

Thus, the classic GMAT preparation clock is ticking for those of you who are skilled at Sentence Correction, Geometry, AWA, and (to a lesser extent) Data Sufficiency, which has gone from 13 counted questions to only 5 on the Focus (see table above).

Why else should you hurry up and prepare for / take the GMAT now, before it changes? Maybe you dislike Integrated Reasoning-style questions and the idea of their counting toward your composite aka total score on the Focus Edition (via the new Data Insights section). Maybe you're mystified as to why GMAT Focus scores (205-805) have been drastically deflated in comparison to classic GMAT scores (200-800) of the same percentile. Maybe a shorter test with fewer questions and no AWA doesn't mean that much to you, because your endurance / writing ability is not an issue.

GMAT scores of all types are valid for 5 years. Tick-tock...



image source: bb

Just received the email from GMAC confirming that registration for the GMAT Focus Edition starts next week (8/29)!

I posted the first link of the newsletter for my concern

GMAT Focus Edition and the new GRE General Test

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-focus-e ... 17458.html

The part I am most excited about Aug 29th date is that we should finally find out when GMAT Focus starts and when Classic GMAT ends. I don't know if I should cry or celebrate frankly... maybe neither