GMAT Focus Edition - Everything You Need to Know

This is pretty weird!!! Why would the DI be NOT adaptive?
I understand the old IR section was not adaptive but now we have the DS... I guess I need to pay more attention to the DI section

Amazing research work!
I agree, I think all would be adaptive, though I have to admit, I have so far largely ignored the DI section in my GMAT Prep experiments.

The highlighted part is strange!

Does this mean one can book multiple GMAT Classic appointments until Jan 31?

I think (and I could be wrong here) that it was not allowed earlier.

Thoughts anyone?

In the past you definitely could book multiple exams at once. I have had students doing that for a long time. So I am sure you can still book multiple classic GMAT's if you wanted to do that.

Thank you. I have not kept track of this matter until a few years ago. For the last two or three years, you were allowed to book one in person and one online test, completely independent of each other. Around April of this year, that rules seem to have been reversed and you could only book one exam and the system would not give you an opportunity to book another test. Moreover, some people who manage to book multiple tests would have their test appointments canceled. They would get a refund but we had a few reports of this matter in April or May I believe could’ve been last December 😬 But the matter is that in the last six months or so you could only book one test of any kind and you couldn’t book another appointment until your first test was completed which made it quite tricky for people who had technical difficulties or missed their exam because the GME system takes a day or 24 hours to update and so they had to painfully wait for that to pass until they could book a retake.

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Hmm. Again this whole thing is so needlessly confusing! I was referring to booking two appointments at a test center (more than 16 days apart). I could swear that I have had students do that in the last 6 months, but maybe I am mistaken?

And on the test-center + at-home GMAT "loophole" (how you could book two tests within 16 days of each other), most students I've worked with have not be able to do this in the last 6 months or so, but I actually had one girl successfully do it in August. And her tests were not cancelled. She took them both. I am not totally sure why she was able to do it whereas others have not.

Wish all of this could just be more transparent!!!

Very interesting. They may have relaxed the rule again or stopped and forcing it about the 16 days between online and in person and maybe started allowing multiple attempts but that was never communicated… one of those gray areas that are not stated anywhere. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it … but again, we don’t know how long we’ll have the latest information since it can change at any moment without notice.

One question, maybe I have missed it.

Will GMAT Focus attempts be considered separately? Or will it be counted on top of the GMAT Classic Attempts?

I have attempted twice already and this piece of information would actually help me plan better.

I do not know why the paper and ebook versions are different. My ebook version does not mention anything that DI is NOT adaptive. The contrary, instead





ALL three sections are adaptive!!!!

Hi sood1596,

Unless one of your GMAT attempts was an online GMAT taken between Apr 20, 2020 and Sep 22, 2020, both your attempts will count towards the lifetime limit.

Hey guys. Does anyone know if the new score report (which sounds like it's basically the current ESR) will be available for online/at-home version of the GMAT Focus? The fact that it's not with the classic GMAT has been one good reason to just take it at a test center, imo.

Apologies if this has been posted somewhere already. On mba.com I couldn't find anything about it not being available with the online/at-home version and since it's the new style of the official score report, I have to assume it will be the same for both test center and online/at-home, but wanted to see if anyone knows for sure.

Good afternoon, everyone. Just following up on the Data Insights issue discussed earlier in the thread.

Any updates from GMAC as to whether the Data Insights section of the GMAT Focus is adaptive? So far, it has provided us with severely conflicting information on the issue.

Thanks,
Brian

Hi. Thank you for following up. I have not heard back yet on any of the 2 questions (DI adaptability or ability to schedule multiple tests in advance) and the GMAC representative on YouTube today did not really address these questions…

But I think the first one is pretty safe to assume that data insights section is adaptive.

I will follow up in a few days, once it’s been about a week. 😇

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I can't recall exactly where I read this, but I believe GMAC has been using vague language ("a unified score report experience," etc.) that implies (but of course does not guarantee) that this promised free "expanded and improved" score report option will carry over to the GMAT Focus online as well.


source: https://www.mba.com/exams/gmat-focus-edition/faqs

This new system would stand in stark contrast to the current, fractured GMAT score reporting system, where classic GMAT online scores and classic test-center GMAT scores are managed via completely separate score reporting systems that follow completely different rules.

I don't know why GMAC never got around to offering an ESR option for the GMAT Classic online—it had years to get it done.

"No ESR" has always been the biggest disadvantage of the GMAT online, and I'm guessing/hoping that GMAC plans to rectify that soon.

Another bizarre twist? According to an early article from GMAC's PR arm, Business Because, the GMAT Focus score report will not include section scores—only a single composite / total / "exam" score.

"Updated score reports will also include more detailed insights on your performance, and only one exam score—the current exam breaks down your score by section. Registrants will be able to send scores to five schools for free."


Source: https://www.businessbecause.com/news/in ... -gmat-exam

Although this is indeed true of exams such as the LSAT (no section scores are provided on official exams), I hope that it's not true for the Focus—because not knowing one's precise section scores (60-90 in Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights) on the real exam will make it more difficult to improve on one's initial "G-Day" performance.

Forgive my skepticism, but it's hard to believe that the GMAT Focus score report is really "new and improved" if GMAC won't even provide your section scores. Perhaps the section scores will be visible on the student score report, but not the school score report, for example?

I can't imagine that b-school adcoms would be happy about this development, either: the ability to view an applicant's individual GMAT section scores in Quant, Verbal, IR, and AWA (in addition to the total "exam score") is an essential tool at their disposal.

At this rate, we may have to wait until November 7th until we know for sure.

I mean, I'd be absolutely shocked if you could not see a breakdown of your score by section. That just has to be part of the score report. It seems to me that the official score report is just going to be essentially like the ESR except that, as advertised, one does not need to pay extra for it.

But, yeah, since the ESR was not available for the online GMAT, I was wondering if that would change with the GMAT Focus, otherwise I'd probably still advise people to take it at a test center. Since this new information (essentially what is now on the ESR) is just part of the official score report, I have to believe that it will be available whether you take the test at a center or at home. As with a lot of these other unknowns, it would be great if GMAC could confirm that!

Hi

but according to the screenshots above I do not think there are conflicting answers or deceptive information. DI is adaptive.

It would NOT any sense the contrary!!!

Finally, some direct answers from GMAC! Nice work. Who would have guessed that Business Because was referring to sending GMAT Focus scores to MBA programs via the school score report?

This still doesn't explain the "the current exam breaks down your score by section" language, but whatever.

Would you also mind trying to extract more details from this person about question-level vs. section-level adaptability on the GMAT Focus—in particular, on the Data Insights section—which has been alternately described by GMAC as both "adaptive" and "not computer adaptive" (possibly a mistake, but right there on page 215 of the O.G. 2023-2024)?

Thanks.