GMAT Online - What We Know [Master Topic]

Hi all,
Hope you all are doing good.

I have concern of gmat at home vs at center , it would be appreciated if some one could give a point of view on the following:

1. Considering the current situation I understand and appreciate the option of having an online exam but is there a possibility that B schools may some time later ask a candidate to reattempt exam at center? as the online exam still does not have the AWA section.


2. This being a hypothetical situation: what if among two candidates who have both scored same i.e ( Q/V/IR) but one gave the exam online and the other at center , so is there a chance that person who gave exam at center may be distinguished as better?
Has any one raised this point to any ad com in recent?
Now since most of the centres have opened so is giving at center a better and safe option to go ahead with?

It would be appreciated if anyone could highlight or share their thoughts on the aforementioned points...

Keep in mind that bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to the physical whiteboard--you are going to have to find room for your monitor and keyboard as well, and your workspace is limited during the exam, since your face has to stay on camera at all times--especially if you are using a laptop where you can't place your keyboard off to the side.

In other words, a full 12 x 20 inch (30 cm x 50 cm) whiteboard is not necessary. What's far more important in my opinion are ultra fine-tip dry erase markers, and a block eraser for quick erasing.

Hi Archit....Archit3110

What you fail to grasp is that GMAT, though plays a role as deciding factor, but not more than 30%. B Schools consider your quality of essay work and other associated quesitionnaire more than the GMAT. Not to mention the role played by ur GPA, background etc.

So hardly any B school is going to differentiate between Centre based result and an online based result of two candidates. These are extraordinary times and extra-ordinary decisions will be made by the B Schools. So dont worry about the choice of exam place. Go ahead and give it online.

My own example is ... I sought a GMAT waiver from London Business School Sloan Programme and finished my interview over Zoom a week before. The deciding factor should have been the essays, profile and curricular activities. My GPA is little above 3.5 on a scale of 5.

hi souvik101990
Can you just share the steps to schedule online gmat exam. I am not getting any option in my dashboard to schedule my online exam.

Random observation: did anyone yet notice that the IR calculator has gone from GMAC generic to the Texas Instruments "TI-108"?

Hi Archit,

I asked Adcoms from 2 different school and confirmed that they are going to treat both test equally. In other word, q50 v42 is q50 v42 no matter how you get it. However, they also told me that if you think that the Online GMAT test method is going to affect your performance in a bad way, I should consider taking the test based test as they won't consider the 'Online GMAT' factor when looking at my score and think 'Poor guy, I know he could score higher if he took the test-center GMAT'.

As for AWA, they told me that I should not worry as it is one of the many thing they are using to determine our analytical writing, and essay could fill the hole left by AWA.

So, unless a major Online GMAT cheating scandal is going to unfold, I think you can take the Online GMAT knowing that they will treat your Online GMAT score fairly. But this is my personal take based on my session with the AdComs, I might be wrong.

Forgive me if this has been covered (there are thousands of comments on this thread), but I wondered if anyone else worried about the limit on taking GMAT online only once. I have a Sept 5 test scheduled in the test center, but if COVID closes that test center, that means I could potentially only have one shot at the GMAT (online) before most round 1 deadlines. Has anyone heard about GMAC potentially allowing folks to take the online GMAT more than once (not accounting for the physical whiteboard exception for people who took before that was allowed)? I can't get anyone at GMAC to even address this question in webinars or via email.

GMAC has Extended GMAT Online through Aug 14 (previously it was through July 20)

Interesting comment:

I’ve got the same problem...
Only one online shot is not ok

Posted from my mobile device

I think you are bringing up a very good question. GMAC has just extended the test by another month, from July 20 to Aug 14th.

First of all, I have no idea why they don't allow retakes. I have theories and my main one is that there were some bad decisions made. I think GMAC got themselves into a corner by creating a test with separate score reports and separate retake rules. Why those were in place, it makes no sense to me, but now that they have those in place, they don't work well with the traditional tests and with the COVID-19 keeping test centers closed (or questionnably open), they will have to make some tough choices.... or risk people going to GRE or elsewhere. I think we will be seeing more changes in the next 2 weeks through mid-July since GMAC was not expecting to keep GMAT Online this long.

I have a feeling they will start allowing retakes at some point if the test continues to be online only. It is technically possible since folks are able to retake that took the Online test pre-June 11. As of right now, the new "version" of the GMAT has only been live since June 11th (everyone else before that time is able to retake the test at least one more time online). My guess is that GMAC will allow retakes after July 20th. Does anyone have a diff opinion?

My best guess: if GMAC extends the GMAT Online deadline for a third consecutive time after mid-August, then 1) retakes will be allowed, just as with the test-center exam and 2) any retakes will resume counting toward one's lifetime limit of 8 exams.

I think since 80's have come back in the pop culture (Stranger things, Trolls World Tour, etc), GMAC did not want to miss out on the trend

I would say they will have to start allowing retakes as the situation doesn't seem to improve any time soon. Extending the online version is a step in the right direction. It needs to actually combine the score reports just so there will be uniformity and they can consider the retake against the yearly/lifetime limits. This is my two cents.

PS:
I am stuck at 99 points and some kudos will help me out. Thanks in advance.

I would say retake should be available in July itself as this is actually the second extension. I personally wouldn't mind if they counted the retake against the limit.

PS:
I am stuck at 99 points and some kudos will help me out. Thanks in advance.

Anyone know why there are no weekend test dates available, at least from what I'm seeing in the US?

Only sunday is off.
Thus you will not get any slot on sunday.
However due to time zone differences, some place it's half saturday off while some have half monday off.

Strange...even for the new dates, I'm not seeing any availability on Saturdays.

Edit: I'm able to see August, but it looks like the slots are just in extremely high demand.