GMAT Online - What We Know [Master Topic]

15 mins to the start of the ETS webinar on how to take GRE from home. Looking forward to sharing all the juicy details (if any)

That's awesome! Thanks! Looking forward to it. I wonder if it is here to stay or how long they will be doing it at this point in time.

Transcript and highlights of the webinar:

Plain and simple: Goal is for students to continue their educational journey with a reliable testing methodology....
Need for it is right now…
Convenient, flexible and safe options for testing…
This may be able to minimize the disruptions…
Same research based reliable general test… delivered in a diff way
Remains the Gold standard for English language proficiency…
All features will exist..
We are aware of the urgent need…
NOT ABLE TO DELIVER PAPER score to the school, only those schools signed up for the electronic delivery method will receive it. So urge everyone to sign up for the ETS data manager. SIGN UP …
STNRP… CODE means remote proctor… (So I guess the schools will be able to differentiate whether the test was taken at home or not)…
ONLY on a WINDOWS OS as of now 10, 8 or 7…
ETS recognizes that privacy is a challenge when everyone is at home but is a requirement…
Best in class security measures…
We hold back from sharing some security measures that we don’t want to disclose so that students could override them… But AI is capable of detecting any malicious activity…
Background software not allowed..
Proctor can stop the test midway…
We know that this will not continue and will return to normal conditions so that we can return to normal…
Waiving the reschedule fees… even if the centers are open and student feels uncomfortable even then they can reschedule at no fee…
Fairness is baked into everything we do at the ETS… statistically analyse to remove qs that might seem disadvantageous to some groups…
More countries to follow for the home edition…
Looking to improve in critically markets like India and China…
Students will be able to see their scores in 10-15 days online…
Capacity for testing: No: of students ready to test immediately will be less than it is normally…
Will the at home service be available in the future? We developed the solution to meet the immediate need and that our reason for offering it... (Umm kinda avoided the topic if you ask me with a diplomatic answer)...

Eileen Tyson
Executive Director, Global Client Relations
ETS

I dont know how to add the screen shots to the msg directly. I have attached a pdf with this msg. Can someone please help me with that?

When will there be a solution for China. There are no GMAT dates available in China for the foreseeable future and apparently no home-testing solutions at this time.

UPDATE: I just got an email from GMAC saying that the score reinstate fees are waived. Not sure that this is overly useful, but maybe some people will want to utilize the option.

I am probably dumb to ask this question. What is a score reinstate fee??

If you cancel the score and then want to reinstate the score, then GMAC will charge $50 or $60. Now they are waving off the fee. This may be useful for some people

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Live NOW! GMAT at Home (Studying in the Time of Corona). Watch HERE!

Man! this is crazy
Thanks guys for all these useful info.

I'm already almost certain that there will be a large number of questions leaked out very soon after GMAT starts this!

It's probably true that a real MBA applicant will not dare to take ANY risk to cheat, but what if someone asks a friend, brother, roommate, classmate (or someone who will never ever want to actually take gmat and apply for B-schools) to sign up on GMAC and register for a test, and then try different method of cheating? Like if one of them is caught by GMAC, no big deal, who cares lol? they will find another friend to try the second technique, and so on an so forth.
So what are the techniques to steal the questions?
I know GRE has mentioned that the applicant must use an erasable sheet and the sheet must be erased after the exam in front of camera, and that the camera must show the tabletop before the exam. But what if my imaginary friend (or roommate, etc) has two erasable sheet, one of them already filled with lots of dummy notes and stick it under his desk in front of him, and the other one he uses during the test and fill it out with a bunch of notes (especially quant notes since the questions can be easily and entirely recovered later). As soon as the test is done, he stick this sheet under the desk (obviously camera cannot see down there) and take the other dummy sheet and clean it in front of camera.
EVEN if proctor finds out at the end that he has cheated, again, who cares? He is just a random guy who doesn't care if GMAC black lists him forever haha

This is just one theory (of course hiding a high resolution high magnification camera somewhere in the back is also something that sometimes can be really hard even for AI to find), and there might come lots of others as this mechanism goes on.


Also, what about all those paranoid palm checking each time before and after going into the room, while the guy actually saw me seconds ago and has that much brain power to confirm I've been the same person all the time. I think GMAC is just justifying that all those stuff were BS lol?

Also a question from ari.banerjee, did the GRE guys mentioned if people can use ear plugs? There are lots of noise in my apartment if I ever wanna take this exam at home.

Goddammit, I'm seeing that day that HBS is switching the case method and next year's MBA classes to online classes if there is no vaccine/drug by September haha what a mess would that be

Also another cheating technique that just came into my mind, what if that random friend that mentioned is gonna put a very well positioned camera with a tiny lens into his shirt, where the shirt has lots of crazy patterns and colors that make it super super hard for proctor to see it. Then he can record everything from a close distance very well. Again even if they find out, random joe doesn't care.

I will update you with more cheating techniques as they come into my mind.

I personally hope this virus is wiped out soon and it goes back to normal. There might be many many scenarios that can lead to unfair situations.

Sorry if there is lots of typos, wrote this quickly as I was shocked that this home exam thing is happening.


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revise 1

What if during the test the internet get disconnected? Will they consider it as a cheating action? Will they allow the person to resume the test? what will happen to that test if internet is down for 5 minutes? will they assume the guy is doing this to buy some time to reset his brain and cancel the test? These aren't just imaginary scenarios coming to my mind. These things happen honestly. I have a $95 COMCAST internet plan and it still sometimes goes crazy.

Well said!

AI cannot beat real intelligence. When the stake is high, remote proctoring is just a joke. Many test prep companies will be the "winner" in this fiasco.

Guys there is an attachment to my post. Please download it as it’s a screenshot of all their presentation slides. It goes in details of what is and isn’t permitted.

Also, it took me a lot of effort to document all this lol esp the voice transcript of the presenter.

PLEASE GIVE ME A KUDOS if my post helped you in any way!!!

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How about we brainstorm some ideas on how to cheat in the testing Centers? I’ve given the GMAT 4 times and contrary to most my security screening was very laxed. I could’ve easily snuck in a video camera from the bathroom (that was outside the exam room) onto my shirt button. I rem I was late one time and the guy just let me tap my own shirt and pant and take out the pockets and let me in a hurry. The security guys are older and very friendly and they will do anything to make you feel comfortable, or perhaps it’s just the Canadian way? Lol

If you wanna cheat then there are many ways to do it and your Roomate can try all these techniques too.

This is happening guys whether you like it or not.

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This post should be dedicated to HOW to get and exploit the opportunity to take such important tests such as the GMAT and the GRE from the comfort zone of your house.

This about people who are located very far from a test center.

There are people in certain countries who have to take a plane for over one hour of flight or 15 hours by train plus all the accommodations to spend 3 days in another city.

A lot of money and sacrifices.

The discussion started with the eagerness of the news, which is also an opportunity during a historic yet super tough moment for the entire world with thousands of deaths per day.

And we end up spending a precious time regarding cheating techniques, which is completely out of scope.

So please, if you do have a valid argument about the new way to take these exams then you are very welcome. Otherwise, I would avoid such argumentations.

Thank you so much

AUPER AWESOME ARI!

Thank you so much. I will be going through it tonight. (Busy day at work unfortunately)

Thank you bb

Good news, finally! GMAT can be taken at home from next month. GMAC announced this. The check-in and security protocols will be modified to accommodate online delivery and remote human proctors will be used to manage test integrity.
You may find the details on the following link:

https://start.mba.com/?hs_preview=EYPZmcDQ-27436441493

All the best for your preparation.

Thanks again Ari!

Looks like GRE at home starts tomorrow, Fri March 27th. Is anyone taking the GRE soon? Would love to get a perspective and feedback about the test. Let know if you are taking it within a week!

It seems it will tKe 10-15 days to get a score. Anyone know why it takes that long?

All notes must be taken on an erasable surface. (I was wondering about that).



It seems photos will be shared with the schools. That’s the case with GMAT too but I always forget that.

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