This topic got some spam. Sorry about that. Cleaned it out.
I can say that as someone who used to make $400-500 month, paying $250 for the GMAT was definitely a very serious undertaking. Retake was definitely a painful option that made sure I would be extra sure not to have to do it. I am baffled with some folks being aggressively hopeful and taking the test knowing they won’t get the target score.
My barrier was taking the test at a test center - my center was booked out and I had to travel to take the GMAT. It actually worked out well to be traveling and focused on prep. This is solved now with gmat online.
I feel there are inherent barriers with not being a native speaker and this has an impact on the score as well as admissions, interviews, etc but if you want to study abroad, you have to follow their rules.
I would say the biggest barrier is the cost
Posted from my mobile device