Do you feel jittery while starting an exam with a section on analytical writing and would rather prefer quantitative skills first? Don’t worry, candidates appearing for the Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) will soon get a new feature to choose the section order in which they feel most comfortable.
The Select Section Order will be available to test takers worldwide beginning July 11, 2017, the Reston, Virginia- based Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) that conducts the computer-based GMAT, said in a release.
The GMAT has four sections namely, Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative and Verbal skills. This is the order in which test takers have to proceed at present.
However, the new feature with 3 options would allow them to maintain the original format or change it to have Verbal, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment or Quantitative, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment.
“The GMAT exam shows business schools that the test taker is serious about earning a graduate business degree and demonstrates the individual’s commitment and readiness for the rigours of a graduate business program,”
Ashok Sarathy, vice president, Product Management, GMAC, said, “The idea of being allowed to choose the section order had been commonly requested by test takers.
“We conducted a pilot in 2016 to test this feature and received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with 85% of participants surveyed saying that this new feature boosted their confidence prior to even taking the exam. Our pilot findings also concluded that taking the exam in different section orders continues to maintain the quality and integrity of the GMAT scores,” he added.
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These new changes are a continuation of the steps GMAC has implemented in recent years to enhance the test takers’ GMAT experience, including the ability to cancel scores online after leaving the test centre and the enhanced score reinstatement policies (March 2016; removing cancelled scores from school score reports; allowing candidates to retake the GMAT exam after a 16-day time period rather than the previous 31-day retake period; and enabling test takers to access their Official Score Report online using their date of birth instead of an authentication code (July 2015),
The GMAT Enhanced Score Report, introduced in January 2015, provides test takers access to an in-depth analysis of their overall GMAT performance. The introduction of GMAT Score Preview in July 2014 enabled test takers to preview their unofficial scores before deciding whether to report or cancel them.
“The GMAT exam shows business schools that the test taker is serious about earning a graduate business degree and demonstrates the individual’s commitment and readiness for the rigours of a graduate business program,” said Sarathy.
“Today, 9 out of 10 new MBA enrollments at the top 50 U.S. full-time MBA programs are made using a GMAT score,” he added.
GMAC is a global, non-profit association of 220 leading graduate business schools. Founded in 1953, it is committed to advancing the art and science of admissions by convening and representing the industry and offering best-in-class products and services for schools and students. GMAC owns and administers the GMAT exam, used by more than 6,500 graduate programs worldwide, and the NMAT by GMAC exam, for entrance into graduate management programs in India.(Image Source:wikipedia.org)
