The time savings will mostly be on the Quantitative and Verbal sections. GMAC has streamlined these sections to take less time and have fewer questions. It also removed some of the tutorial screens from the beginning of the exam.
Vineet Chhabra, senior director of product management for GMAC, said:
We believe candidates will have less anxiety and feel better prepared, which can contribute to a better reflection of their true performance on the exam. Through our ongoing market feedback and operational reviews, we were able to identify this opportunity to shorten the exam, without changing its reliability.
Dennis Yim, director of academics at Kaplan Test Prep, believes the change may have been driven by more intense competition by the GRE. He told BusinessBecause:
With GRE acceptance nearly universal among MBA programmes, many top business schools have reported an increase in the number of applicants who are submitting GRE scores. This change may be an effective strategy to reverse the trend.
The exam content and the time test takers have per question will not change. The exam will be scored the same, and it’s still a proven indicator of aspirants’ ability to succeed in business school. GMAC said:
It is the same GMAT exam with the same quality you expect – just shorter by a half hour.
GMAC claims it shortened the exam to provide a better test-taking experience. To give test takers the most realistic preparation experience, GMAC will update the official full-length practice exams no later than April 30 to reflect the pacing of the shorter test.
Check out: Test Takers to Be Able to Choose GMAT Section Order
Globally, more than 1.2 million GMAT exams have been taken over the past five years by individuals interested in pursuing graduate management education.
Check out: The TOEFL Test to Be Shortened by 30 Minutes
Sources: GMAC, The Tribune, BusinessBecause
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