Coming April 8th: Great Updates for the GMAT Online
GMAC, the organization that makes the GMAT, has just announced some great news regarding the GMAT Online!
Beginning April 8th, we’ll gain a bunch of features that currently exist only for the testing center-based GMAT:
- You’ll be able to choose one of three section orders for the exam (Quant first, Verbal first, or Essay first); currently, you’re locked into the Quant-first testing order.
- You’ll get two 8-minute breaks (placed at the usual times that we get our breaks in the testing center); currently, there’s only one 5-minute break.
- You’ll see your scores on screen at the end of the exam (for everything but the essay); currently, you have to wait several business days to get your scores for the GMAT Online.
You might have noticed one other change that I snuck into that list without making it explicit: You will have to write the Essay section. (Currently, that section doesn’t appear on the GMAT Online.) This is a tiny drawback, really, compared to the goodness of all of the other updates.
So, starting April 8th, the test center GMAT and the GMAT Online will be almost identical. The only substantive difference will be the scratch paper. It’s still the case that you’ll get the laminated yellow pad in the testing center, but when you take the test at home, you’ll use your own dry erase whiteboard and have access to an online whiteboard.
I’m really excited about this news because it means that your preparation for either version of the exam is basically the same. So you can just get down to the business of studying and decide later whether you’ll take the exam in the testing center or at home (or both!).
We still have a few questions for GMAC about some other implications of this update—we’ll update this post as we learn the answers.