We’ve received word through the grapevine that GMAC is shortening all break periods during the test by a total of 15 minutes, effective July 17th.  This change has yet to be confirmed – we’ll update this blog post as soon as we receive official confirmation.

The primary change for students is that breaks between sections will be 8 minutes each instead of 10 minutes.  Those 2 minutes can be significant, as most people go to the bathroom between sections.  So it’s something to be aware of.

The other 11 minutes come from the time allocated to read Instructions, fill out background info, and decide whether to see your score.

However, none of the allotted times for GMAT Content areas will be affected (i.e. 2 30-minute essays, 75 minutes for Quantitative and 75 minutes for Verbal).

Why is GMAC making this change?  Hard to say.  It could be that shortening the total appointment time by 15 minutes would allow more appointments at the margins.  Or it could be an added security measure so that people have less time to do anything non-test related during break periods.  Whatever the rationale, a stressful experience just got a little bit more intense.