What We Heard from the Makers of the GMAT

by Beat The GMAT, Nov 4, 2009

On October 15, I left the sunny climes of Northern California to travel to frigid New York City for the third annual GMAC Test Prep Summit. For those of you who are not familiar with GMAC, it is the organization responsible for creating/developing/maintaining the GMAT test. The purpose of this conference was to inform GMAT test prep companies about GMAT trends and how the test worksinformation we would then use to inform students like you.

The GMAC Test Prep Summit was fascinating (for a GMAT nerd like me), and the event featured many great speakersthe highlight of which was Dr. Lawrence Rudner, the head of research at GMAC. Here are some of the major points I took away from the event:

Invest Time to Prepare for the GMAT

There is a very clear correlation between amount of time spent preparing for the GMAT and your actual GMAT score. Bottom line: people that spend more time preparing have a much higher likelihood of getting a great score.

GMAC shared some interesting data to support this point. The following shows the percent of people who scored a 600+ by amount of prep time:

29.4% - 0 weeks of prep

40.5% - Less than 1 week of prep

46.9% - 1-3 weeks of prep

48.8% - 4-6 weeks of prep

57.1% - 7-9 weeks of prep

60.5% - 10+ weeks of prep

The lesson here is that if you want to get a great GMAT score, allocate sufficient time to prepare for the test. For self studiers, I personally recommend 8-12 weeks of prep.

GMAT is a Decent Predictor of Your First Year at Business School

This takeaway should come as no surprise, but the GMAC did show an interesting chart correlating GMAT score with first-year MBA GPA. I could show you a chart on this, but the conclusion is pretty clearhigher GMAT scores indicate higher first-year GPA. Business schools obviously seek students who will perform well in their programs, so thats one reason they look at the GMAT.

One interesting point was made during the lecturethere arent very good studies available yet correlating GRE scores with first-year MBA student performance. This makes sense because the GRE only recently became adopted (by some schools) as an alternate test to the GMAT. One hypothesis floated by an attendee was that admissions committees at MBA programs may still look at the GMAT more favorably than the GRE because the data to correlate GRE with student GPA is unknown. This argument made sense to me, but take it with a grain of salt since this discussion was coming from a conference sponsored by the GMAC.

Get Used to Official Guide 12

Get comfortable with the beloved OG 12^th Edition book. According to the GMAC product teams, there are no plans in the works to update this book with a 13^th edition any time soon. The next release might not happen until 2013 when the next-generation GMAT will be released.

One point that was reinforced: practice with the latest OG books whenever you can. The GMAT test format hasnt changed, but the questions are slowly evolving over time. Thus, older OG books may not reflect todays GMAT questions as well. Personally, I think that youll find useful practice from OG 10 thru OG 12.

Myth: the First 10 Questions on the GMAT Count the Most

For as long as I can remember, folks in the Beat The GMAT community have been debating this myth . GMAC addressed this myth during the conference. Two takeaways:

Even if you start out missing some questions, you can recover later in the section and still get a great score.

Dont worry about this myth! Master your pacing on the test and finishthat is way more important than getting the first couple of questions correct.

I cant reiterate the second point enough, about the importance of finishing the test. Dr. Rudner from GMAC showed the example of an examinee whose percentile score dropped from the 70^th percentile to the 55^th percentile by not finishing the last 5 questions. Ouch!

Mac Version of GMATPrep is Coming Soon

As a recent Mac convert, this news made me particularly happy. Right now the GMATPrep software only works on Windows (not including Vista). GMAC wouldnt give dates, but they said a Mac version was in the works.

When I asked whether they were ever going to come out with a web version of GMATPrep, they said that wasnt in the plans. The primary reason was that this software has to be accessible to test takers around the world, and some places dont have reliable Internet access yet.

Dont Cheat

GMAC is taking security very seriously. In many testing centers you will now have to get scanned using an advanced palm vein reader, so dont be tempted to ask your friend take the test on your behalf.

Additionally, dont attempt to search for live GMAT questions anywhere. First of all, the likelihood that you are going to actually see one of these live questions during the test will be quite small, since the GMAT question bank for live tests is quite large. The downside for getting caught is hugenot only will you get banned from taking the GMAT (and thus will never go to business school), but the GMAC may also prosecute you.

The GMAC has hired a worldwide legal team to crack down on cheaters. Avoid discussions about live GMAT questions like the plague! And if for some reason you encounter live GMAT discussions on Beat The GMAT, let the staff knowwe have zero tolerance for this.

GMAT Vouchers

Ive noticed a lot of discussion about GMAT vouchers in the Beat The GMAT community. Pranav, one of the moderators on Beat The GMAT, wrote a post on his blog about this issue, which you can see here. You might have noticed when you signed up for the GMAT that there was a field to enter a voucher code to discount your GMAT purchase.

I asked about this and what I heard was that these vouchers are essentially the same thing as gift cards. They exist for companies or schools to subsidize the GMAT test fee for applicants. Right now there isnt any program in place to purchase GMAT vouchers at bulk discount. If you receive one, that means that someone paid the full $250 for your test.

Beat The GMAT may purchase some vouchers in the future to distribute as scholarships for our members. More info about that later.

What Was Not Discussed: Details about the New GMAT

There has been some talk in the past few months about the next generation GMAT to be released around 2013. I was hoping to hear more discussion about what this test would look like, but GMAC wasnt willing to say much during the conference. It appears that GMAC is just kicking off its research for the new test so they are still defining requirements for the new test.

Hopefully Beat The GMAT will be one of the first communities to learn more about the new test as details become available.

Final Thoughts

That wraps up the major points I took away from the conference. There was a lot more discussed, but I think this covers the most interesting points for test takers like you.

I was really impressed by the conference and by GMAC, which appears to be making a strong effort to collaborate with test prep organizations (including communities like Beat The GMAT), to disseminate accurate information about the GMAT test. If you have more questions about the GMAT or the GMAC, please respond in the comments. I can try to get these questions answered by my contacts at the GMAC.