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GMAT Exam New Feature Offers Greater Control and Flexibility

While appearing for Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) exam with fixed order of sections, sometime not pleasing the test takers to break the nervousness and feel comfortable to score better. To provide test takers the flexibility to customize their GMAT exam experience by choosing the section order in which they feel most comfortable taking the exam, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) announced the upcoming launch of Select Section Order, a new feature in GMAT. 

The Reston, Virginia- based Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) that conducts the Computer-based GMAT, said in a release that the Select Section Order will be available to test takers worldwide beginning 11 July 2017.


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.”

He added, “We conducted a pilot in 2016 to test this feature and received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with 85 per cent 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.

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The GMAT has four sections in the order in which test takers have to proceed at present namely, Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative and Verbal skills.


After the new feature implemented on July 11, test takers will select their desired section order at the test center on exam date, immediately prior to the start of the exam. Test takers would be allowed either to maintain the original order or change it to have Verbal, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment or Quantitative, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment.

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).

Introduction of the GMAT Enhanced Score Report in January 2015, provides test takers access to an in-depth analysis of their overall GMAT performance. The GMAT Score Preview, introduced in July 2014 enabled test takers to preview their unofficial scores before deciding whether to report or cancel them.

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Sarathy said, “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 rigors of a graduate business program.”

“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.

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a global, non-profit association of 220 leading graduate business schools. Founded in 1953, they are 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. The Council is based in Reston, Va., with offices in London, New Delhi (Gurgaon) and Hong Kong.

Here you got the details about GMAC’s GMAT “Select Section Order” New feature. Have any doubts or comments, you can discuss via the AfterGraduation Forum. Share this article “GMAT Exam New Feature Offers Greater Control And Flexibility” to your friends and known. Connect with us through  Facebook  and Twitter.


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