Online GMAT Will Now Be Available Until Dec. 31

As the U.S. continues to experience a surge in coronavirus cases, the Graduate Management Admission Council has decided to make its at-home online version of the GMAT exam available through the end of 2020. It’s the third time that GMAC has extended the deadline for what was initially billed as a temporary interim solution when it was launched back on April 20th when most test centers closed due to the pandemic.

The new deadline is a big expansion of what had been a mid-August cutoff. But with cases continuing to grow and a second wave likely in the fall, chances seem less likely for users to sit for the exam at an open test center.

So far, GMAC says it has delivered more than 10,000 exams since GMAT Online launched in April, representing candidates from 124 countries who have sent scores to more than 2,000 business school programs around the world.

Appointment times are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Candidates can schedule an exam appointment up to 24 hours before an available testing window through December 31. The at-home version of the test is available in most locations, with the exception of Mainland China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan due to regulatory and local data privacy rules.

GMAC STILL ALLOWING TEST TAKERS TO SIT FOR THE AT-HOME GMAT ONLY ONCE

Despite the extension, GMAC is still preventing test takers from sitting for the at-home exam more than once. That will likely depress scores provided with business school applications unless more test centers open and also encourage more test takers to opt for the at-home GRE test which can be taken as many as five times in a 12-month period (see below).

Score cancellations and retakes are not available unless GMAC can verify a failed test due to a technical glitch. Several test takers have reported technical failures since the online exam was made available (see Evan’s ‘Absolute Nightmare’ Experience With The Online GMAT). The online GMAT does not count toward candidates’ yearly nor lifetime exam attempt limits at a test center. A test taker can sit for the GMAT at a test center as many as five times in a rolling 12-month period and no more than eight times during a lifetime.

The rival at-home GRE exam, by Educational Testing Service, is currently available around the clock seven days a week through Sept. 30, 2020.

As previously reported, test-taking users of the GMAT were finally permitted to use a physical whiteboard for notes while taking the test. That came into effect on June 11th after widespread complaints that the online whiteboard was so awkward to use that it could cost test-takers valuable points on the exam. For test-takers who took the GMAT online exam before the ability to use a physical whiteboard was made available, GMAC is offering the option to take the GMAT online exam an additional time and waiving the one-time limit on the GMAT at-home exam.

DON’T MISS: THE GRE & GMAT AT-HOME TESTS: A SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON or THIS PRO-TEST TAKER SCORED 30 POINTS LOWER ON THE AT-HOME GMAT