Online GMAT Will Finally Include Analytical Writing Part Of The Exam

Hours that test-takers spent studying for the GMAT exam

Hours that test-takers spent studying for the GMAT exam

More than a year after rushing to market an online version of the GMAT exam, the Graduate Management Admission Council will finally add the missing section of the test–the analytical writing assessment–to its at-home version. Test takers who sit for the exam at home starting May 20 will have the AWA as part of the GMAT.

The move, coming exactly 13 months since the launch of the online version, is among several new features to the test, all beginning on May 20. To better compete with the GRE, the organization will now allow test takers to view their unofficial scores immediately after competing the exam. Currently, Currently, applicants who take the exam are not able to preview scores at the exam’s end. They are now allowed to view scores before selecting programs to send the score to seven business days after completing the GMAT.

Test takers also will be able to choose which section order to take the exam in, just like the GMAT at test centers. You can decide to start with the quantitative portion of the test, or verbal, integrated reasoning or the AWA. And finally, test takers will now have the option of two eight-minute breaks versus one.

ONLINE VERSION OF THE GMAT STILL NOT AVAILABLE IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES

The current GMAT online exam will continue to be available through May 19. Then, starting May 20, the new enhanced version will be available. The online exam still is not available in Mainland China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan due to regulatory and local data privacy rules and proctoring support for the at-home version is only being offered in English.

The addition of the AWA portion of the text, along with an additional break, will obviously extend the the time to take the exam at home from the existing estimate of approximately 2 hours 45 minutes with one, optional 5-minute break before the integrated reasoning section. It will now equal the test center GMAT which is three and one-half hours in length.

This latest move follows continued marketshare gains by the rival Graduate Record Exam. According to data compiled by Poets&Quants, over the past five years the percentage of entrants submitting GRE scores has climbed at 42 of the top 50 full-time MBA programs in the United States.

DON’T MISS: AVERAGE GRE SCORES AT THE TOP 50 U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOLS or AVERAGE GMAT SCORES AT LEADING BUSINESS SCHOOLS

Median study hours by GMAT score self-reported from test-takers.