Global GMAT Test Volume Fell 19% In 2025, GMAC Confirms

Global demand for the Graduate Management Admission Test dropped sharply in the past year, with the number of exams taken worldwide falling 19%. 

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s newly released Profile of GMAT Testing Citizenship, just 93,196 exams were administered globally in the 2025 testing year (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025), down from 115,286 the year before. The test taking drop cost GMAC more than $6 million in revenue. Over the past five years, GMAC has lost more than 46,000 exams from 161,377 in testing year 2021, a annual revenue decline of nearly $14 million.

The Graduate Management Admission Council, the nonprofit that owns and administers the GMAT, also reported that 135,901 score reports were sent to graduate management programs in the same period, more than four out of five directed to MBA programs. The report confirms preliminary figures that surfaced on GMAT Club, an independent online forum and resource hub used by tens of thousands of MBA applicants worldwide.

HISTORICAL BACKDROP — THE DECLINE HAS BEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING

The 19% year-over-year drop in GMAC’s testing-year tally isn’t an outlier so much as the latest milestone in a multi-year downward trend. In 2021, global GMAT volume fell roughly 10% from the prior year. In the U.S. the decline was dramatic — from 117,511 exams in 2012 to just 38,509 in testing year 2021, a 47.7% drop. 

In 2025 in the U.S., 19,620 sat for the GMAT, a 15.8% decline from the combined 23,299 who took the 10th edition of the GMAT and the newer GMAT Focus in 2024.

By 2022, GMAC reported its third operating loss in four years, with revenues plunging as test-taking volume collapsed and schools leaned harder into test-optional admissions. The losses soared in the following year–2023–to a record $10.2 million, from $6.6 million a year earlier.

FACTORS DRIVING THE DECLINE

Business school observers point to several overlapping factors in the steep decline in GMAT test takers: the widespread adoption of test-optional policies, the growing popularity of the Graduate Record Exam, and the disruption caused by GMAC’s rollout of the GMAT Focus Edition in late 2023. Now branded simply the GMAT Exam, the shorter, redesigned test comes with a new scoring scale, complicating historical score comparisons.

Forum participants at GMAT Club debated whether the decline should be seen as an expected continuation of long-term trends or as evidence of a sharper contraction in the pipeline. Some noted that GMAC reports data by testing year, which runs from July to June, rather than by admissions cycle, meaning the numbers do not fully align with application activity. Still, the scale of the drop — nearly one-fifth fewer tests in a single year — stood out as noteworthy across the applicant community.

SCORES & DEMOGRAPHICS

The TY2025 data shows that about 19,000 test-takers scored above 645, roughly the top 13% of candidates. Another 31,000 fell between 565 and 635, while more than 43,000 scored between 205 and 555. As GMAT Club users noted, the distribution may foreshadow percentile adjustments in future testing years as the new GMAT scale stabilizes.

GMAC’s official reporting confirms that the mean score on the Focus Edition was 553.35, significantly lower than the mid-600s averages typical of the legacy GMAT. GMAC cautions, however, that the two versions are not directly comparable because the Focus Edition introduced a new structure and scoring scale.

Women represented 41% of examinees in TY2025, down from 44% in 2021. The mean age of test-takers remained in the mid- to late-20s, though GMAC data show clear variation by region: Asian candidates tend to be younger, while European examinees are older, often entering graduate management education after more professional experience.

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN DEMAND

East and Southeast Asia continues to represent the largest share of GMAT examinees, accounting for nearly half of all tests taken in 2025. China’s numbers have been tapering while India remains comparatively resilient, producing close to one-quarter of all GMAT test-takers worldwide.

In the United States and Canada, volumes fell to just 19% of global testing in 2025, down from more than 25% five years earlier. The region’s long-term downward slide reflects both the spread of test-optional policies and the growing acceptance of the GRE at top B-schools. Despite this contraction, North American candidates still tend to post above-average scores, with many targeting the most competitive MBA programs.

Europe, which accounts for roughly 9% of global GMAT volume, has held relatively steady compared with other regions. European candidates also skew older, often pursuing graduate management education after accumulating more professional experience. Meanwhile, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America each represent just a few percentage points of the global total, but they are increasingly important to schools seeking to diversify their applicant pipelines.

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