New Changes to the GMAT in 2018, Explained

Since April 16 earlier this year, the GMAT exam has seen important changes. Don’t worry, they aren’t making the test longer – in fact, it's the opposite.

GMAC has shortened the test by 30 minutes, bringing the total length of time it takes to complete the GMAT to 3.5 hours. This is good news, right? Many students would agree, as it helps decrease some anxiety about sitting through what used to be a four-hour exam, tapping your foot apprehensively for the next set of questions and wondering when it all will end.

GMAC has done this by cutting a combined 23 minutes from the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections, as well as offering an online tutorial you can view at home instead of at the test center.

But will changes in the test length affect GMAT scoring? Will it alter your course of study as you approach exam day? Why has GMAC made these changes? Read on to find out more about how these modifications to the GMAT affect you.

Quantitative and verbal sections

The changes to the test itself are in the quantitative and verbal sections. As of April 16, there are 31 total questions in the quantitative section as opposed to 37. While it used to take 75 minutes to finish this section, it will now take 62. The verbal section used to consist of 41 questions and take 75 minutes, whereas it now is 36 questions in 65 minutes.

It’s important to note that while these two sections have changed, the other sections are not. The Analytical Writing Assessment continues to take 30 minutes and consist of one essay topic. The Integrated Reasoning section remains at 12 questions with a 30-minute time limit. In addition, break times will stay the same.

Scoring

Luckily, the scoring algorithm, as well as the number of scored questions in each section and average time per question, will not change. The questions GMAC is cutting in quant and verbal are considered “research” or “pre-test questions” that are unscored and used for development of future tests.

There will still be some unscored questions on the exam, but this change does not affect the scoring process at all.

Select section order

Since July of 2017, the GMAT has given students three options with respect to the order in which the individual test sections appear. The original order was Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Verbal Reasoning, and this remains one of the options.

Or, students may take the verbal and quant sections first, in whichever order they wish. In these cases, the third and fourth sections will always be Integrated Reasoning and Analytical Writing respectively. Test-takers make their decisions on section order immediately before beginning the exam. 

Online tutorial

In addition to the reductions in the quant and verbal sections, an additional seven minutes has been cut from the exam by allowing students to view the online tutorial of what to expect on test day at home, as opposed to watching it on test day prior to beginning the exam.

This tutorial can be accessed online and is included in the reminder emails you’ll receive from GMAC as test day approaches. The tutorial provides general information on the GMAT exam questions as well as break times and test center rules. It will introduce you to the layout of important GMAT screens, various question types, and ways to track your progress throughout the exam.

It also includes a detailed summary of each section, and you'll learn how to accept or cancel your GMAT score and how to navigate the GMAT score-sending process.

Sitting through this tutorial isn’t required, but it’s highly recommended, as it helps you become familiar with the screen layout and what to expect on test day. It provides important reminders about the exam as a whole and can be accessed at any time.

GMAC specifically recommends you review this tutorial within three days of your actual test, so the information is fresh in your mind. You can review it at your own pace and as many times as you need to understand what is being conveyed.

There will be a shortened tutorial shown on the day of the exam at the test center, but it will not go into the depth that the online tutorial does. Again, it is highly recommended that you don’t skip this, however well you think you may know the GMAT and its processes.

Why the change?

GMAC has implemented these changes to make the test-taking process more convenient for students. Feedback revealed that many students felt rushed through the tutorial prior to taking the exam, and this may have even affected their performance on the first section. Condensing the quant and verbal sections allows test-takers to better focus and concentrate on the questions and tasks at hand.

All in all, this is probably good news if you’re looking to take the GMAT later this year. Who doesn’t appreciate having fewer questions and cutting the overall experience by 30 minutes?

However, this shouldn’t affect your studies, and allowing ample time to work on problem areas and get your score as high as possible should be your top priorities. But it’s nice to know GMAC is listening to student feedback and looking to make this experience more comfortable.

If you haven’t tried them yet, please check out Manhattan Review’s free GMAT practice questions with detailed explanations of the solutions.

About Manhattan Review: Manhattan Review, the provider of Manhattan Review GMAT Prep, was founded in 1999 by Dr Joern Meissner (pictured), an internationally renowned business school professor. Headquartered in New York City, Manhattan Review operates in many cities in the United States and in selected major cities around the world, including Manila. Our mission as a company is to help students gain entrance to their desired degree programs by working to improve their admission test scores.