The GMAC or Graduate Management Admission Council, administrator, and owner of the GMAT examination have made this announcement that the GMAT online examination appointments would be obtainable until the latter part of 2020.
The Temporary solution
Initially, the GMAT online examination was launched in the form of a temporary solution for supporting students who had applied to B-school at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak and it compelled to close the centers for the GMAT test.
Now, as the issue of coronavirus doesn’t seem to vanish and as the entire world has been transferring their attention to life on the internet, the GMAT online will be serving candidates who are looking forward to enrolling in Master’s program and MBA beyond this fall.
Until Dec 2020
A GMAT-style test meant for executive MBA candidates, the “Executive Assessment Online” will remain available for taking until the finishing of 2020.
According to the head of the GMAT and Senior Dir. Vineet Chhabra, as a vital portion of its ongoing commitment for serving candidates and schools, GMAC has made this announcement that its range of online examinations will be available through the latter part of 2020.
He further said that they are committed to proposing candidates with the flexibility to give tests in either of the two formats; online or in a safe and available test center. So, with the evolution of the market, the GMAC along with its set-up of assessment items will evolve too.
GMAT test center versus online GMAT examination
Though in some nations, the GMAT test centers have re-opened, in many places it is still closed. Again, at some places, it has got confined capacity. Hence, it becomes pretty trickier for the candidates to plan or reach the test centers amidst the ongoing threat of coronavirus.
When the matter comes to content, then the only difference that remains visible between the version of the test center and the online GMAT is considered the elimination of the AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment) part from the online exam. This is a half-an-hour writing task and this section is called the essay section.
The New GMAT Structure
Interestingly, the GMAT online follows the same structure besides the number of lines as well as the period that candidates spend at the test center examination. Additionally, it utilizes a similar score scale and scoring algorithm for the Total score and Section Scores too.
Initially, candidates weren’t very happy that they weren’t granted permission for taking physical notes at the time of Online GMAT examination, though GMAC quickly addressed this, and today, test-takers can utilize both an online whiteboard tool and a physical whiteboard.
The GMAC test is obtainable in impacted markets worldwide but it excluded markets that are restricted by some regulatory restrictions, like Cuba, Iran, Mainland China, North Korea, and Sudan.
The cost of the GMAT online examination is $200 worldwide and it gets hosted on mba.com. Here, you need to register yourself for the test.
The prospects of GMAT online examination
Though there isn’t any present news on examining appointments that are beyond 2020, yet it can be said that GMAT online examination seems to stay for long.
According to GMAC, it will open up availability even beyond 2020 and a few admissions consultants are looking for permanent solutions for proposing more flexibility to the B-school candidates.
- For matching the test center of GMAT, founder of Management Masters, Piyush Ranjan says that more flexibility should be provided on the test-taking policies.
- Though the option of a physical whiteboard is considered a step forward, he wishes his clients to utilize paper and pen while giving the GMAT online examination.
- Another vital thing would be considered the test’s acceptability. More and more schools have been accepting GMAT online but they are mentioning clearly that it is the exception for the admissions of 2021.
- It would be highly important for GMAC to make tangible efforts for turning it more acceptable. For instance, when a student takes the GMAT online and gets a 750 he would hope it to remain usable for the subsequent five years.
- According to GMAC, the GMAT online exam has been getting widespread acceptance and both scores of GMAT, as well as GMAT online, remain valid for 5 years.
- According to a GMAC spokesperson, from April, students who are representing 124 nations have directed scores to above 2000 B-school programs all across the world,
- All over the world, schools are highly confident and comfortable in using the GMAT online examination for evaluating their applicant pools.
- The need, scoring, and construct structure of the assessment online can be compared to the examination which gets delivered in test centers. In this regard, GMAC has witnessed scoring results that can be compared to examinations that are given in test centers.
Stay connected with fellow students on PaGaLGuY for CAT Exam 2020 Discussion
Stay connected with fellow students on PaGaLGuY for (OFFICIAL) NMAT By GMAC 2020