GMAT testing hits record volume in India
Shiksha.com Correspondent
The present year has sprung up some surprises for GMAT — the exam has registered historic highs in the number of exam takers and test scores. A total of 286,529 GMAT exams were taken, with 831,337 score reports sent to 5,281 graduate business and management programs around the world. The record volume partially reflects increased interest in the exam brought on by the addition of the Integrated Reasoning section on June 5, 2012. Historically, test volume rises just before changes are made to a standardised exam as test takers opt for a familiar format at the transition.
“2012 has witnessed the highest ever GMAT volumes in India till date. In addition to this, 128 programmes in India received GMAT scores for admissions from Indian aspirants, a huge growth of 450% over the last five years. As Indian business schools are widening their search for candidates with a view to creating more diversity in their classroom, GMAT offers an excellent pool of aspirants. While applications to Indian businesses from non-Indian applicants have grown, overall they represent a small proportion. Systematic effort to attract interest from international students and NRI candidates will further help create diversity in the classroom,” said Ashish Bhardwaj, regional director, South Asia, GMAC.
GMAT exam volume for the 2012 testing year (July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012) is up 11 per cent from the last year, and eight per cent higher than the previous record of 265,613 in the year 2009.
“2012 has been a remarkable year,” said David Wilson, GMAC president and CEO. “GMAT testing rose from 2011 to 2012 in all world regions. The number of programs receiving GMAT scores rose to an all-time high. And we and our partners were able to scale our systems and delivery to individual test takers seamlessly to accommodate the high demand for the exam in the spring,” Wilson added.
Key trends:
- The 2012 testing year was a record year for GMAT volume, score reports sent, and number of programs receiving scores. Globally, 286,529 GMAT exams were taken, with 831,337 GMAT score reports sent to 5,281 programs.
- The most preferred management education destinations for Indian GMAT takers in India are: USA (51%), India (18%), UK (8%), Singapore (7.5%) and France (5%).
- GMAT is now accepted at 175 management programmes in India at over 80 business schools; and is available to candidates over 300 days a year at 18 test centers in 17 cities. GMAC has set up test centres in Indore, Nagpur, Coimbatore and Vishakapatnam recently to respond to a strong demand for the GMAT exam beyond the metro locations.
- Roughly 560,000 GMAT score reports were sent to MBA and EMBA programmes, and 240,000 scores went to other masters programmes (such as accounting, finance, and management) in testing year 2012.
- GMAT testing outside of the United States continues to grow quickly. Tests taken by non-US citizens rose 19 per cent in 2012 and represented 59 per cent of global GMAT volume.
- Chinese test takers, the second-largest citizenship group after the US, represent 20 per cent of global testing. In 2012, the number of exams taken by Chinese citizens increased 45 per cent to 58,196 exams.
- Indian citizens, the third-largest citizenship group, took 30,213 GMAT exams, a figure that increased 19 per cent in 2012.
- The percentage of exams taken by women hit 42.9 per cent in 2012—a record for the third straight year.
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