Your prospects after GMAT
By Ruchi Shrimali
GMAT is constantly in the phase of evolution. Present GMAT version in Generation IX while the Next Gen GMAT to be launched in June 2012 will be the Generation X of the exam.
- Mr. Ashok Sarathy, Vice President, GMAT Program, Graduate Management Admission Council
IIMs and ISB form a part of the elite club of 50 management institutes in India that accept GMAT scores as their admission criteria. Recently, the government has also allowed the B-schools in India to accept GMAT scores as one of their criteria for admission in their management programmes. Besides, Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) offers you an incredible option of applying to more than 4,800 management programmes across more than 100 countries worldwide. With a tall Indian at the helm, GMAT is all set to make a big impact in business education marketplace in India and worldwide.
In an exclusive interview with Shiksha.com, Mr. Ashok Sarathy, Vice President of the GMAT Program, reveals how The Graduate Management Ad
mission Council (GMAC) ensures that the exam keeps evolving to keep up with the changing needs of the business schools across the world.
Tell us something about The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).
GMAC is an international non-profit organization of business schools that owns the GMAT. It also offers a wide array of products, services, and programs to meet the needs of business schools and serves as a primary resource of research and information about quality graduate management education.
The Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) originated in 1954 as the first and only standardized test designed to screen candidates for graduate business and management programs. Today, GMAT scores are accepted by over 4,800 management programmes in more than 100 countries.
GMAT has proved itself to be the most reliable predictor of academic success in graduate business studies, which means that the correlation between management aspirants who do well in GMAT and who do well in MBA programs and graduate business studies has been observed to be quite high.
What role do you play in the organization?
As Vice President in charge of the GMAT Program for the Graduate Management Admission Council, I manage all aspects of the Graduate Management Admission Test, including its development, delivery, and administration.
I have been with GMAC since 2003. In the same year, we decided to switch our vendors to Pearson VUE and Act, Inc. to help make GMAT more foolproof and student-friendly. These vendors have latest technology, maintain high security levels, and are very accessible. Besides, they are quite customer focused. Since then, we have been working with our new vendors to identify key elements that needed rebuilding from the ground up, including registration, score reporting, and test security.
I am also responsible for launching the Next Generation GMAT, which will make its debut in June 2012.
What is this Next Gen GMAT all about?
Currently version of GMAT is Generation IX. Next Gen GMAT will be Generation X of the exam. GMAT constantly evolves itself to keep up with the changing needs of business schools across the world.
In the Next Gen GMAT, we have tried to make only minimal changes. We have just replaced one of the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) sections with an Integrated Reasoning section. The new section will gauge a candidate's ability to interpret and analyse different types of information, and evaluate outcomes.
The new GMAT format is like this:
| GMAT sections | No. of Questions | Time | What the Section Measures |
| Analytical Writing Assessment Section (Analysis of an Argument) | 1 essay | 30 minutes | The ability to think critically and communicate ideas in English |
| Integrated Reasoning (Graphic Interpretation, Table Analysis, Multi-Source Reasoning, and Two-Part Analysis) | 12 questions, many of which have more than one answer assessment to assess | 30 minutes | The ability to interpret and analyse data from multiple sources and in different formats and to convert that data into relevant information to answer questions and solve problems, something we all do every day. |
| Quantitative (Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency) | 37 | 75 minutes | The ability to reason quantitatively, solve quantitative problems, and interpret graphic data. |
| Verbal (Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction) | 41 | 75 minutes | The ability to read and comprehend written material, reason and evaluate arguments, and correct written material to express ideas effectively in standard written English. |
| Total Exam Time | 3 hours 30 minutes |
Why do we need this Integrated Reasoning section?
GMAC believes in constant evolution. The present GMAT format is in effect since 1994. In a recent survey done by us, faculty members of 740 business schools worldwide expressed that processing, analyzing, and interpreting different types of information is one of the critical skills needed to overcome the complex challenges presented in business school programs and do well in the information-rich business environment.
The Integrated Reasoning section of the Next Gen GMAT aims to measure this very skill of the students. It was necessary to include it in the test to ensure that GMAT retains its relevance, reliability, and validity for admission to concurrent graduate management programs.
GMAT scores are valid for 5 years. How will the introduction of the new section affect the students who have appeared or will appear for GMAT before the launch of Next Gen GMAT in June 2012?
Normally, all business schools accept your GMAT scores for five years. However, the Integrated Reasoning section tests a very critical skill and provides additional information about you to the business school. If you think that the Next Gen GMAT is really going to add value to our candidature for the B-school of your choice, you will have to appear for GMAT again, which is a smart choice to make.
How many questions will be asked in the Integrated Reasoning Section and what will its format be?
There will be 12 questions in the Integrated Reasoning section. They will be of four types:
- Graphics Interpretation: In these type of questions, students will be given information in the graphical format, which may include charts and graphs. The students will then be asked questions related to that information.
- Table Analysis: In these type of questions, students will be given information the tabular format, as you see in Excel spreadsheets. The students will then be asked questions related to that information.
- Multi-source Reasoning: In these type of questions, students will be given information in different formats, which may include graphics, text passages, tables etc. The students will have to find the relation between the information and then answer complex questions based on this information.
- Two-part Analysis: These may be bit tricky for students. Here, students have to find whether two different pieces of information are related or not and then, answer the questions accordingly.
You can see that in the information-rich business environment, these skills can make or break the management decisions of a company.
How will the Integrated Reasoning section change the duration and scoring pattern of GMAT?
The duration of the overall GMAT exam will remain the same. It will still be only for three and a half hours. The scores for quantitative section, AWA section, verbal ability section and total scores will also remain the same. The performance for each of these will still be judged on a 0-6 scale and total scores will still be reported out of 800.
The only change will be that one of the AWA sections - the Analysis of Issues - which was for 30 minutes will be replaced by a 30 minute Integrated Reasoning section. We found that performance on both the AWAs was almost always comparable. So, we decided to just use one AWA to test analytical writing skill and introduce a new section instead to measure additional critical skill for B-schools.
The scoring pattern for this section has still not been finalized but we will soon let you know about it. We are still doing field tests for it. Whatever the pattern will be, it will not affect the total scores or the scores of any other section.
Is GMAT relevant for B-schools in India, which have a more theoretical approach rather than a practical approach followed worldwide?
GMAT is relevant for all management institutes, whether in India or abroad, that keep up with the pace of changing needs of the business world. IIMs and ISB accept GMAT scores, which is a testimony to the fact that even the top management institutes in India are constantly re-inventing the curriculum of their MBA and postgraduate management diploma programs to make them more relevant to the industry needs and requirements.
Management education in India may focus more on family businesses, agri-business, and infrastructure sector. But core skills needed by the top managers across the industries remain the same. GMAT tests these very core skills. Hence, GMAT is as relevant to Indian business education marketplace as it is relevant to UK or US markets.
Recently, the government has allowed management institutes in India to accept GMAT scores. However, there is CAT and MAT that already have a stronghold in the Indian market. How would you stand up to them?
CAT is seen as an MBA entrance exam for high-end students. MAT still does not enjoy that much popularity with the top management institutes. GMAC, on the other hand, has been conducting validity tests, surveys, and researches on how to evaluate critical skills needed by business schools across the spectrum all over the world. This is our expertise.
Whether a student is average or one of the high-profile ones with a GMAT score of 700 and above, GMAT opens a gateway for you to all types of management programs across the world. GMAT scores are considered valid and relevant worldwide. It opens up more options for you.
Even if you perform well in CAT or MAT, your options are limited. But with GMAT scores, you can apply to the business schools in over 100 countries.
Besides, you can take GMAT at any time of the year, unlike CAT or MAT. We already have test centers in more than 16 cities in India.
You have put some sample questions of the Integrated Reasoning section online. Have you received responses by students on it?
No, we haven't measured student responses on the practice questions put online but we did perform several pilot tests on students. These students were asked to think aloud while solving their problems, so that we could check that whether they are exercising the same set of skills that we want to measure or not.
These students quite appreciated the introduction of the section and some of them even reported that the skills they were exercising were the same that they usually use in their workplace. This further proves that while we aim to develop an ideal screening test for business schools, the B-schools are asking for the abilities that one needs to have to perform well in the real-life work environment.
What are you doing to ease the transition for the students?
We have already made some sample questions from the new Integrated Reasoning section available online. We will soon be adding more practice questions to the section. By April 2012, we will official launch the 13th edition of the GMAT guide and GMAT prep section, which will include a full-length test based on the Next-Gen GMAT format and many more practice questions.
There is nothing to worry about. Only one AWA has been replaced by a new section where you need to process and analyze information. Everything else will remain the same.
Are you planning any other changes to GMAT to be introduced in next two to three years?
We cannot say that we are certainly not going to make any changes as we are constantly studying the needs of the business schools and try to adapt the test accordingly. However, we are not focusing on introducing changes in GMAT again anytime soon.
Instead, we are focusing on a Soft Skills Assessment Test for students which is not a selection tool. It is meant more as a development tool for students and will provide them important feedback on which skills do they need to develop to succeed in the workplace.
These days the trend of interdisciplinary programs is strong. Is GMAC working on introducing specialized tests for specialized management programmes such as Hospital Management or IT Management?
No, at present, we are focusing on measuring core skills for business schools. There are no plans to introduce specialized tests for specialized programs yet but as the market evolves, you never know what might happen in the future.
To know more about GMAT, you can post your questions here or in the Q&A section of the Shiksha Cafe.
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