GMAC Summit in New York (updated)
GMAC, the publishers and administrators of the GMAT, are hosting their bi-annual summit here in New York on Thursday. The purpose of the summit is to let those in the GMAT ecosystem know about research, trends, and upcoming changes to the test (if any). We’re very privileged to be invited again this year! It’s always a fascinating day when you get to hear from and speak to the minds behind the GMAT. We’ll post an update here after the summit regarding items of interest.
Update – Well, the GMAC Summit 2009 is now in the books. In all frankness, there wasn’t much revealed to interest the average GMAT test-taker, aside from an affirmation of points made earlier (e.g. the early items are not worth expending extra time on).
Some of the items discussed include:
1. The next generation GMAT is in the works for 2013, which is further away than most people should be planning for! There’s some interest among business schools to somehow measure certain soft skills (e.g. leadership, communication ability, people skills, etc.), but such an instrument would be very hard to use reliably in a way that couldn’t be ‘prepped’ for, and nothing is likely on this front anytime soon.
2. The number of GMAT test-takers is inversely related to the employment rate, so this year is something of a record high. Yes, it’s going to be ultra-competitive out there this year.
3. The amount of time (e.g. 9 weeks) spent studying for the GMAT positively correlates with performance. We’d hope so! But this just goes to show that the GMAT isn’t an ‘ability’ test that you can’t improve on. You can do better if you put in the work.
4. The average score increase for someone taking the GMAT a second time is 34 points. That’s a lot. Keep in mind though that a disproportionate number of these individuals got lower scores the 1st time, so it won’t necessarily happen the same way for you. Indeed, 31% have their score stay the same or even drop slightly. On the plus side though, 15% of test-takers increase their scores by 100 points or more (this is higher than you’d expect, perhaps because some people in parts of the world apparently take the test cold the first time just to see what it’s like, then come back after prepping).
5. The first questions of the test are NOT all-important to your performance on the rest of the test. Dr. Rudner showed a slide that illustrated the impact of missing a couple of early questions before performing at higher level, and the effect is very slight to nonexistent, particularly when one considers the potential consequences of spending extra time on early questions and not finishing the section on time.
6. They’re working on a Mac version of GMAT Powerprep for sometime next year. Welcome news for the Apple users out there.
7. Only a small handful of MBA Programs accept the GRE at this point, though GMAC is clearly aware of the issue.
Item of interest to foreign applicants – a significant chunk of the day was spent discussing the new test offered by Pearson and GMAC, the PTE. It’s an English proficiency exam meant to compete with the TOEFL to demonstrate ability to study in MBA and other programs. It was a very impressive demonstration – if you attended, you certainly got the sense that the PTE provided an in-depth test of one’s ability to speak and understand English, as test-takers have to perform a variety of tasks such as introduce oneself in one’s own words (to be recorded and replayed for an admissions officer), describe pictures, listen to transcripts and write them up, etc. It’s a well-designed test, and ETS is already looking to modify the TOEFL to incorporate various features introduced by the PTE. If you’re a foreign applicant who is strong in English and were considering the TOEFL, you may want to give this new test a look instead.