GMAC Reduced GMAT 2018 Exam Duration by 30 Minutes – Check All Important Points

GMAC reduced the total duration of GMAT 2018 exam by 30 minutes. Check out complete details.

04 March 2018: The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is reducing the length of GMAT exam by 30 minutes. The exam will now be of 3.5 hours duration instead of 4 hours. The exam is scheduled to begin from 16 April onwards.

Vineet Chhabra, Senior Director of Product Management for GMAC said; “We are always looking for ways to help build candidate confidence and streamline the test experience, all with one goal in mind—to help GMAT test-takers do their very best on exam day,”

He further added; “We believe candidates will have less anxiety and feel better prepared, which can contribute to a better reflection of their true performance on the exam.” 

The time saving has been done by reducing the number of unscored, research questions in Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections. Instruction screens have also been simplified to save time. However, there are no changes in the Analytical Writing or Integrated Reasoning sections, GMAT exam pattern (content and type of questions), marking scheme, and average time per question.

Mr. Chhabra said; “Through our ongoing market feedback and operational reviews, we were able to identify this opportunity to shorten the exam, without changing its reliability,”

“This change will not affect GMAT exam scoring as the number of scored questions will not change. The scoring algorithm will be the same; the Total Score and individual Quantitative and Verbal section scores will be comparable to the exams taken prior to this change. There is no action or change required on the part of business schools and universities. We are providing candidates with a better testing experience while providing business schools with the same high quality, fair and reliable scores.”

New Online Tutorial

GMAC is providing an online tutorial as per the changes made to help students get familiar with the changes. GMAC will also be launching new GMAT Official Prep tools, practice exams, and practice questions to help exam takers align with the changes made in GMAT 2018. Candidates can find further updates on the official website.