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What You Need To Know About The Next Generation GMAT

The following is a guest post from our friends at 2 Minute GMAT:

Many are worried about the new upcoming GMAT exam, to say the least. There has not been much information released about the test, which has only added to the worries of test takers around the world.

If you did not know, starting on June 2012 GMAT test will be the first to take the new edition of the exam. There will be many changes to the upcoming GMAT.

Specifically, the new GMAT will have a section called Integrated Reasoning, or IR. This section will measure your ability to analyze different types of data from several sources. The taker will need to consider a number of presented options and take decisions in the same way they would in the real world. 

The IR section is intended to resemble a real-life scenario, and may involve resources from budget sheets, emails, and notes from top management. Test takers will then need to evaluate and synthesize the data.

Unlike the current GMAT, which included verbal, mathematics and analytical writing sections, the Next Generation GMAT exam will exchange the writing section for the new IR part. Because this part is intended to emulate real-life business environments, the answers will either be correct or incorrect.

Many individuals have been vocal about these changes. Christine Poon, dean of The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, was quoted saying that, “This has been called the era of big data, and it is increasingly evident that the future will be claimed by those able to see the critical patterns among overwhelming complexity.” Many other business school recruiters also believe this exam was created in response to the necessities of the business world.

The IR section will include different types of questions including a sortable table of information, similar to a spreadsheet, a multi-source reasoning question providing test takers with various types of information in multiple tabs (text, charts, and tables), and interpreted graphs and graphical images. We want to wish the upcoming GMAT test takers the best of luck.

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