The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has unveiled the long-awaited GMAT Focus score chart and percentiles, along with the scoring scale for the GMAT Focus, marking a significant shift in how candidates for business schools are evaluated. This pioneering scoring system aims to offer a more equitable and thorough assessment of applicants’ skills. For those contemplating taking the GMAT Focus, this article offers crucial insights into the score chart, percentiles, the innovative scoring framework, and its potential implications for your test-taking journey.
This article outlines the following key points:
- Enhanced Scoring Architecture: The GMAT Focus introduces a refined scoring system ranging from 205 to 805, offering 61 distinct ability levels, akin to the traditional GMAT (200 to 800). Notably, with a 40% increase in levels for high achievers, this edition provides more detailed scoring for top performers, acknowledging their efforts more comprehensively.
- Three Sub-sections Instead of Two: The total score now comprises three subsection scores—Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights—each carrying equal weight and scaled scores ranging from 60 to 90. This departure from the classic GMAT’s two-section format (Quant and Verbal) marks a significant shift.
- Resolution of Quant Scoring Ambiguities: With 11 scoring levels allocated to the top 40% of test-takers—tripling the number compared to the classic GMAT—the GMAT Focus Edition rectifies inconsistencies in quant scoring, offering a more precise evaluation of participants’ quantitative abilities.
- Comparison: The translation of GMAT scores reveals a trend wherein higher percentiles are awarded to high achievers, reflecting the Focus Edition’s finer granularity in scoring for top GMAT performers. Conversely, this trend reverses for lower scorers.
GMAT Focus Score Chart
The latest GMAT Focus Edition presents an updated scoring structure alongside some resemblances to the traditional GMAT exam’s scoring mechanism. Both editions offer 61 scoring levels, ensuring a thorough evaluation of candidates’ capabilities. Furthermore, the GMAT Focus Edition’s total score spans from 205 to 805, a slight adjustment from the GMAT Exam’s range of 200 to 800, facilitating clearer distinction between scores from the two versions.
| New GMAT Section | Scaled Score | Mean Score |
| Quantitative score | 60 – 90 | 77.71 |
| Verbal score | 60 – 90 | 78.99 |
| Data Insights | 60 – 90 | 74.41 |
How is the GMAT scored?
Understanding the GMAT scoring system is crucial, as it operates on an adaptive model. This means that question difficulty adjusts based on your performance. For instance, if you answer questions correctly, the test will likely present more challenging ones.
But why does the test vary question difficulty?
The primary goal is to gauge your ability level accurately. Someone who handles more difficult questions demonstrates a higher level of ability compared to those who struggle with them. Consequently, your GMAT score relies on two key factors:
- The number of questions answered correctly.
- The average difficulty level of those correctly answered questions.
Converting your score into percentile ranking
According to the GMAC, GMAT Scores come with a Percentile Ranking, indicating the percentage of test-takers you outperformed. While your score remains constant, the Percentile Ranking may vary, as GMAT Percentiles are recalculated annually using data from the previous three years’ exams.
The percentile associated with your GMAT score represents the proportion of individuals whom you’ve surpassed with that score.
Refer to the table below, sorted by Percentile Ranking, to grasp the correlation between GMAT Test Scores and GMAT Percentiles:
GMAT Scores & Percentiles:
Total Score sorted by Percentile Ranking:
Utilize this GMAT Score Chart (updated as of January 2024) to discern the corresponding percentile values for total GMAT scores:
| 805 | 100% |
|---|---|
| 795 | 100% |
| 785 | 100% |
| 775 | 100% |
| 765 | 100% |
| 755 | 100% |
| 745 | 100% |
| 735 | 100% |
| 725 | 99% |
| 715 | 99% |
| 705 | 99% |
| 695 | 98% |
| 685 | 97% |
| 675 | 96% |
| 665 | 94% |
| 655 | 93% |
| 645 | 89% |
| 635 | 85% |
| 625 | 83% |
| 615 | 80% |
The Official Score Report for the GMAT Focus Edition brings significant enhancements at no additional cost, providing comprehensive insights into your performance.
Key features of the new Official Score Report include:
- Detailed Performance Insights: Alongside total and section scores, percentile rankings, and insights by section and question type, you’ll receive information on time management and performance compared to others applying to the same program.
- Performance Summary Charts: These charts offer an overview of your scores and percentile rankings by section and program/school, helping you gauge your performance against others.
- Subsection Analysis: Detailed breakdowns of performance by content domain, question type, and fundamental skills within each section are provided, giving you a thorough understanding of your strengths and areas for improvement.
- Time Management & Review Activity: Insights into your response time, including review time, for each question, as well as a summary of question review and changes, help you assess your test-taking strategies.
Differences in how the exam is scored
The GMAC has implemented a significant revamp to the scoring system in the GMAT Focus Edition, adapting it to better suit the increasingly diverse global test-taking community. Addressing the issue of uneven score distribution over the years, which has posed challenges for schools in evaluating candidate performance, the updated score scale promises a fairer assessment reflective of the evolving demographics of GMAT test-takers. There are two key modifications to the scoring architecture. The Total Score now incorporates all three section scores (Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights), offering a more comprehensive evaluation.
The scoring scale has been refined to allocate more ability levels to higher scoring tiers, ensuring a more accurate representation of the current test-taking population’s abilities.
This evolved scoring scale results in a more balanced scoring system. While the classic GMAT is scored from 200 to 800 in 10-point increments, providing 61 scoring levels, the GMAT Focus Edition maintains the same number of levels but is scored from 205 to 805. By updating the scoring scale, the GMAC has aligned it with the needs of today’s test-takers, departing from the scale designed in the 1990s for the classic GMAT.
Accessing Your Official Score Report:
Your report will be available on your mba.com account within 3-5 business days, with email notification upon availability. The report includes exam details, personal data, individual section scores, total score, and percentile rankings, as well as previous scores from GMAT exams taken within the past five years.
No Need to Cancel Scores:
Since you don’t need to select business school programs to receive your Official Score Report before taking the GMAT Focus Edition, there’s no need to cancel your score. You only send scores to the programs you choose, and if you don’t send your report to schools, they won’t see it. However, once you send your score to a program, this action cannot be undone.
Overall Summary:
The GMAT Focus Edition‘s scoring changes, favoring high scorers and offering improved accuracy, provide a fairer assessment of abilities. By addressing quant scoring and equally weighing each section (DI, Quant, and Verbal), the test ensures fairness for all candidates. While it remains uncertain if the test is easier to prepare for, the new scoring system promises a more equitable evaluation of candidates’ abilities.
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Understanding the GMAT Test: A Comprehensive Guide
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