2012年 迎来GMAT改革大潮

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The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) will soon gain a groundbreaking new section designed to measure test takers’ ability to evaluate information from multiple sources. The new Integrated Reasoning section, scheduled for introduction in June 2012, will provide business schools with a window into how prospective students respond to the kinds of complex challenges they will encounter as managers in today’s information-rich business environment. Examinees will be asked to analyze information, draw conclusions and discern relationships between data points, just as they must do in business school.

The coming enhancements to the GMAT exam stem from extensive input from business school deans and faculty collected during the past three years by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), owners of the exam. Soliciting input from faculty is a regular part of GMAC’s commitment to continuously improving the GMAT.

The overall length of the GMAT exam (three and a half hours) will not change. In conjunction with adding a new 30-minute Integrated Reasoning section, the Analytical Writing Assessment will be streamlined to include only one essay prompt instead of two.

The GMAT exam’s Verbal and Quantitative sections will not change. As a result, when the new section is introduced in June 2012, tests will be scored on the same 200–800 scale used today. Test takers will receive a separate score for the essay—as they do now—and a separate score for the new Integrated Reasoning section.

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Q: Which Analytical Writing Assessment question type will be dropped—Analysis of an Issue or Analysis of an Argument?

A: Neither will be dropped from the test. Test takers will only get one essay question, but it could be either Analysis of an Issue or Analysis of an Argument.

Q: Is the new section adaptive?

A: No, but some questions may have multiple parts.

Q: Will questions have more than one right answer? If so, will test takers get partial credit if they get some parts right but not others?

A: Yes, some of the new question types may have more than one correct response. It has not yet been decided whether partial credit will be given.

Q: What will the new section score scale look like?

A: That has not been decided; new score reports will be unveiled in June 2011.

Q: Are the new questions Verbal or Quantitative?

A: Both Quantitative and Verbal new question types are being tested.

Q: Why a 2012 release and not 2013 as previously announced?

A: The June launch date works best for schools, which transition to a new admissions cycle over the summer.

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Q: Why is the Integrated Reasoning section being added?

A: Since 1953, the GMAT exam has been developed specifically for business schools, by business schools, and it has evolved along with their needs. Since 2006, three surveys of faculty worldwide have been conducted. In the most recent survey, 740 business school faculty said they need 21st century business students to be able to integrate data from multiple sources, solve complex problems, and make statistical inferences. Many of the new question types require the same sort of problem solving students will need to do in business school, so the Integrated Reasoning score will give both schools and students an idea of their potential to do that.

Q: How should test takers prepare for the Integrated Reasoning section?

A: As GMAC recommends now, test takers should make sure they are familiar with the test format and question types before taking the test. More detail explaining how the new question types work and what is expected of test takers will be available on mba.com closer to the launch date. Because item types are still being piloted, it is premature to be more specific now.

Q: When can test takers expect to see new test preparation materials?

A: Study guides and other test prep materials will be available early enough so that test takers will have time to prepare sufficiently for the test. Availability will be announced on mba.com.

Q: Why is one of the essay questions being dropped?

A: Admissions directors have said, and recent research has shown, that the two essay scores are highly correlated─that is, most test takers get similar scores on both essays, making a single essay acceptable for predicting performance.

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Next Generation GMAT FAQs
Q: When will the test make its debut?

A: June 4, 2012.

Q: How is the exam different?

A: The Next Generation GMAT will include a 30-minute Integrated Reasoning section with new question types.

Q: What skills will the new questions measure?

A: The new question types will ask test takers to assimilate and integrate information from multiple sources to solve complex problems; accurately interpret visual and tabular data representations; and determine or estimate probability and statistics.

Q: How many new question types will there be, and what will they be like?

A: Numerous new question types are being tested, and not all of them will be on the exam. Items being considered may require test takers to integrate data from multiple sources, interpret data from tables that can be sorted like spreadsheets, and make inferences based on statistics, generate solutions rather than choose the correct answer – the type of reasoning business students have to do every day.

Q: How will the Next Generation GMAT be structured?

A: The 30-minute Integrated Reasoning section will be added to the exam. The new section will be scored separately and not contribute to the Total Score. One of the two 30-minute essays in the Analytical Writing Assessment will be dropped. With breaks, the exam should still last approximately four hours.