INTEGRATED REASONING
Q.WHAT IS THE CHANGE?
A.From June 2012 the GMAT will include a 30-minute “integrated reasoning” section. The GMAT will still be three-and-a-half hours long, and the new section replaces one of the two essays in the Analytical Writing Assessment – there will now be just one essay. The Verbal and Quantitative sections remain unchanged
Q.WHAT DOES THE NEW SECTION INVOLVE?
A.The new test will require students 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.” In short, use spreadsheets, extrapolate from statistics and “generate solutions” rather than choosing answers.
Q.WHY HAVE THEY CHANGED THE TEST?
A.The scores from the two writing tests tended to be very similar – and so it was decided that one was enough to evaluate the student’s analytical and writing skills. The time is better used testing a kind of reasoning that is increasingly important in modern business.
Q.HOW WILL THE NEW SECTION BE SCORED?
A.This hasn’t yet been decided, but the overall score will still be on the same scale – a single number of between 200 and 800.