Important Changes to GMAT Delivery Beginning in 2006

[tanmay_crazy]

hi ketan
thanx for the information... i had very little information abt GMAT b4 this... i m planning to appear for GMAT this july... i want to know that how many times can i appear for the exam on the same form? looking for a quick reply..
bye
gud luk

[nageshwararaojaladi]

thanks for the information guys.
All the best to all those who are about to take the test.

[srikrishnan]

Originally Posted by tanmay_crazy

hi ketan
thanx for the information... i had very little information abt GMAT b4 this... i m planning to appear for GMAT this july... i want to know that how many times can i appear for the exam on the same form? looking for a quick reply..
bye
gud luk

u can apply as many number of times as u want but if I havent got this wrong then it is once per calender month and a maximum of five times a year...but in the long run... u r free to write ur ass off as long as u want

[drunk jerk]

Originally Posted by srikrishnan

u can apply as many number of times as u want but if I havent got this wrong then it is once per calender month and a maximum of five times a year...but in the long run... u r free to write ur ass off as long as u want

yeah i think you have got it right..but for more apt details check www.mba.com.

[Champaka Navile]

Hi Folks,

not sure if this has reached you ...so spreading this.

Found this information on Manhattan Forum...thought it would be useful....to get the absolute figures on the no of questions and difference btw the 10th and 11th editions of the OG....

Read on..

In the summer of 2005, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) released a much awaited update to the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th edition. Perhaps the proper term, however, would be updates, as the replacement came in the form of 3 books:
The Official Guide For GMAT Review, 11th edition and 2 supplemental books -
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review and The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review.
While the updates come after a five year stint for the 10th edition and many predicted that the new guide(s) would have all new retired GMAT questions, the results were somewhat surprising.
The most salient changes involve a rehashing of the explanations
(NOTE: the following changes apply to all three books).

Quant Side

The problem solving questions are illustrated with more step-by-step solutions. While there seems to be little change as far as the approach taken (i.e. how to solve), the Guide now categorizes each problem by topic (e.g. properties of numbers, geometry area, etc), and the physical layout of each problem is much easier to read.

Data Sufficiency

The solutions are also more logically organized by statement. Statement (1) is addressed, deemed sufficient or insufficient and then statement (2) is dealt with similarly in a separate paragraph. This makes the process of solving data sufficiency much clearer.

Verbal Side

The explanations were overhauled to even greater extent. It seems that the authors have recognized the student's need to clearly understand why each wrong answer choice is wrong because the explanations are now organized by answer choice. This much welcomed change allows the student to practice the systematic elimination of wrong answer choices that is so vital to success on the verbal section of the GMAT.
Topic categories are also assigned to each question in all three verbal question types.

To this end, Reading comprehension

questions are officially divided into six types: main idea, supporting ideas, inference, application (of information), logical structure and style/tone.

Likewise Critical reasoning

the questions are separated into one of three categories: argument construction, argument evaluation and evaluation of a plan. Perhaps even more noteworthy, are the situation and reasoning sections included in each critical reasoning explanation. The situation section recaps the argument in fewer words and the reasoning section highlights the logic involved in solving the question.

Sentence correction

There are eight grammatical issues by which the questions are identified (many are tagged with more than one issue). The explanation begins with an overview of all of the errors that occur, not only in answer choice A, but also in the other four answer choices. Then the answer choices are listed one-by-one with their respective errors. The new format offers greater readability and utility.

Complete Comparision of Questions( In terms of repeated and new Types)

How many of the questions in the 3 new Official Guides are the same as those in their predecessor, The Official Guide to GMAT Review, 10th edition?
On the math side, the 10th edition included 441 problem solving and 274 data sufficiency. Of those, 328 of the problem solving and 215 of the data sufficiency show up in either the 11th edition or the Quantitative Review.
In addition, the 11th edition offers 121 unique problem solving and 82 unique data sufficiency questions. This amounts to a net gain of 8 problem solving and 23 data sufficiency in the new editions. It is worth noting that The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review contains no new questions; it is completely redundant to the 10th edition. All of the unique questions in the new guides appear in The Official Guide For GMAT Review, 11th edition.

On the verbal side, 201 of the 10th edition's 268 sentence correction questions appear in the new guides, along with 67 new questions in the 11th edition. In critical reasoning, 160 of the 205 questions in the 10th edition appear in the new guides, along with 63 new questions in the 11th edition. This amounts to a net gain of 18 critical reasoning questions. Lastly in reading comprehension, 33 of the 48 passages from the 10th edition are represented in the new guides, along with 11 new passages. This represents a net loss of 4 passages in the new guides.
In terms of the difficulty level of the new questions the 11th edition, it seems that the 11th editions are comparable to the 10th. While a few of the hardest questions from the 10th edition have disappeared, they seem to have been replaced by a fair number of difficult questions at the end of the 11th edition's data sufficiency and problem solving sections, as well as in the new 100-question diagnostic section at the beginning of the book.

A significant added benefit to the 11th edition and the two supplemental books is the GMAC's claim that the questions in each section are arranged by increasing level of difficulty. The cautious student should keep in mind, however, that this is only an assertion made by GMAC.

As a final note on the new materials available from GMAC to prepare for the GMAT in 2006, the GMAC has made available new software to emulate the test-taking experience. The software includes five 15-question practice sections and 2 adaptive practice exams. There appears to be no overlap between the questions for the two exams and the questions contained in three new Official Guides. The software also matches the format of the new exam, administered by Pearson Vue testing centers, in terms of font, color scheme, and screen layout.

Source: http://www.manhattangmat.com/strategyseries14.cfm

It is good to be a part of this forum, you can sign up for free newsletter...where you get a lot of useful information coupleted with few challenging problems each week.

Hope you have found this informative.

Cheers
Champ

[pitbull]

Can any GMAT-2006 test taker [Pearson’s] describe about the ‘scratch pad’ available for GMAT? Abt the markers? Thin or thick nibbed like the ones we use on non-dust boards in meetings?

Does it smell bad? If so, hasn’t anyone sued Pearsons or GMAC for intoxicating odour?

Basically, I want to know more about the stationery on offer. I hope it doesn’t take much of our time in getting accustomed to it. I m a GMAT june-2006 aspirant.

[nagpalkunal]

Originally Posted by pitbull

Can any GMAT-2006 test taker [Pearson’s] describe about the ‘scratch pad’ available for GMAT? Abt the markers? Thin or thick nibbed like the ones we use on non-dust boards in meetings?

Does it smell bad? If so, hasn’t anyone sued Pearsons or GMAC for intoxicating odour?

Basically, I want to know more about the stationery on offer. I hope it doesn’t take much of our time in getting accustomed to it. I m a GMAT june-2006 aspirant.

The scratch pad is actually a plastic sheet pad in which you get plastic sheets with a grid pattern. The markers are fine point types (unlike the thick ones used in presentations etc. ) no intoxicating smells either

the nib is actually quite similar to good quality sketch pens

Hope it helps

ATB

Kunal

[jmeasp]

Hey Kunal,i will be taking GMAT on 25.6.06.The last date for submiting the application is 30 .6.06.Is it ok with regards the score to reach the respective institute as they are being done online and we longer have to wait 2-3 weeks.Can you pls confirm if possible.
thanx....

[nagpalkunal]

Originally Posted by jmeasp

Hey Kunal,i will be taking GMAT on 25.6.06.The last date for submiting the application is 30 .6.06.Is it ok with regards the score to reach the respective institute as they are being done online and we longer have to wait 2-3 weeks.Can you pls confirm if possible.
thanx....

Hi JM

My official score card mentioned that it takes 20 days to send the reports to the various schools. I am thinking they meant the detailed reports.
The score itself should be transmitted to them instantly. atleast that is what makes sense too

Kunal

[m2kk]

Hi Friends

Is there any one who can elaborate on whether there exists any diff. between test center experience in India and in US.

I have given my GMAT once in the Prometric Environment .. seems it has changed ... now im planning for another stint in US..

Just wanted 2 know whether there's any diff ... in terms of the TEST CENTER Experience ...

My apolologies if this post does not fall in line

Thx
M2k