The Classic GMAT, which is the traditional format of the GMAT, had a broader focus on all test areas, while the GMAT Focus Edition is a targeted tool that concentrates on specific sections. GMAT Focus provides detailed feedback on strengths and weaknesses and helps candidates tailor their preparation effectively.

The old GMAT had four sections:

• Analytical Writing Assessment
• Integrated Reasoning
• Verbal Reasoning
• Quantitative Reasoning.

However, the current version of the GMAT has three sections instead of four:

• Verbal Reasoning
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Data Insights

The GMAT has introduced a new section called Data Insights that will have questions on data sufficiency, multi-source reasoning, table analysis, graphics interpretation, and two-part analysis.

Note: If you are familiar with the Integrated Reasoning Section (IR) from the old GMAT format, you will know that these are all question types that we have already seen in IR.

The Analytical Writing Assessment task or AWA, was a key component of the Classic GMAT test that focused on evaluating the candidates’ ability to analyze an argument and communicate their ideas effectively. However, the AWA lost its importance a long time ago. AI tools like Chat GPT have pretty much killed the need to have writing as a skill. Keeping this in mind, the AWA section has not been included in the new GMAT exam.

While this move will be celebrated by most candidates, the GMAT Focus Edition eliminating the AWA section has significant repercussions for GMAT applicants. By removing the AWA section, the new test shifts the focus towards other skills that are crucial in today’s business environment. This also means that applicants will need to showcase their proficiency in data analysis and reasoning more prominently to compensate for the absence of the writing assessment

So, overall, having one section less to tackle is good news. But since the AWA did not impact the total score, the impact of this change is minimal.

From a testing standpoint, Sentence Correction could help save a lot of time in the verbal section as most of these questions could be done within 90 seconds. You can’t do that in CR or RC questions. So it’s a bummer that Sentence Correction has been taken out of the GMAT exam.

But this could be good news for most test takers.

Navigating Sentence Correction questions was a daunting task, as it involved learning a ton of grammar rules. As if that wasn’t enough, once test takers pushed past the medium level questions, the grammar rules became tougher and less straightforward, making it difficult to have high accuracy in Sentence Correction questions.

By eliminating this hurdle, the GMAT Focus allows test takers to concentrate on other areas and boost their overall performance.

The removal of Sentence Correction questions from the Verbal section in the GMAT Focus Edition shifts the focus away from grammar skills and places more emphasis on other verbal reasoning skills like critical thinking, comprehension, and inference

Wait! There is more.

Data Sufficiency questions from the Quantitative section have been shifted to the Data Insights section, and the quant section will now only have Problem Solving questions. This means no more Geometry!

This is also probably good news.

Normally, even though one sees only about 5 to 6 geometry questions in the traditional GMAT, there’s a lot of prep needed to learn to tackle these questions.

The GMAT has recognized that while arithmetic and algebra hold significant value in today’s world, geometry isn’t as crucial.

By simplifying the test, the new exam lets candidates focus on fewer but more important topics. This makes their GMAT preparation more efficient and effective.

In the Classic GMAT, two sections – AWA and IR – did not contribute to the final score in the Classic GMAT. This means you technically wasted one hour of your time solving questions that actually did not matter. These two sections have now been removed in the GMAT Focus Edition.

So on the face of it, the GMAT Focus takes lesser time and has fewer questions.

But let’s not get sucked into the common misconception that this makes the new GMAT easier. There’s a lot more at stake in this exam, and you need to constantly have this on your mind.

With a total of 64 questions to be completed in 135 minutes, candidates have just about two minutes to complete each question. This means candidates will need to be super focused and very clear about the test-taking strategies they are going to follow or they will not be able to finish the exam on time.

Two new features have been introduced in the new version of the GMAT.

The bookmark feature allows test takers to click on a particular question and bookmark it in case they want to revisit that question at the end of a section.

If you think about it, this is a small change, but it will reduce a great deal of stress.

Taking the GMAT can be quite nerve-wracking due to its adaptive algorithm. The algorithm decides the difficulty level of the next question based on the test-taker’s performance in the previous question.

This often causes stress, leading test-takers to spend too much time on a question or second-guess their answers.

However, bookmarking offers a sense of relief by allowing candidates to revisit answers, which eases the pressure to be sure about every single answer.

But now that test-takers can change up to three answers at the end of the section, they need to come up with a new plan to figure out which answers they want to change.

Thankfully, the limit of three prevents one from getting overwhelmed and attempting to change every response.

Note: This feature raises an intriguing issue that GMAC will need to address. As the GMAT is a question-adaptive test, the next question depends on the accuracy of the previous answer. Allowing test-takers to modify three responses could potentially disrupt the algorithm’s effectiveness and score scale, creating an interesting challenge for GMAC to resolve.