by Dana Stepleton & Charles Bibilos
By now, you’ve almost certainly heard that the GMAT and GRE have begun to offer at-home versions of the exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. We can’t pretend to have all of the answers yet, but here’s our best take on our students’ most pressing questions about the Interim GMAT and at-home GRE.
Are Interim GMAT questions easier or harder than those on the “normal” GMAT?
The quant, verbal, and integrated reasoning sections of the Interim GMAT will be exactly the same as in the “normal” version of the GMAT. If you hear rumors that the GMAT testing algorithm has changed -- or that the questions themselves have gotten harder somehow -- please don’t believe them.
The GMAT is a standardized exam, and the test remains “standardized” only if the construction of the exam is the same as it’s always been. There is zero reason to think that anything has fundamentally changed about the questions or the GMAT algorithm.
What about the at-home GRE? I read online that it’s definitely harder than the “normal” version, especially on quant.
Sorry, but that’s not true, either. The setting and delivery method have changed, but the GRE questions and testing algorithm definitely have not changed.
Please say it with us again: the GRE is a standardized exam, and the test remains “standardized” only if the construction of the exam is the same as it’s always been. We’re 100% certain of this.
Will MBA admissions committees know that I’ve taken the Interim GMAT or at-home GRE instead of the version in the test center?
ETS (the company that produces the GRE), has said that “your GRE score report will not indicate that you took the test at home.”
The GMAT, however, is a different story: MBA programs will definitely know that you’ve taken the Interim GMAT rather than the traditional, test-center version.
For one thing, they’ve very specifically labelled this as the “Interim GMAT,” setting it apart from just the plain old “GMAT.” In addition, there’s no AWA section on the Interim GMAT, so that will be a dead giveaway on your MBA application.
Will MBA admissions committees treat the Interim GMAT or at-home GRE any differently than the “normal” exams when deciding who gets in?
No, MBA programs almost certainly won’t discriminate against you just because you took the Interim GMAT or at-home GRE exam.
For starters, the Interim GMAT will use the same algorithm and the same question design as the “normal” GMAT, and the at-home GRE is identical to the “normal” GRE. We’re deeply skeptical about the value of GMAT scores in general, but there’s no reason for MBA programs to treat the at-home GMAT or GRE as inferior to the “normal” editions.
In theory, you could argue that the absence of the AWA section on the GMAT would make MBA adcoms hesitate, but nobody really cares about your GMAT AWA score anyway. So that’s a non-issue for the overwhelming majority of MBA candidates.
If you’re still concerned about how your target MBA program will view an at-home version of the GMAT or GRE, the best thing to do is to contact the relevant MBA admissions office and ask them.
But it’s very unlikely that you have anything to worry about here. If you get a 760 on the Interim GMAT, we can promise that MBA admissions committees will be just as thrilled as they would be if you earned that same 760 on a “normal” GMAT exam.
How will they make sure that the at-home GRE is secure?
On the at-home GRE, a proctor will (creepily) watch you through your webcam for the duration of the test, and the proctor will ask you to show them the entire room before you start your exam. Your picture will be taken during the at-home GRE so that schools can verify that it was you who actually took the test -- and not your super-smart roommate or a scummy GRE tutor.
You’ll also be asked to use a dry-erase board during your test, and the proctor will watch you erase it after you complete the in-home GRE exam.
For more information on the at-home GRE security measures, check out this page on the ETS website.
For whatever it’s worth, far more sophisticated techniques exist for catching cheaters on standardized exams. There are plenty of seemingly obvious ways to cheat on an at-home version of the GRE or GMAT, but it isn’t particularly hard for a skilled testing organization to spot anomalies in test-takers’ responses. So at least in theory, it should be possible for the GRE and GMAT to maintain current levels of test security during at-home exams.
In practice, there’s no guarantee that ETS and their partners at ProctorU are going to do a great job of using state-of-the-art techniques to identify cheaters. But at the very least, it’s theoretically possible to make cheating on the GRE extremely difficult for test-takers.
What about test security on the Interim GMAT?
GMAC is taking test security extremely seriously, and the organization has taken stricter security measures than ETS has.
The biggest single difference between the at-home GRE and the Interim GMAT is that you can’t use scratch paper AT ALL on the Interim GMAT. There’s an on-screen whiteboard, and that’s all you get. This is clearly GMAC’s way of prioritizing test security over the experience for the test-taker: if you can’t write anything at all, then you can’t easily “steal” questions and pass them along to other test-takers.
Again, plenty of other sophisticated techniques exist to catch cheaters on standardized exams, and the ban on scratch paper is just the most obvious sign that GMAC is serious about test security. GMAC isn’t telling us anything about other measures that they’re taking, but my hunch is that they’re doing everything they can -- including plenty of behind-the-scenes statistical analyses of response patterns -- to catch cheaters.
Also, you won’t receive your Interim GMAT score until seven days after your exam. Our bet is that this time lag exists to give GMAC the opportunity to investigate any irregularities in test-taker performance.
If there are major security issues with the Interim GMAT, will my score still count?
The biggest concern of most of our students is that the GMAT will somehow be compromised, and innocent test-takers will have their scores invalidated.
There’s no way to know exactly how this might all play out, but we do have a past incident that gives us an idea of how GMAC might react to a security breach: in 2008, a website called ScoreTop.com was caught posting official GMAT questions that were still actively used on the test. This obviously gave an advantage to students who paid to see the questions.
GMAC sued the website and got access to all of its records. From those, GMAC was able to trace exactly who posted the questions and who commented on threads containing the questions. Only people who had confirmed knowledge of the illegally posted questions were penalized.
In all, GMAC caught twelve people who memorized questions and then posted them on the website. Their GMAT scores were cancelled and they were not allowed to take the test again for 3 years. Seventy-two additional people were confirmed to have seen the questions; their GMAT scores were cancelled and their target MBA programs were notified, although they were allowed to retake the GMAT right away. No one else, including other ScoreTop.com users, was penalized in any way.
So basically: don’t cheat and don’t help anyone else cheat. If GMAC stays consistent with its previous actions, cheaters will be hunted down and everyone else will be fine.
Are there any advantages to taking the Interim GMAT while it’s available?
The Interim GMAT is cheaper ($200) and shorter, since it doesn’t include the AWA section. Also, the Interim GMAT doesn’t count toward your yearly limit of five GMAT exams, or your lifetime limit of eight GMAT exams. These are all great things for most GMAT test-takers, so enjoy!
In addition, taking the test in the comfort of your own home could mitigate test-day anxiety and help you perform at your best. After running the gauntlet of palm scans and pat-downs, many students (and even some GMAT tutors!) find it tough to match their normal GMAT practice test scores. If you have found this to be true for you, then taking an at-home version of the GMAT could be a nice change.
But the trouble is…
Are there any disadvantages to taking the Interim GMAT while it’s available?
Yes, definitely. The lack of scratch paper is a tough thing for most GMAT test-takers, and it’s clear that GMAC gave zero thought to the way that the human mind actually works. Unless your brain is wired unlike that of any GMAT student we’ve seen in our 20+ years as GMAT tutors, you’ll underperform if you can’t write anything down. We’re not sure that you’ll underperform by much, though — see below for more on that.
The only other meaningful disadvantage is that the section order is fixed: you’ll have to do quant, then verbal, then integrated reasoning. For most test-takers, that shouldn’t have a massive impact on performance, but if starting with quant gives you the willies, you won’t love the Interim GMAT.
We should also mention that the breaks are structured differently on the Interim GMAT: you’ll only get a single 5-minute break, after you’ve completed both the quant and verbal sections. So if you can’t live without a pair of breaks during your exam, then maybe the Interim GMAT isn’t going to be your cup of tea.
Then again: since the Interim GMAT doesn’t count toward your yearly or lifetime limits, there’s not much downside to taking a shot at it, other than $200 and three hours of your time.
Just how bad is the Interim GMAT online whiteboard?
The Interim GMAT online whiteboard isn’t as bad as everybody initially feared. You can type text, you can easily create squares and circles and other shapes, and you can even change fonts and colors. So it’s more feature-rich than we might have expected.
If you want to give it a try, the official version is available here: https://www.mba.com/exams/gmat-online/prepare-for-your-exam/online-whiteboard.
Somewhat surprisingly, our GMAT students — and other friends who have taken the exam — haven’t underperformed by much on the online GMAT. If anything, the whiteboard forces GMAT test-takers to choose more deliberate solution paths, instead of scribbling the first thing that comes to mind. In other words, if you’re going to write anything on the on-screen GMAT whiteboard, you’ll probably do it thoughtfully — and that’s not a bad thing for your overall GMAT performance.
Bottom line: the whiteboard is annoying and not ideal, but it certainly isn’t the apocalypse, especially if you practice with it before your exam.
That on-screen Interim GMAT whiteboard thing sounds awful to me. Should I just take the at-home GRE instead?
Yeah, if you’re forced to take one of the exams during the COVID-19 madness, you might be happier with the GRE. Virtually all major MBA programs accept the GRE, and the format of the Interim GMAT will cause most GMAT test-takers to underperform their true abilities.
Of course, other factors can influence the GRE vs. GMAT decision. For more help deciding which exam to take, check out our seven-part blog series on the GMAT vs. the GRE, or this video on the GMAT vs. GRE decision.
And if you’re interested in tutoring but aren’t sure which exam to take, feel free to contact us, and we’ll help you through the GRE vs. GMAT decision.
Gimme the bottom line, ninja tutor people: should I hurry up and take one of these at-home GRE/GMAT thingies?
The best thing to do is to fully prepare for the exam, and then take whichever version is available when you are ready. Don’t rush or delay your studies in order to take -- or avoid -- the at-home version of the GRE or GMAT. Just take the GRE or GMAT whenever you’re confident that you’ll get the score that you want.
Useful Links
Want to know more? Here are some good places to get info:
Interim GMAT
Ok, “useful” is a bit of a stretch, but GMAC is supposedly posting updates about the Interim GMAT here.
This GMAT Club forum thread starts with some useful links and background information on the Interim GMAT, but you may want to skip the ensuing, speculation-filled discussion.
At-home GRE