As we battle the Coronavirus pandemic with the rest of the world we are also approaching a new normal. Classes are being conducted online, exams are going online and so has the GMAT. Even though there might be offline centres opening up, Gaurav Srivastava, Regional Director, South Asia, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the owner and administrator of the GMAT, said that they would encourage students to take the test from the comfort of their home — stress-free. Moreover, you can now send your scores to as many institutes as you can — free of cost.
This exam will now be available until December 31 and students can take it at any point of the time of the day. One can also schedule an appointment 24 hours before your preferred slot. "The registration fee is $200 which is $50 cheaper than the offline exam. The candidates can also send their scores to as many institutes they want to at any point of time," said Gaurav. "There are no changes in format. It is just like the in-person GMAT exam," he added.
The paper will have 31 quantitative questions and 62 minutes to answer them. A total of 36 verbal questions and 65 minutes allotted for that. For the Integrated Reasoning section, there will be 12 questions and 30 minutes. The online GMAT Exam is that there will have no AWA section.
But as COVID has become the biggest disrupter of our times how has it changed the management studies and the job scenario? "We really don't know when this will end and what the new normal is going to be. The number of students aspiring to study management abroad has grown over the past few years. We have also seen a few new emerging destinations. In India, we obviously have top management schools for PGDM and Masters in management. Indian management admission does not happen around the year. A lot of Indian B-schools have just pushed the dates but they have not faced any heat as their admissions are yet to start. This window has given them some time to prepare for the admission. Most of them will have a hybrid — online-offline — curriculum. But if don't see an improvement in the (COVID) situation by the end of November or December then there will be a problem," said Gaurav. "The international scenario is disrupted majorly because of the travel restrictions. Most of the embassies are closed and if someone needs a fresh visa, its a hassle. But the schools abroad are doing an exemplary job of reaching out to the candidates and helping them out," he added.
Even though the top 20 B-schools have not seen any drop in applications, said Gaurav, this might be a good time to explore options which would have been out of one's reach otherwise. "But this also might be a good opportunity to apply for schools that you thought you wouldn't ever make it to. In India, we have not seen any major issues in terms of placements or recruitments. There has been a deferment in summer internships though. We have not seen any cases where a major organisation has said that they want to skip campus visits entirely. I would suggest students do their research in the sector they are interested in and then pursue a career opportunity. One studies have shown that when there is an economic downturn, there is an increase in the applications for Graduate Management Education (GME) — when things are a bit slow or one loses their job, that is the time to upskill and look attractive for an employer," advised Gaurav.
