Worth the Wait for GMAT Focus Edition?

Is it worth delaying your GMAT preparation to take the new GMAT Focus Edition?

It depends.

Most people shouldn’t waste any time thinking about waiting for the GMAT Focus Edition to arrive. In most ways that matter, it is a very similar test to the current GMAT and won’t change the trajectory of your MBA applications.

There are much more important factors that should determine your study window and therefore the test that you need to take.

  1. What are your deadlines?
  2. When do you have time to put in the epic effort that studying may require?
  3. How can you make 1 and 2 work harmoniously?

Reasons you might wait for the GMAT Focus Edition

Now, let’s say you are completely flexible. You know that you want to get an MBA and will take a GMAT of some sort but have no deadlines and your schedule is either remarkably consistent or simply very open.

With that setup you might apply more thought to the decision of whether to wait for the new GMAT Focus Edition or take classic GMAT.

Are you well read and a solid writer?

Are you heavily reliant on grammarly?

If the latter, then waiting for GFE (GMAT Focus Edition) could make sense since it has no Sentence Correction section (SC relies on a solid grammar foundation or at the very least an intuitive understanding of clear sentence structure).

How are your Geometry skills?

If you love lines, angles, shapes, coordinate plane, and all that comes in 2 dimensions then you may want to stick with classic GMAT as you will be treated to Geometry. Not a fan of spatial reasoning then maybe wait and take GFE.

The risk of waiting for GMAT Focus Edition

There is no guarantee that GFE will be available Q4 2023 and based on other GMAC digital products I wouldn’t be surprised about a delay or at least a hiccup in the launch.

So even if you check the boxes that indicate you may benefit from the content haircut that GMAT Focus Edition offers, considering that it is still a vapor-GMAT, it may still be worth simply studying for the test that is now available.

You could even delay the Sentence Correction and Geometry studying so that if GFE appears you can pivot without having wasted time on those.

Hope that helps with the Classic vs Focus GMAT decision. Feel free to comment with any questions. Happy studies!