GMAT exam time reduced by 30 minutes

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) today announced trimming of GMAT exam time by 30 minutes to 3.5 hours beginning April 16 worldwide.

The quality of the exam remains unchanged in terms of reliability, validity, security and integrity, GMAC said in a statement.

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) scores before and after this change will be the same and comparable across time.

"We believe candidates will have less anxiety and feel better prepared, which can contribute to a better reflection of their true performance on the exam," GMAC senior director of product management Vineet Chhabra said.

There are no changes to the exam's analytical writing or integrated reasoning sections, GMAC said adding that the way GMAT exam is scored, the content of the exam, the question types and the average time per question are not changing.

The GMAT exam is required for admissions in business schools and is designed to showcase the skills that are most relevant to the world's leading graduate business programs. Nine out of 10 new MBA enrollments globally are made using a GMAT score.

GMAC is a global non-profit association of 223 graduate business schools. It owns and administers the GMAT exam, used by more than 7,000 graduate programs worldwide.