GMAT to GMAT Focus Score Conversion: Why It's Important

Introduction of the Focus Edition

The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) introduced the GMAT Focus Edition on November 7, 2023, the first major revamp of the exam since the previous 10^th edition debuted in 2012. Test takers were able to sit for either version of the GMAT for three months, until the Focus edition took over as the only test available on February 1, 2024. However, since GMAT scores are valid for five years from when the test was taken, business schools can still receive 10^th edition scores from applicants until the end of January 2029. That means they can be evaluating students at the same time who took two different GMATs. That's why GMAC's concordance tables are also helpful for school admissions committees comparing applicants' scores from the two GMAT editions.

As the business world has put increased importance on critical reasoning and data analysis as necessary skills for success in the global economy, GMAC updated the GMAT with greater emphasis on measuring those abilities. The GMAT has always been designed to evaluate how students think, reason, and approach problems, but the Focus edition hones in on it even more. Test takers are challenged to know what type of information should be used to answer a question, and which analytical or reasoning skills to employ. It's not just about giving the right answer, but knowing how to come up with it using relevant business skills.

Major Focus Edition Changes

One of the Focus edition's biggest changes, gladly welcomed by test takers, was making it nearly one hour shorter, just 2 hours and 15 minutes long compared to the previous 3 hours and 7 minutes. The GMAT Focus also newly allows you to complete the sections in any order, bookmark and review questions, and change up to three answers per section.

The Analytical Writing Assessment was eliminated from the exam, a main reason why the Focus edition is so much shorter. The Integrated Reasoning section was renamed Data Insights, and now includes Data Sufficiency problems that used to be in the Quantitative Reasoning section. 

Geometry-haters had reason to celebrate since the topic was dropped from the Quantitative section in favor of arithmetic and algebra only. Quants also has 21 questions now, down from 31. Sentence correction problems were removed from Verbal Reasoning, which was reduced to 23 questions from 36.

How Scoring Changed

A new version of the GMAT brought a new scoring system. Scores had gone up significantly over time, causing an uneven score distribution that made it more difficult for schools to accurately understand and differentiate test takers' performance. Updating the scoring scale was meant to even out the distribution, and better reflect an increasingly diverse and global population taking the exam. The Total Score and section score scales were adjusted, and how the exam's sections contribute to the total was also changed. Before you can start converting scores, you have to understand how the Focus edition's updated scoring system works. So let's dive in. 

The central GMAT result is the Total Score. This is the number that business schools post in their class profiles and is believed to be the most relevant in business school acceptance decisions. The Total Score is what people talk about when they discuss how they did on the exam, and it's what you'll use to see where you stand compared to students at your target schools and to other test takers. 

The Total Score for the Focus edition is on a scale of 205-805 with 10-point increments. The previous 10^th edition was scored from 200-800, also advancing 10 points at a time. GMAC has said they wanted a different number scale for the GMAT Focus so students and schools could quickly tell which scores came from each of the two editions. 

Your score from each of the exam's three sections—Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Data Insights—contribute equally to your Total Score. Previously, only Quants and Verbal were part of it. The Integrated Reasoning section that was renamed Data Insights was scored separately and didn't factor in the total, and the same was true of the dropped Analytical Writing Assessment. Each of the three sections is scored on a scale of 60-90 with 1-point increments. Quants and Verbal used to be on 0-60 scale, and Integrated Reasoning had its own 1-8 score. 

When you get your Official Score Report, it will show your Total Score and your score for each of the three sections. It will also display a percentile ranking for each score that compares how you did to others who took the GMAT. Percentiles specifically show what percentage of test takers you performed better than on the exam overall and on each section. 

Now that you understand GMAT Focus scoring and how it changed from the 10^th edition, you're ready to tackle comparing and converting scores from the two versions of the exam. The more data and information you have, the better you can direct yourself on a determined path toward a good GMAT performance and admission to your top choice school.

Comparing and Converting GMAT Scores

When comparing scores from the GMAT's Focus and 10^th editions, it isn't as simple as a 1-to-1 match. In fact, because of the big changes that were made to the exam's structure and scoring scales, GMAC says Focus edition scores can't be compared to those from the previous version. They call trying to do so "not appropriate, accurate, or a meaningful comparison of performance." 

However, GMAC did give one specific Focus edition score equivalent to help people set their goals. Stating, "645 is the new 700," they explained that many students used to aim for a 700 on the GMAT, and that a comparable target score for the Focus edition is 645. The phrase was also a reminder that scores may look lower than the previous version of the test, but they really aren't because of the different scoring. 

Just because GMAC explained that Focus and 10^th edition scores can't be directly compared didn't mean everyone was out of luck. They knew it was important for students and business schools to be able to compare scores from the two GMAT editions. So they advised that comparisons should be made based on percentile rankings instead of scores. With percentiles, you can compare results from the Focus and 10^th editions that, for example, were both at the 80^th percentile, no matter the actual score. That way, you can compare test takers who, in both cases, did better than 80% of the people who took their version of the exam. 

GMAC created concordance tables posted on its website that people can use to convert scores using those percentile-based comparisons, one for Total Score and one each for the Quantitative and Verbal sections. There are often a range of linked scores instead of single numbers for the two test versions, which GMAC said is "due to the nature of the percentile computation." The tables are updated once a year to incorporate the results of the people who've taken the GMAT most recently.

Total Score Conversion Chart

Following are select corresponding GMAT Focus and 10^th edition Total Scores with their percentiles from GMAC's concordance table. You can see it shows the scores on the Focus and 10^th editions that are comparable because they're in the same percentile. Reviewing it will give you a good grasp of how the conversions work.

Percentile	GMAT Total Score Focus Edition	GMAT Total Score 10th Edition
100	735-805	770-800
91	655	700-710
83	635	680-690
72	605	650
62	585	620-640
52	565	600-610
43	545	570-580
32	515	530-550
20	475	470-490
12	445	440-450
5	385	350
0	205-265	200-210

Quant and Verbal Conversion Charts

We are also providing GMAT score conversion examples below from GMAC's concordance tables for the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections of the exam. As above, they show corresponding Focus and 10^th edition scores with their percentiles.

Percentile	GMAT Quantitative Focus Edition	GMAT Quantitative 10th Edition
97	89	50-51
85	84	49
76	82	48-49
64	80	47-48
57	79	45-47
43	77	42-44
32	75	38-40
22	73	34-36
12	70	28-30
3	65	14-17

Percentile	GMAT Verbal Focus Edition	GMAT Verbal 10th Edition
99	88-89	44-46
84	83	35-38
76	82	34-35
67	81	31-34
57	80	28-31
48	79	26-28
39	78	23-26
23	76	19-21
13	74	15-17
3	69	9-10

GMAT Conversion to GRE: The Takeaway

As you prepare to take the GMAT, you want to arm yourself with as much information as you can to direct your studies as you work toward achieving a high score. Zooming in on the average GMAT score of students at your target schools helps you set a goal for your score and assess your progress during test prep. But you may be stymied by schools posting student scores from the previous version of the exam. Thankfully, GMAC has created these conversion tables to compare scores from the Focus and 10^th editions. They also let you convert other score data from recent years to understand what overall performance on the GMAT looks like and gauge where you stand.

Your GMAT results will be a key part of your business school applications, and you want to use every edge possible to boost your score and improve your chances of admission. Your performance is in your hands, so make the most of these tools to put yourself in the best position to ace the GMAT, and demonstrate to your dream schools that you have the skills and abilities to succeed at their institutions and in the business world.