Harvard Business School has announced that MBA applicants who submit a GMAT Focus score and advance to the interview round will also need to take the GMAC Business Writing Assessment. MIT Sloan, too, is now going to require some MBA applicants who apply with a GMAT Focus score or test waiver, to take the writing assessment upon advancing to an interview.
These programs’ decisions are the result of GMAC removing the writing section from the GMAT Focus, just as the value of a third-party validated writing sample increased due to the proliferation of AI and ChatGPT.
GMAC’s Business Writing Assessment is 30 minutes in length at a cost of $30, which brings the GMAT’s total length to two hours and 45 minutes and total cost to $305. GRE test-takers, who will not need to submit additional materials as the shortened test has retained the writing component, will face a total test time of one hour and 58 minutes, at a total cost of $220.