Students applying to graduate business programs may not need to worry much about their scores on the Integrated Reasoning section of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Of more than 200 business school admissions officers, 60% see the Integrated Reasoning section scores as unimportant to the admissions process, according to a recent Kaplan Test Prep survey.
The results , which came from business schools across the U.S., found that 50% of participants said a bad overall GMAT score was a significant disadvantage for any applicant, although the Integrated Reasoning section wasn't of much significance. This underscores the importance of doing well on the quantitative, verbal or analytical writing assessment aspects of this business-focused test, which is owned by the Graduate Management Admission Council.
Mounting Data May Not Represent Permanent View
Kaplan's survey reported on the lack of emphasis admissions officers put on this section of the test repeatedly, but 2014 saw a 3% increase from 2013 in how many participants rated the Integrated Reasoning portion as not important.
Brian Carlidge, executive director of pre-business and pre-graduate programs at Kaplan Test Prep, explains in a press release that the lack of importance put on this new section makes sense, as many people are still submitting old test results from before the Integrated Reasoning portion was on the exam. Applicants are able to submit GMAT scores for five years following the test. As time goes on and all applicants have Integrated Reasoning scores to analyze, he expects to see more schools looking at this section of the GMAT.
Despite the survey results, Carlidge reminds applicants not to take this section for granted - it can still offer benefits.
"Kaplan strongly advises MBA applicants not to discount the importance of preparing for and doing well on the Integrated Reasoning section," He says in the release. "Similar to how not scoring well on Integrated Reasoning cannot be masked by good performance on other sections because it receives its own separate score, doing well on Integrated Reasoning can set you apart from other applicants in a positive way. Use it to your advantage."
Why the GMAT Added an Integrated Reasoning Section
Rather than the verbal or mathematical questions common on standardized tests, the GMAT's Integrated Reasoning section is testing the student's ability to use the information in front of him or her rather than using previous knowledge.
The Integrated Reasoning portion of the test is designed to analyze a person's ability to extract relevant information from provided data and use it to solve problems, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. This section of the test uses text, graphs and charts to provide information in a variety of ways, mimicking real-life problem solving that's important to business graduates.