Last Updated on August 16, 2023
You may have heard that GMAT exam scores are getting an overhaul with the GMAT Focus Edition. It’s true — the GMAT scoring scale is different for the Focus Edition. And along with a new scoring scale, there are new GMAT score percentiles that will appear on Focus Edition official score reports.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the GMAT Focus Edition percentile rankings that GMAC (the test-maker) recently released. We’ll also discuss the following:
- how to interpret GMAT score percentiles
- how GMAC calculated the new GMAT percentiles
- how Focus percentiles could change over time.
Here are all the topics we’ll cover:
- Basics of the New GMAT Scoring System
- What Do Percentile Rankings Indicate?
- How Were GMAT Percentiles Calculated for the Focus Edition?
- How Might the Initial GMAT Focus Percentiles Change?
- GMAT Focus Edition Percentile Rankings
- Key Takeaways
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What’s Next?
To start, let’s review some basics of the new GMAT scoring system.
Basics of the New GMAT Scoring System
One of the big changes coming with the GMAT Focus is that there are only 3 sections of the exam:
- a Quantitative section (problem-solving questions)
- a Verbal section (Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension questions)
- a Data Insights section (Integrated Reasoning and Data Sufficiency questions)
Each section is 45 minutes long, for a total testing time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. There is no Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) on the GMAT Focus.
Moreover, the 3 sections of the exam have a common scoring scale and contribute equally to the Focus Total Score.
KEY FACT:
The 3 sections of the GMAT Focus have a common scoring scale and contribute equally to the Focus Total Score.
Let’s take a look at the new scoring scales.
| Scoring Scale | Increments | |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Reasoning | 60-90 | 1 |
| Verbal Reasoning | 60-90 | 1 |
| Data Insights | 60-90 | 1 |
| Total Score | 205-805 | 10 |
Note that since the Focus Total Score is given in 10-point increments but is on a scale of 205 to 805 (rather than 200 to 800), all Focus Total Scores will end in a 5.
KEY FACT:
All GMAT Focus sections are scored on a scale of 60-90 in 1-point increments. The Total Score is scored on a scale of 205-805 in 10-point increments.
You can learn more about scoring on the Focus, including score report changes, in our guide to GMAT Focus scoring. And if you’d like to know more about the ins and outs of scoring on the current GMAT, this guide to how the GMAT is scored has answers.
For now, let’s move on to our discussion of the GMAT Focus Edition percentile rankings. We’ll start with a review of what percentiles rankings indicate about how test-takers performed.
What Do Percentile Rankings Indicate?
Each of the GMAT exam scores you receive for a given test is associated with a percentile ranking. So, when you take the GMAT Focus Edition, on your official score report, you see a percentile ranking associated with each section score and with your Total Score.
GMAT score percentiles tell you how your overall and section scores stack up against the scores of other recent test-takers. For example, scoring in the 89th percentile means that you scored higher than 89 percent of recent GMAT test-takers.
Note that while the 3 sections of the GMAT Focus all use the same scoring scale of 60-90, we cannot expect the percentile rankings for each section to be the same. After all, unlike your scaled scores, which are based solely on your own performance, your percentile rankings are based on how all test-takers performed.
So, the percentage of test-takers who score, say, 85 on the Quantitative section won’t necessarily be the same as the percentage of test-takers who score 85 on the Verbal section.
With all this in mind, we can see that GMAT score percentiles are pretty important, as they give business schools a view of how your scores fit into the broader landscape of GMAT performance.
In other words, percentiles add greater meaning to GMAT scores. Exactly how good is a 695 on the GMAT Focus? If we know that 695 is a 98th percentile score, then we can see that it’s pretty great. After all, only 2% of GMAT test-takers were able to achieve that score.
KEY FACT:
GMAT score percentiles tell you how your overall and section scores stack up against the scores of other recent test-takers.
How Were GMAT Percentiles Calculated for the Focus Edition?
At this point, you may be wondering, how could GMAC have created GMAT Focus Edition percentile rankings if no one has taken the GMAT Focus yet? Great question!
Typically, to calculate score percentiles, GMAC uses scoring data from all GMATs taken in a recent, continuous 3-year period. GMAC periodically recalculates these percentiles as time goes by, so that they always reflect the scores of recent test-takers.
Of course, Focus test administrations will not begin until Q4 of 2023. So, GMAC does not have 3 years of scoring data from the GMAT Focus. That said, GMAC does have plenty of scoring data related to how test-takers perform on the question types that the Focus Edition includes. After all, those question types already appear on the current GMAT and on the Executive Assessment (EA).
So, although the data doesn’t quite translate 1:1 — the Focus Edition is still a different test — they are still meaningful. Moreover, for the purpose of calculating these initial Focus percentiles, GMAC used 5 years of data (from July 2017 to June 2022) instead of 3 — a sample size of 866,664 tests. That’s pretty significant!
Nevertheless, it’s important to recognize that the current Focus percentile rankings are not based on actual Focus Edition scores. Presumably, however, the percentiles will be adjusted once GMAC has a sufficient amount of data from actual Focus exams. We expect that, eventually, GMAT Focus Edition percentile rankings will be calculated just as current GMAT score percentiles are, using 3 years of recent, real-world test data.
KEY FACT:
GMAC used a sample size of 866,664 GMATs from a recent 5-year period to calculate GMAT Focus percentiles.
How Might the Initial GMAT Focus Percentiles Change?
With so much data to go on, and the fact that the question types on the GMAT Focus all appear on the current GMAT, it seems likely that the new Focus score percentiles are a pretty accurate projection of how test-takers will actually perform on the Focus Edition.
However, there are some aspects of GMAT Focus performance that may be tough to predict. Let’s review 3 of the most obvious ones.
Shorter Testing Time
It’s difficult to say exactly how the shorter testing time on the Focus vs. current GMAT will affect test-taker performance. Will test-takers be more mentally alert for the duration of the Focus exam, and thus perform better than expected?
Of course, shorter doesn’t necessarily mean easier; the content of the exam matters. So, we can’t assume that everyone will perform better on the GMAT Focus than they would on the current GMAT just because the Focus is shorter. (We’ll explore this concept more when we analyze the Focus percentile rankings. You may be surprised at what you see!)
Question Review & Edit
Surely, the GMAT Focus Question Review & Edit feature will have some effect on test-taker performance. GMAC has already acknowledged that it “will have implications for testing behavior.”
However, even GMAC cannot exactly predict exactly how much of an impact on scoring this new feature will have. Again, content matters. If test-takers are stumped by many challenging questions on the GMAT Focus, having the ability to review and edit answers won’t make much of a difference.
Increased Emphasis on Data Insights
GMAT Focus test-takers are likely to prepare for the new Data Insights section in a more rigorous fashion than past GMAT test-takers prepared for the Integrated Reasoning section. After all, Data Insights factors into a test-taker’s Total Score, while Integrated Reasoning does not. Moreover, Data Insights makes up a third of the Focus exam — on par with Quant and Verbal. The current GMAT, on the other hand, features far fewer IR questions than it does Quant and Verbal questions.
So, let’s say test-takers respond to the increased importance of Data Insights with increased preparation for that section. In that case, past test-taker performance on IR questions may not be an accurate predictor of future performance on the IR question types included in Data Insights.
KEY FACT:
Shorter testing time, Question Review and Edit, and the increased emphasis on Data Insights may affect test-taker performance in unpredictable ways.
It’s likely that GMAC has taken all these factors at least somewhat into account in formulating the initial Focus percentiles. So, it could be that even with a few years of real-world Focus scoring data, the current percentiles won’t change much or at all. Conversely, it could be that some aspect of the GMAT Focus test experience has a greater impact on performance than anyone expected.
With all of this in mind, let’s look at what the current GMAT Focus Edition percentile rankings are.
GMAT Focus Edition Percentile Rankings
Before we take a look at the Focus percentile rankings, it’s important to reiterate that since the score scale is changing with the GMAT Focus Edition, percentiles take on increased importance. After all, we can’t compare scores from the current GMAT to scores from the GMAT Focus 1:1. Those scores have different meanings.
For example, the often sought-after score threshold of 700 on the current GMAT does not have the same meaning for the GMAT Focus. In fact, a 700 on the current GMAT is associated with the 89th percentile, while a 705 on the GMAT Focus is associated with the 99th percentile.
So, since MBA programs are likely to see a mix of standard GMAT and GMAT Focus scores from applicants for the next few years, admissions committees will be looking more closely at percentile rankings than at numerical scores in order to compare applicants’ performances across different tests. (You can include the GRE and the EA in that mix as well.)
With that key point in mind, let’s look at the new Total Score percentiles first.
The New Total Score Percentiles
Below are the current GMAT Focus Total Score percentile rankings, which GMAC based on data from 866,664 tests administered in the period from July 2017 to June 2022.
| Focus Total Score Percentile | Ranking |
|---|---|
| 735-805 | 100 |
| 705-725 | 99 |
| 695 | 98 |
| 685 | 97 |
| 675 | 96 |
| 665 | 94 |
| 655 | 93 |
| 645 | 89 |
| 635 | 85 |
| 625 | 83 |
| 615 | 80 |
| 605 | 75 |
| 595 | 72 |
| 585 | 65 |
| 575 | 62 |
| 565 | 56 |
| 555 | 53 |
| 545 | 47 |
| 535 | 44 |
| 525 | 38 |
| 515 | 36 |
| 505 | 31 |
| 495 | 29 |
| 485 | 24 |
| 475 | 22 |
| 465 | 19 |
| 455 | 17 |
| 445 | 14 |
| 435 | 13 |
| 425 | 10 |
| 415 | 9 |
| 405 | 8 |
| 395 | 7 |
| 375-385 | 5 |
| 365 | 4 |
| 345-355 | 3 |
| 325-335 | 2 |
| 275-315 | 1 |
| 205-265 | 0 |
If you’re familiar with the percentile rankings for the current GMAT, you can see that the GMAT Focus rankings are significantly different.
For example, a Total Score of 760+ on the current GMAT puts test-takers in the top 1% (99th percentile) for that exam. However, on the GMAT Focus, scores of 705+ are in the top 1%.
So, what does this shift indicate? Well, these rankings indicate that it will be markedly harder for test-takers to score 705 on the Focus Edition than to score 700-710 on the current GMAT. In other words, although there are fewer questions on the new GMAT, those questions appear to be more difficult overall.
KEY FACT:
The current GMAT Focus percentile rankings indicate that the new GMAT will feature more difficult questions overall.
If you’re interested in comparing the GMAT Focus percentiles to the current GMAT exam percentiles, have a look at the GMAC’s score concordance table.
Now, let’s have a look at the Focus Quantitative section percentiles.
The New Quant Score Percentiles
Like the Focus Total Score percentiles, the Quantitative section score percentiles below are based on data from 866,664 tests administered in the period from July 2017 to June 2022.
| Focus Quant Score | Percentile Ranking |
|---|---|
| 90 | 100 |
| 89 | 97 |
| 88 | 95 |
| 87 | 94 |
| 86 | 92 |
| 85 | 89 |
| 84 | 85 |
| 83 | 81 |
| 82 | 76 |
| 81 | 71 |
| 80 | 66 |
| 79 | 59 |
| 78 | 52 |
| 77 | 46 |
| 76 | 40 |
| 75 | 35 |
| 74 | 29 |
| 73 | 25 |
| 72 | 21 |
| 71 | 17 |
| 70 | 14 |
| 69 | 12 |
| 68 | 9 |
| 67 | 7 |
| 66 | 5 |
| 65 | 4 |
| 64 | 3 |
| 63 | 2 |
| 60-62 | 1 |
A couple of interesting things to note about how the rankings above compare to those for the current GMAT. A perfect GMAT Quant score of 51 puts you in the 97th percentile for the current GMAT. However, on the GMAT Focus, a perfect Quant score of 90 puts you in the 100th percentile.
A Focus Quant score of 89, one point below perfect, puts you in the 97th percentile. On the current GMAT, a score of 50, also a point below perfect, puts you in the 87th percentile.
So again, these rankings indicate that the Quant section of the GMAT Focus is expected to be somewhat harder for test-takers than the Quant section of the current GMAT.
KEY FACT:
The Focus Quant section percentile rankings indicate a somewhat harder Quant section on the GMAT Focus than on the current GMAT.
Now let’s look at the Focus Verbal section percentiles.
The New Verbal Score Percentiles
Once again, the Verbal section score percentiles below are based on data from 866,664 tests administered in the period from July 2017 to June 2022.
| Focus Verbal Score | Percentile Ranking |
|---|---|
| 89-90 | 100 |
| 87-88 | 99 |
| 86 | 98 |
| 85 | 96 |
| 84 | 91 |
| 83 | 86 |
| 82 | 79 |
| 81 | 70 |
| 80 | 60 |
| 79 | 51 |
| 78 | 42 |
| 77 | 33 |
| 76 | 25 |
| 75 | 19 |
| 74 | 14 |
| 73 | 11 |
| 72 | 8 |
| 71 | 5 |
| 70 | 4 |
| 69 | 3 |
| 67-68 | 2 |
| 61-66 | 1 |
| 60 | 0 |
On the current GMAT, any Verbal score from 45 to 51, inclusive, puts you in the 99th percentile for Verbal. As we can see above, a 99th or 100th percentile score on the GMAT Focus is any score from 87 to 90, inclusive, a somewhat smaller range of scores.
Additionally, if we look at the middle of the score scale, a score of 75, we see a percentile ranking of 19. So, GMAC expects roughly 80% of test-takers to score at or above the mid-range Verbal score on the GMAT Focus Edition. In contrast, on the standard GMAT, only about 50% of test-takers score at or above the mid-range Verbal score.
Thus, GMAC expects the GMAT Focus Verbal section to be somewhat easier than the standard GMAT Verbal section.
KEY FACT:
The Verbal section on the GMAT Focus is expected to be somewhat easier than that of the current GMAT.
Finally, let’s look at the Data Insights score percentiles.
The Data Insights Score Percentiles
Below are the Data Insights section score percentiles, which again are based on data from 866,664 tests administered in the period from July 2017 to June 2022.
| Data Insights Score | Percentile Ranking |
|---|---|
| 89-90 | 100 |
| 85-88 | 99 |
| 84 | 98 |
| 83 | 96 |
| 82 | 94 |
| 81 | 90 |
| 80 | 86 |
| 79 | 79 |
| 78 | 73 |
| 77 | 66 |
| 76 | 58 |
| 75 | 51 |
| 74 | 45 |
| 73 | 39 |
| 72 | 34 |
| 71 | 28 |
| 70 | 24 |
| 69 | 20 |
| 68 | 17 |
| 67 | 14 |
| 66 | 12 |
| 65 | 10 |
| 64 | 8 |
| 63 | 7 |
| 62 | 6 |
| 61 | 5 |
| 60 | 4 |
On the current GMAT, a perfect Integrated Reasoning score of 8 puts you in the 90th percentile. So, the top 10% of test-takers of GMAT test-takers earn a perfect score in IR. That’s a relatively high percentage of test-takers, considering that only 3% and 1% of test-takers earn perfect scores in Quant and Verbal, respectively.
According to the GMAT Focus percentiles, a much smaller percentage of test-takers will earn the highest possible score in Data Insights than do in IR, as a perfect DI score of 90 is a 100th percentile score.
KEY FACT:
According to the GMAT Focus percentiles, a much smaller percentage of test-takers will earn the highest possible score in Data Insights than do in IR.
Key Takeaways
Both scores and percentiles are important to business schools evaluating your GMAT performance. So, if you’re planning to take the GMAT Focus, it’s a good idea to get acquainted with the new percentile rankings associated with the exam.
Those percentile rankings indicate that the GMAT Focus may be a tougher exam overall for test-takers. However, since no one has taken the GMAT Focus yet, we must recognize that the current Focus percentiles are somewhat provisional, since they are not based on scoring data specifically from Focus exams.
Nevertheless, GMAC did use 5 years of recent testing data — a total of nearly 867,000 tests — to formulate the current Focus percentile rankings. And that data would be quite meaningful, as all of the question types on the GMAT Focus already appear on both the current GMAT and the Executive Assessment.
Most importantly, keep in mind that GMAT Focus scores do not equate 1:1 to scores on the current GMAT. So, for instance, while you need to earn a 750 on the current GMAT in order to rank in the 98th percentile, a score of 695 puts you in the 98th percentile for the GMAT Focus.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Let’s answer a couple of common questions about the new GMAT Focus Edition percentile rankings.
What score is 95th percentile in GMAT Focus Edition rankings?
Currently, there is no 95th percentile Total Score on the GMAT Focus.
However, a Total Score of 665 would put you in the 94th percentile, and a Total Score of 675 would put you in the 96th percentile.
For the Quantitative section, a 95th percentile score is 88.
For Verbal, 85 is a 96th percentile score.
For Data Insights, 82 is a 94th percentile score and 83 is a 96th percentile score.
What percentile is a 770 GMAT Focus Edition score?
There is no 770 score on the GMAT Focus Edition. As the GMAT Focus score scale is 205-805 and all scores are given in 10-point increments, all Total Scores end in a 5.
That said, both a 765 and a 775 on the GMAT Focus would land you in the 100th percentile, per the current rankings.
In fact, any score of 735 and up is a 100th percentile Focus score.
What’s Next?
To learn more about the GMAT Focus Edition, check out our guide to the GMAT Focus exam and this special webinar on the GMAT Focus Edition, in which TTP Founder and CEO Scott Woodbury-Stewart explains the changes to the GMAT and answers questions from the audience live.
Additionally, you can get an in-depth breakdown of the new GMAT section in this guide to Data Insights.
