Current GMAT or Focus Edition? Let Your STRENGTHS Decide

By EMPOWERgmat on October 17, 2023

Every week I get some version of the same message. "My friend says the Focus Edition is easier. A forum post says it's harder. Some guy online says wait. What do I do?" Here's my answer, and you won't love how simple it is. Stop collecting opinions. You already OWN the data that answers this question. It's sitting in your practice test results right now, and you're ignoring it because a rumor feels more exciting than a spreadsheet.

The two versions of the GMAT don't test the same things. So the right version for YOU is the one that keeps the question types that pay you points and drops the ones that drain them. That's the whole decision.

What actually changes

Start with facts, not chatter. Here's the GMAT as it stands today, next to the shorter Focus Edition that GMAC has announced for late 2023. You can check the current format on GMAC's official format page.

	Current GMAT	Focus Edition
Sections	Analytical Writing, Integrated Reasoning, Quant, Verbal	Quant, Verbal, Data Insights
Timing	30, 30, 62 and 65 minutes (about 3 hours 7 minutes, plus two optional 8 minute breaks)	45 minutes each
Score	200 to 800, from Quant and Verbal	205 to 805
Essay	Yes	No
Sentence Correction	Yes	No
Geometry	Yes	No

A few terms, so we're speaking the same language. Sentence Correction (SC) is the Verbal question where part of a sentence is underlined and you pick the version with the best grammar and clearest meaning. Integrated Reasoning (IR) is the section built around charts, tables and multi-part questions. Adaptive means the test picks each next question based on how you're doing, and on the current GMAT you can't go back to change an answer.

Look at the bottom two rows. Those are the big levers. Two whole chunks of content leave the test. If you're still deciding whether to hold off for the new version at all, we covered that in whether you should wait for the Focus Edition, and the bigger picture is in how the Focus Edition changes the way we take the GMAT.

Your data already voted

Pull up your last two or three CATs. A CAT is a full length computer adaptive practice test, like the ones in GMAC's official practice materials. Now STOP. Before you look at a single number, write down your guess for two things: what fraction of SC questions you get right, and what fraction of geometry questions you get right.

Got your guesses? Now check the real numbers. I'll bet at least one of your guesses is off, and not by a little. Most people have a story about their strengths that their data doesn't back up. That story is exactly what you can't afford to make this decision with.

Here's how to read what you find:

SC and geometry are where you pick up easy, reliable points. Those are points the Focus Edition takes off the table. The current GMAT pays you more.
SC and geometry are where you bleed points or burn time. The Focus Edition removes your two worst leaks. That's a serious edge.
One is a strength and one is a leak. Now you have to dig. Which one costs you more points per test? Count them. Don't estimate. COUNT.

A hiker stands at a fork in a trail with two blank signposts, looking down at a notebook in their hands instead of at the signs. — The answer is in your own notes, not on the signposts.

Is this a question you WANT on your test?

Here's a geometry question in today's Problem Solving format. Problem Solving is the standard Quant question: a problem and five answer choices. This kind of question disappears on the Focus Edition. Time yourself, take notes, and then ask yourself honestly whether this is a point you collect or a point you give away.

Try it

A rectangle has a perimeter of 34 and a diagonal of length 13. What is the area of the rectangle?

Show the answer

Step 1: Notes on paper. Call the sides L and W. Perimeter: 2L + 2W = 34, so L + W = 17. The diagonal cuts the rectangle into two right triangles, so L² + W² = 13² = 169.

Step 2: The cheap way. A right triangle with a long side of 13? That should ring a bell: the 5, 12, 13 triangle. Check it: 5 + 12 = 17. Yes. And 25 + 144 = 169. Yes. So the sides are 5 and 12, and the area is 5 × 12 = 60.

Step 3: Or TEST THE ANSWERS. Start with (C). If the area is 60, you need two numbers that multiply to 60 and add to 17. That's 5 and 12. Check the diagonal: 25 + 144 = 169, and 13² = 169. It works.

The long way, for comparison. (L + W)² = L² + 2LW + W². So 17² = 169 + 2LW, which is 289 = 169 + 2LW. That gives 2LW = 120, and LW = 60. Same answer, more steps.

The traps. If you stop at 2LW = 120, you pick (E). If you assume the rectangle is a square, each side is 34 ÷ 4 = 8.5, the area is about 72, and you pick (D). The answer is (C) 60.

Now be honest. Did you get it in under two minutes, with clean notes? Or did you stare at it, do math in your head, and land on 120?

If that felt easy, that's a point the current GMAT hands you and the Focus Edition doesn't. If it felt like a fight, that's a leak the Focus Edition plugs. Either way, ONE question proves nothing. Your pattern across dozens of questions is what counts.

A rectangle with one diagonal drawn from corner to corner, splitting it into two matching right triangles. — One diagonal, two right triangles. That's the whole trick.

The mistakes I watch people make with this choice

Choosing by rumor. "Everyone says the new one is easier." Everyone isn't you. Their strengths aren't yours.
INSTEAD: Decide from your own question type data, and nothing else.
Judging by your total score. A practice score of 650 tells you how you did overall. It tells you NOTHING about where the points came from or where they leaked.
INSTEAD: Break every CAT down by question type. Right, wrong, and time spent for SC, geometry and everything else.
Trusting how SC "feels." If your SC method is narrowing it to two choices and picking the one that 'sounds good', that is not a strength. That's a coin flip with extra steps.
INSTEAD: Count. If you can't explain WHY the wrong answers are wrong, treat SC as a leak, even if your score there looks okay right now.
Cramming extra CATs to "decide." A CAT is a measuring device. It doesn't make you a better Test Taker, and five of them in two weeks will just make you tired.
INSTEAD: One CAT per week, max. Dig deep into the ones you've already taken. The data is there.
Picking the Focus Edition just because it's shorter. Three 45 minute sections add up to 135 minutes. The current test runs about 187 minutes before breaks. That's a real difference. But a shorter test that removes your BEST points is a worse deal, not a better one.
INSTEAD: Ask yourself what you want MORE: a shorter morning, or a higher score? Then let your data answer.

One more thing. The two versions use different score scales, 200 to 800 and 205 to 805. Don't assume a number on one means the same thing on the other. Pick the version that lets you EARN the most, then train for it like an athlete trains for a specific event.

Your move, today

Tonight, open your last two CATs. Make three columns on a sheet of paper: SC, geometry, everything else. Under each, write how many you got right, how many you missed, and how many took too long. Don't read another forum thread until that sheet is done. When it is, look at it for sixty seconds. I'll bet the decision you've been agonizing over for weeks makes itself right there on the page.