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Considering I'm planning on taking the new format at some point, I've been looking a decent amount at the format. Frankly, I'm not sure why kids were rushing to take it before the cut off. Basically integrated reasoning will force you to interpret data from graphs, tables and other mixed data sources and come to an answer/conclusion based on that. I think if you work with things like that on a daily basis (I'm guessing you do working in PE) your already preparing and don't even know it. There is the book from MGMAT that you can get which I've gotta pick up at some point, I have the rest of the Manhattan series already.
I honestly don't know how they will consider it at first, it will probably be like the change in the SAT years back where it takes a cycle or two to really work itself out and figure out the usefulness of it. I think eventually it will be pretty significant because these are actually real life things you deal with, especially in managament. If you haven't GMAT club is a great resource for information. I'd check them out.
I've taken the IR section a couple times through practice tests...I really don't think it's hard at all. I'm glad it replaced one of the essays.
It serves as a bridge between the quant-verbal and asks you to pull conclusions from multi-sets of data. It's meant to (on a shorter time scale) emulate the case-analysis class environment at b-school.
I ended up buying the full MGMAT set of books and they have one integrated guide on the Essay + IR. Haven't gotten the chance to look at it yet but judging from how my prac exams have gone for the IR section, I don't think I'll spend more than a day or so on it. Most of my friends also agree that it's a pretty easy section, although I think international applicants (whose first language is not English) MIGHT have relatively more difficulty with it.
Then again, they probably would've been at the same disadvantage if it were the essay.
In terms of scoring, I think you'll get a raw score (1-8) and then a percentile score. I think I read on MBA.com that the percentile score might have a decent amount of variance over time as more people take the exam. The raw score obviously won't change.
Thanks for the input guys. I guess I'll just get the Manhattan book and have a quick read.
So will the new section be entirely separate from the traditional Q & V sections and scored as such?
Yes. Basically you will have the writing assessment, Integrated reasoning and then your verbal and quantitative. Think of it like that third section in the SAT. At the end of the day the biggest sections are still your Q and V and this won't affect them. Correct me if I'm wrong Ultima?
Addinator37 is right. Although, on my practice tests I think the quant was before my verbal, not sure if MGMAT switches that up or not.
@kingtut you could easily just do a quick google search but here it is anyways:
You'll have your writing score (out of 6, in half point intervals). Next is your IR, as I mentioned above (scored 1 to 8, full point intervals).
These two scores do NOT affect your "total score." However, it's important to do well on these because say you do very poorly, ie score a 3 on your writing score, the committee will probably question who the hell wrote your admissions essay. As far as the IR goes, they want to know you'll provide deep insights in the classroom environment. This section is probably as close to "real-world" as the GMAT gets.
Lastly, you'll get a Quant score, Verbal score, and Q/V Total (out of 800). This is your main score.
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