GMAT® Focus or GRE® or EA (Executive Assessment) in 2024? Which You Should Take And Why

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Today I want to talk about the GMAT® Focus Edition versus the new shorter GRE® versus the Executive Assessment: which one should you take in 2024?

It's a big question these days, and I've realized doing some research that there's a lot of outdated information out there, so I want to make sure you're set up for success for the current situation.

The question of which is going to be easiest for me, or which is going to be best for me, really varies a lot by individual. So I'm going to give you some concrete examples of how you can make good decisions for yourself. Let's jump right in.

The key question, number one, that governs all others: do all of your target programs accept all of the tests? Because if some of your target programs do not accept the Executive Assessment, I recommend just taking that off the table from the beginning. You can keep it as a plan-Z backup in case your initial choice doesn't go the way you want it to, but if you follow the other advice I give in the rest of the pod, you should be well set up for success with the right exam from the beginning.

First off, the Executive Assessment is less commonly accepted than the GMAT® and GRE®. The GRE® is accepted at maybe half the number of MBA programs that the GMAT® is. So odds are you're going to be doing the GMAT®. But let's just jump right in and talk about who specifically should take the GMAT® Focus Edition.

Who Should Take the GMAT® Focus Edition

Number one: if you're not naturally great at English grammar, that's a big reason to take the GMAT® Focus Edition. English grammar used to be a big component of the GMAT®, and it is still a big component of the Executive Assessment. The EA still has a question type called Sentence Correction that not only tests your command of English grammar — there are a lot of tricks of the trade about how the GMAT® specifically likes to present this information, how to be a good decision maker on it — and there's definitely a certain percentage of people who, with no prep, can just ace Sentence Correction.

If that's not you, then GMAT® Focus Edition would be a great bet, and I would take the EA off the table for now. Because if you don't have to study for Sentence Correction, that means there's a whole question type, a whole content area, that just doesn't even need to be addressed, which is probably going to save you a lot of time.

Here's how you can figure this out. There's no free practice Executive Assessment, so instead what I'd recommend is doing a little web searching and figuring out how you can filter for Sentence Correction questions on GMAT Club — it's a really valuable feature of GMAT Club. (If I can get a link to the specific thing I'm talking about, I'll put it in the description of the pod.) Set yourself up with some 700-or-higher level Sentence Correction questions, and if you're not getting at least eight out of 10, or 16 out of 20 on a set of those, forget about Sentence Correction, forget about the Executive Assessment. It's going to take more than zero time to get great at that stuff, and that's time you don't need to be investing, because GMAT® Focus doesn't have Sentence Correction anymore.

So that's point number one for GMAT® Focus: if you're not naturally just crushing Sentence Correction questions, GMAT® Focus is a good bet.

Same thing if you're not just naturally crushing geometry questions — GMAT® Focus is a really, really good bet. Because the EA has a tiny bit of geometry, but the GRE® has quite a bit of geometry. It's a major percentage of your quant score there. On the GMAT® Focus, you can spend zero or minimal time on geometry: if you just memorize the basic formulas, you'd probably be pretty much good to go as far as the geometry I've seen. I don't think it's zero, the way a lot of people have claimed — it's maybe one question per test, sometimes zero. On the GRE®, we're talking maybe four to six questions out of the twenty-seven or so on the new exam. That's a pretty major percentage, and it's going to take you more than zero time to get really skilled at complicated geometry questions. If you're going for the GRE®, there's going to be more studying than just memorizing the basic formulas — unless you're naturally great at geometry.

Like I said: if you load up a bunch of hard geometry questions and you're nailing 100% of them, don't even worry about this. But if that's not you (and that's the vast majority of us), GMAT® Focus is a great bet.

Next: if you're not excited about memorizing probably 2,000 new vocabulary words, or you're going to struggle to memorize that many new words as part of your prep, that's a great reason to go with GMAT® Focus. The GRE® is very vocabulary intensive — basically 50% of your verbal score is going to come from vocabulary. If you don't put in the hard yards to really build your vocabulary up, and you don't naturally have an incredible vocabulary from the beginning, that's going to take a lot of time, and there's going to be a lot of luck of the draw associated with your GRE® verbal score. That can be quite frustrating when you're putting in the hours and seeing the overall score fluctuate quite a bit, just because sometimes you get words you know and sometimes you get words you don't.

Going back to: are you naturally just amazing at it? If you've been reading tons and tons of books since you were a kid, your vocabulary is amazing, and you aced SAT vocabulary without having to study very much, the GRE® could be a very good bet for you. But if that's not you, GMAT® Focus has zero vocabulary — and it costs more than zero time to build a vocabulary up. So that's a major consideration as well.

Next major consideration: if you're on a really short timeline, I think GMAT® Focus is the best bet out of the three exams. Number one, we already talked about this: the Executive Assessment has more skills to master (you'll probably have to do at least some work on Sentence Correction, unless you're naturally great at it), and the GRE® has a lot more memorization involved — vocabulary and geometry, two whole topics you just don't have to cover on GMAT® Focus. You can minimally cover geometry and still do amazing.

GMAT® Focus has the least content that needs to be mastered, the fewest number of question types that need to be mastered strategically, so it's going to have the fastest timeline to completion for most people. Now, I'm not saying it's easy. It's not. But compared to these other exams, there are fewer things for you to worry about and focus on, which means you can be more dialed in with the prep time you do have and probably get a better result faster.

The other reason GMAT® Focus is great on a short timeline is the adaptive nature of the exam: you can get around certain content areas you might not be super strong in, because the exam doesn't expect you to get every single question right. It's a lot more forgiving in terms of score, because it's not based strictly on accuracy — whereas the GRE® and the Executive Assessment are way more heavily based on accuracy. There's a slight adaptive component to both, but basically those tests don't adapt one question at a time; they adapt one section at a time. So they feel a lot more like a typical exam where you can freely go about the section and you're going to see a mix of easy, medium, and hard. Those tests often feel easier when you take the diagnostics, but they're not actually easier to master, because you have to be close to perfection on a lot of your knowledge to get really incredible scores on those tests.

So if you're on a short timeline and didn't have a chance to master X, Y, and Z, but you're really strong with, let's say, word problems and algebra — and maybe not so hot with probability, or geometry, or grammar — GMAT® Focus is going to be a lot faster: master the requisite skills and get the score that you want to see.

The algorithm itself can be a big paradigm shift. It's a major adjustment from an accuracy-based test, and it does require a little more strategizing. This is why I've made this podcast and built this company for all of you in the first place, because that's something I was missing back in the day, and it caused me to spend a lot more time studying than I needed to. That's detailed in a free video on our website, thegmatstrategy.com — go there and check it out if you want to understand the way the algorithm works better. I strongly, strongly recommend that.

The last reason to go with GMAT® Focus: if you're planning to go further in the consulting field or certain finance roles, those jobs will sometimes ask for a GMAT® score as part of your application process. If you're in those fields already, you're probably aware of that. But just in case, it might be worth doing a little research — maybe some light networking and informational interviews with people who have the roles or companies you're targeting post-MBA — to see whether a GMAT® is part of the job application process. One of the worst things that could happen is you study hard for the GRE®, do great, forget about it over a couple years in B-school, and then all of a sudden you've got to take the GMAT® to get your dream job. Nobody wants to be in that situation. This probably doesn't apply to the majority of folks listening, but it's a really important point if you are in that boat. And if I were in your shoes, I would want somebody to give me the heads-up — it would have definitely saved me a lot of time.

Those are the reasons to go with GMAT® Focus, and the types of people GMAT® Focus is going to be the best fit for.

Who Should Take the Executive Assessment

Number one — and I'm just going to repeat this a few times — your target schools actually accept it. Many MBA programs do accept the Executive Assessment instead of the GMAT® or GRE®, but many do not, so you're going to want to do the research ahead of time.

Pretty much all executive MBA programs will accept the Executive Assessment — that's largely what the exam was designed for. If you haven't heard of the executive MBA: it's usually for folks a little later in their career, average age in the late 30s, sometimes early 40s, who've got more experience under their belt and are looking to get an MBA to go to the next level. It's an easier way for those folks to get instruction more specific to their situations, often funded by their company through sponsorship programs, and they'll be able to network with people more in their age and experience group, which can be valuable. Traditional two-year MBA programs tend to average in the late 20s, maybe early 30s on the high side, but usually more in that 26-to-28 range.

So if you're applying to exec programs, the EA is probably the best option for you. And if you're going for a traditional two-year MBA where all of your target schools accept the Executive Assessment, it can be a great option if you meet the following criteria.

Number one: you're great at grammar. Take the test I talked about earlier with Sentence Correction — try some practice questions and see if you crush them. The EA might be a better bet than GMAT® Focus for you, because if you can do that well on Sentence Correction from the beginning without any studying, it's a non-issue. It's not bringing you down; in fact, it might boost your verbal score if you're not so great at reading comprehension or critical reasoning. If you're naturally amazing at Sentence Correction, you probably won't need a lot of time to answer those questions and you'll get a lot of them right — and because the EA tends to be more accuracy-based than GMAT® Focus, that could help you out.

Second reason: you really struggle with fatigue during standardized tests. The Executive Assessment is the shortest exam of the three by far: 90 minutes long. The shortened GRE® is two hours (it used to be almost four), and the GMAT® Focus Edition is two hours and fifteen minutes (also used to be about four). Fortunately, GMAT® Focus and the GRE® have been shortened — I'll have more content in the future about how that's turned out to be a neutral thing — but in terms of fatigue, the shorter exams are a huge benefit, and I think most people are less stressed by them, which honestly is a good thing.

In my experience, the difference between the GRE® at two hours and GMAT® Focus at two-fifteen is a non-issue — I don't think that 15-minute horizon is really helping or hurting anybody. But a 30 or 45-minute horizon can be a huge deal if fatigue is an issue for you. So it's definitely something to consider if you've struggled with that in the past, or if you start down the GRE® or GMAT® path and realize, "Man, even two hours, two-fifteen is really tough for me to get the best out of myself" — and you're amazing at Sentence Correction. That could be a reason to pivot to the EA if you've already been studying, or, if you're listening early in your prep, a reason to lead off with the EA. Again, the main caveat is it's not accepted at as many programs, but it's a great option if it is accepted at the program you want.

Next reason: you're great with data analysis, or you've tried a lot of Integrated Reasoning questions from previous or current GMAT® studies — graphs, tables, two-part analysis, multi-source reasoning. If you're naturally great at those and feel very confident, or the field you work in is very data-analysis-driven, the Integrated Reasoning style questions are significantly more important on the Executive Assessment than on any other exam. They're always the first section, and your performance on that section sets up the panel structure that determines how your quant and verbal sections run. I won't go into how the EA's scoring all works, because it's still basically just an accuracy test — you go in and try to get as many questions right as you possibly can.

If you're thinking of taking the EA, I've got an episode on the Executive Assessment from about five years back, and I think it's still totally current — that exam hasn't changed in the last five years.

Another reason to consider the EA: you need flexible scheduling. It's free to reschedule, and the other exams (GMAT® Focus and GRE®) have a lot less flexibility — exam slots tend to book up faster, and it costs money and time to change the appointment. The Executive Assessment is designed for people later in their careers, so there's a lot more flexibility there. It's a tiny bit more expensive, but if you're considering an executive MBA or an MBA program, that cost difference is beyond negligible. Part of what you're paying for is the unlimited reschedule policy: as long as you're 48 hours out, you can reschedule an unlimited number of times (at least, that used to be the case — they might change that policy in the future). Right now, as far as I know, it's more flexible, and that could make the EA a good bet if you're an executive, a busy professional, frequently on the road, or frequently on call.

So that's the rundown of who should take the Executive Assessment: you're great at Sentence Correction, your school accepts the EA, you want the shortest exam possible because fatigue might be an issue, you're great at data analysis, and you could benefit from a flexible schedule.

Who Should Take the GRE®

Number one: you're fantastic with vocabulary, or you're fantastic enough at memorization that memorizing a lot of vocabulary words isn't going to be a big issue, and it's going to help you overcome some of the difficulties you might have faced with the other exams. You have to do lots of memorization for the GRE® — and again, geometry is quite memorization-intensive too. It's the most memorization-intensive quant topic of all of these exams, in my opinion. But it's totally surmountable, and if that's you, the GRE® might be the best bet.

Another thing to consider: you're not on a super tight timeline and you want to self-study — you're going to go it alone, with a low or zero budget. There's quite a bit less strategy involved in doing well on the GRE®; a lot of it is brute force: memorizing, doing lots of practice questions, that traditional study vibe. If you have tons and tons of hours to throw at this, many months, and you don't mind investing that time to save cash, that's a potentially good reason to go GRE® — because it is the most material that must be learned for the vast majority of people.

Next: you're terrible with hand computation or basic mental math, because you really need the calculator on the quant section. There is a calculator on the GRE® quant section. It's definitely not as useful as it might sound, but it's very useful if you're the type of person who's just super struggled with computation issues on GMAT® or EA study so far, or you just know yourself and you're never going to be great at those basics. (There is a calculator in the Data Insights section on GMAT® Focus, but it's even less relevant than the GRE® calculator. There are a few opportunities to use it — use it when you can, it's helpful — but it's not something the test writers are intentionally leveraging heavily.)

Next: you're not 100% sure you want to go to B-school and might consider a different graduate program in the future — a master's in science, a PhD program, something like that. Most masters in finance, masters in accounting, or healthcare MBAs will take the Executive Assessment or the GMAT®, so one of those is probably still the best bet if that's you. But if you're considering a PhD in philosophy or a master's in English literature and maybe not going to B-school, or trying to do both, the GRE® can be a good bet. Same thing if you're doing a JD/MBA: you can usually take the GRE® and not have to take both the GMAT® and LSAT. If you're on that path already, you've probably done the research and seen some schools are quite flexible with tests for those dual-degree programs.

One thing I've heard from a couple sources — not a lot, so take this with a grain of salt — is that taking the GMAT® can show a little stronger intent for B-school, like you're all-in on that path. But any school that accepts the GRE® views the tests equally: as far as I know, they'll convert your GRE® to a GMAT® score and use that to compare with other applicants. I'm not in every decision room at every school, so some schools might do it differently, but that's the basics. You shouldn't be afraid to take the GRE® or EA — if a school says they accept it, they're not going to downgrade you for it. The GMAT® could potentially have a positive effect, but again: grain of salt.

Another reason for the GRE®: you're naturally amazing at geometry. It's tested a lot more heavily there. If you're naturally amazing with vocab and naturally amazing at geometry, the GRE® might be a great bet, because you can just get those questions right with minimal or zero effort.

Last reason: you're not very good with data analysis and you don't want to use this test-prep process to improve your data analysis skills. There are way fewer charts and graphs on the GRE® — I think three data analysis questions on any given GRE®, and they're part of the quant section. On the Executive Assessment, there's a whole section of 12 Integrated Reasoning questions, which is all data analysis. On GMAT® Focus, you'll see between 12 and 15 Integrated Reasoning / data analysis questions. If you're really strong with data analysis, that's a vote for GMAT® or the EA — and if you're working in business these days, chances are you have a lot of experience with that kind of thing. But for whatever reason, if you need or want to get around it, the GRE® is a great way to do that.

So that's the basic rundown for the GRE®: already great with vocab, have a lot of time to memorize, not on a tight timeline, terrible with hand computation and really need a calculator, not sure you want business school in the first place and want to keep your options open, naturally great at geometry, and not so excited about data analysis questions.

General Advice That Cuts Across All Exams

Number one: if you're still really unsure after that breakdown, take practice exams for each of the exams and compare. That's really the best data you can get — the experiment of one, where you run it on yourself and see what's best for me. If you're really not sure, reach out to us and we can help you decide, no problem.

Second: the retake policies. You can only take the Executive Assessment two times total — that's it, ever. (That policy might change in the future, or might have already changed between when I'm recording this and when I publish it a few days later, but for now, as far as I know, that's the deal.) That's a pretty restrictive limit, given that most people take these tests two to three times to achieve their maximum score. The GMAT® and GRE®, you can take up to five times in a 12-month period, and last time I checked, eight lifetime. So if you have a lot of performance anxiety, or you're worried that taking the exam very few times might affect you, or you just want at least three repetitions, definitely steer away from the Executive Assessment and focus on the GMAT® or GRE®.

Third: don't worry about the small-picture differentiators — how score reporting works and all the other little details a lot of articles online will enumerate between the exams. A lot of that is just a distraction. Focus on the exam that's going to give you the best odds of success for you personally. Everything else is, at best, a detail in comparison, and honestly, it's easy to work those things out.

One last thing worth saying: there are more free resources available for the GMAT®, because there's a larger support community around it. For practice questions from official sources, there are a lot more replies on GMAT forums than GRE forums. So if you're planning to do this totally for free and you're not already super close to your goal score on the GRE®, GMAT® gets the edge there — it's probably an easier path if you're very capital-constrained.

If you have more questions about any of this at any time, feel free to reach out to us at The GMAT® Strategy on the current social channels: Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit, via direct message.

As always, my greatest hope is that this material will make your studies as easy and as painless as they can possibly be. If you want more tips and strategies for optimizing your performance on the GMAT®, head to our website, thegmatstrategy.com, and check out our free video presentation on how to reach your dream GMAT® score in half the normal time.

In the meantime, this is a weekly show, so please subscribe, and stay positive and stay consistent with your studies. I believe in you. Talk to you all soon.