The latest stats from the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), which owns the GMAT exam, are in – and registration volume continued to climb through March, though at a slightly slower clip. Worldwide, registration volume through March 31, 2008, was 71,776, up 11.09 percent from the same period last year, but down just a bit from the year-over-year growth reported at the end of February (11.82 percent).
As was the case in February, the growth in GMAT registration volume was most noticeable outside the United States, where it increased 22.20 percent year over year. Within the United States, GMAT registrations during the first three months of calendar year 2008 also increased, though at the more measured pace of 5.25 percent.
Though the rate of registration volume increase dropped just a bit both within and outside the United States in the month of March, current year-to-date registration across geographic categories was still greater than comparable figures for any year previously studied.
The number of GMAT exams taken likewise grew both within the United States and internationally. (Note: GMAT tracks the number of tests, not the number of test takers. In a given year, more than a fifth of GMAT exams are taken by people who have tested more than once that year. Test takers can take the GMAT exam up to five times in a 12-month period.)
Like registration volume, the number of GMAT tests taken worldwide through March 31, 2008, also rose. The number of tests taken in the first three months of the year was 59,612, an 11.45 percent increase over the same period in 2007. Within the United States, tests taken through the end of March increased 7.58 percent over 2007. Internationally, the number of GMAT tests taken grew by 18.78 percent in that time.
To learn more about recent GMAT research and trends, visit the GMAC website.
