We originally wrote about the pending changes to the GMAT back in September, click the link to read the original article for a good background.

The “Next Generation GMAT” is what GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) is calling it, and if you are planning to apply to online mba programs, you may be taking this new test. In fact, all test takers after June 4, 2012 will be taking the new GMAT. GMAC has also announced that GMAT test takers between November 19-24 will get a sneak peek at some of the new questions, as GMAC will be trying out some of the questions for research purposes. Don’t get nervous though, during this trial period the new questions won’t be scored or reported.

The new section is called Integrated Reasoning and will be 30 minutes long. According to MBA.com (a GMAC website), “The new question types will test a candidate’s ability to assimilate information from different sources, interpret and convert data and evaluate outcomes.” From what we can tell, the question will present a problem or issue, then supply data in multiple forms (written, graphs, teables, charts, etc.) and ask the test taker to make judgments or interpretations based on all the information provided.

You can check out some samples of this new question type now on their website: Ten Sample Questions. **UPDATE: This link no longer works, GMAC appears to have pulled them off the site.

Better yet, here is a video that walks through the new Integrated Reasoning question type: Video