DO scores need to be fresh when applying to schools ???

[ranjeet2756]

I wish to give gmat within the next 3months , but then i read about a pattern change in JUNE 2012 .

Moreover i will be utilising the gmat score after three years from now ...
so how disadvantageous is having a three year old score that too on an outdated test format ???

Should i go on and give the test now with the current pattern or wait for the new pattern ???

[StaceyKoprince]

Right now, officially, scores are valid for 5 years and the vast majority of schools accept scores from the past 5 years.

No one knows for sure, though, how things will change after the new version launches next year. The schools are all allowed to set any rules they want - if a school decided tomorrow that it would only accepts scores from test taken in the past 3 months, it could do that. (It'd be a really bad idea for the school, probably, but each school can do what it wants.)

So, technically, the schools could eventually decide that they'll only accept scores from the new test even if the old test scores haven't all expired yet.

My guess is that everyone will be safe for at least a year after the launch of the new test because the schools will still be figuring out how to interpret the new data. But I also wouldn't be totally surprised if, at some point, some schools said, okay, we're only going to take tests from the last 3 years - maybe 3 years after the new test starts, so that effectively means they're only going to take scores from the new version.

So... my real answer is - there's no way to know. If you are going to wait 3+ years to use the score, then yes, you may want to wait for the new test in June, just in case. It would be really annoying to have to take it again 4 years from now if the schools change the rules.