GMAT Focus scores explained: 655, 705, 745, and the old-score conversion

You have a 700 in your head, because every MBA forum and every older colleague told you 700 was the line, and the GMAT Focus Edition does not have a 700. The scale now runs 205 to 805 in 10-point steps that end in 5, and GMAC’s own concordance puts the old 700 at roughly a Focus 645 [verify], which means the number you are anchored on is about 50 points too high.

This guide explains the scale, what 655, 705 and 745 actually mean in percentile terms, how the old-score conversion works, and where the most selective programs’ reported figures sit. The short version is that a Focus score in the 650s is a strong score, and the forum arithmetic that says otherwise is using the wrong scale.

How the Focus scale is built

The format facts come from GMAC (mba.com). The Focus Edition has three sections, Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights, each scored from 60 to 90, and the total score runs from 205 to 805 in 10-point increments (GMAC, understanding your score). The three sections contribute equally to the total. That last point is new. On the old test, the total was built from Quant and Verbal only, and the integrated reasoning section sat off to the side with its own 1-to-8 score that most committees ignored.

So the first mental adjustment is that Data Insights is no longer a side dish. A 65 there costs you exactly what a 65 in Quant would. Candidates who came up on the old test and treat the third section as optional are leaving a third of the total on the table.

The second adjustment is the increments. Because every Focus total ends in 5, you will never see a 700, a 720 or a 750. You will see 695, 705, 715, 725. GMAC did this on purpose so that nobody could glance at a Focus score and mistake it for an old one. It also means your target should be stated as a Focus number from the start. Write 665 or 685. Never write 700.

Scores are valid for five years.

What 655, 705 and 745 mean

Percentile is the number that matters for comparing scores across scales, and GMAC publishes the tables. The figures below are from GMAC’s published percentile rankings as reported in late 2026, and they shift slightly as the rolling window of test-takers updates, so treat them as approximate to a point or two [verify].

A 655 is about the 90th percentile. That is the old 700. If a 700 was your line, 655 is your line, and a 645 is a point or two of percentile below it, which is a difference no committee can see.

A 705 is around the 98th percentile, which is where the old 750 sat. This is the score the forums treat as the top of the market, and it is roughly 10 percentile points above the median reported at the most selective programs. Above 705 the percentile gains per 10 points shrink to about one point or less, because the top of the distribution is thin. A 745 is comfortably inside the 99th percentile, and the practical difference between a 725 and a 745 at an admissions committee is small enough that we do not recommend retaking for it unless a specific scholarship threshold is in play.

How the concordance works

GMAC built the concordance table by matching percentile ranks between the two scales, not by any formula applied to the numbers. That is why the conversion is not a fixed subtraction. In the middle of the distribution the gap between old and new totals is about 50 to 55 points. Near the top it widens, because the Focus scale compresses the top end: the old 750 to 760 concords to about 695 to 705, a gap of roughly 55 to 60 [verify].

The reason for the compression is the design of the scale. The old test’s total ran 200 to 800 but very few candidates scored above 760, so the top 40 points of the scale were nearly empty. GMAC rebuilt the Focus scale to spread candidates more evenly across the range, which pulls the top scores downward in raw-number terms without changing anyone’s percentile.

Two practical consequences follow. First, when someone tells you their old score, subtract about 50 to 55 to get the Focus equivalent, more if they were above 740. Second, when a program publishes a historical median on the old scale (say, 730) and you want the Focus equivalent, the honest answer is a range, roughly 675 to 685, not a single number [verify]. The concordance PDF on mba.com gives each Focus total a band of old totals for exactly this reason.

GMAC also publishes the table as a downloadable file that admissions offices use directly. If you want to check a specific score, go to the source rather than a forum post; the third-party copies we have reviewed disagree with each other by five to ten points at several rows.

Where the top programs’ numbers sit

Programs report their incoming class figures differently: some give a median, some a mean, some both, and the middle-80% band is published by only a few. The Class of 2027 figures that have been reported publicly for the most selective U.S. programs cluster in roughly the 670 to 690 Focus range, with middle-80% bands that reach down into the 610s and up into the 730s at the programs that publish them [verify]. Harvard reported a median around 685 and Chicago Booth a median around 675; Wharton, Kellogg, Stanford and Columbia reported means in the mid-670s to around 690, depending on the source [verify].

Three cautions about those numbers. The sources are mostly third-party aggregators that disagree with each other on at least two schools, so check the program’s own class profile before relying on any figure. Many admitted students at these programs submitted a different test or an old-scale GMAT, so the Focus cohort is a fraction of the class and the figures move more year to year than they used to. And a median is the middle of admitted students, not a cutoff; the reported middle-80% bands show that a meaningful share of each class scored 30 to 60 points below the median.

Beyond the most selective group, programs ranked roughly 10 to 25 typically report Focus figures in the low-to-mid 600s to the 660s, again with wide bands [verify]. A 655 at those programs is at or above the middle.

So the translation of “I need a 700” into Focus terms is this: for the most selective programs, the middle is roughly 675 to 685, and a 655 is below the middle but inside the band. For the next tier, 655 is at or above the middle. Pick your target from your list, not from the forum.

Reading your own score report

Your official score report from GMAC shows the total, the three section scores, a percentile for each, and a performance breakdown by content area, question type and time management. The breakdown is what we use in the debrief, and it is where the practical information lives.

Start with the three section scores side by side. Balanced sections in the high 70s produce a total around 665 to 675; one section at 85 and two at 75 produce a similar total but a different story. Committees reading for a quant signal (finance, consulting-heavy programs) look at the Quant section specifically, and a Quant in the low 70s with a strong total raises a question the rest of your application has to answer.

Then look at the time-management graph. Most candidates who score below their practice average have a visible spike in the last third of one section, and the misses cluster there. That is a pacing problem, not a knowledge problem, and it is the most common reason a retake makes sense.

Then check the question types. One weak question type inside one section is the normal finding, and it is fixable in a few weeks. Several weak types across all three sections means the preparation itself needs to change.

Which scores are worth another sitting

The percentile table gives the answer. From 605 to 655 the percentile climbs about 10 to 15 points, and that move is visible to every committee. From 655 to 705 it climbs about eight. From 705 to 745 it climbs about one.

So a candidate at 605 with a list of selective programs has a strong reason to sit again. A candidate at 655 with the same list has a reasonable one, especially if a section is unbalanced. A candidate at 705 has almost none, unless a specific program’s merit scholarship has a stated threshold or the sections are lopsided enough to raise a question.

Retaking is not free. It costs a registration fee, a 16-day minimum wait, the weeks of preparation needed to move the number, and a Saturday you could have spent on essays, and the realistic gain for a retaker depends on hours studied, which we cover at /gmat/guides/should-i-retake-the-gmat/. The score scale tells you whether the gain would be visible. The study hours tell you whether it is likely.

The mistake behind “I need a 700”

The anchor on 700 comes from two decades of old-scale advice, and the advice was never wrong for its scale. It is wrong now because the number moved and the percentile did not. Candidates who keep the old anchor make one of two errors. Some decide a 655 is a failure and burn three more months chasing a 705 they do not need. Others see 705 as the floor, score a 675 that would sit at the median of most lists, and cancel it.

Both errors come from reading the number instead of the percentile. The fix is mechanical. Look up the percentile on GMAC’s table, look up your programs’ reported Focus figures, and set the target as a Focus number with a range around it. The forum will keep saying 700. The committee is not reading the forum.

Rick’s note: the first thing I do in a debrief with anyone who took the old test is cross out their old score and write the concordance range next to it. Most of them have been carrying a number around for years that no longer describes anything. Once it is gone, the actual plan gets a lot shorter.

What to do this week

1. Look up your total and section percentiles on GMAC’s current table at mba.com, not on a forum copy.
2. If you have an old-scale score in your head, convert it with the concordance table and write the Focus range next to it.
3. Pull the current class profile from each program on your list and note whether the figure given is a median, a mean, or both.
4. Set your target as a Focus number with a 20-point band, based on your list, and say it out loud as a Focus number.
5. If you have no Focus score yet, take an official practice exam this weekend at your intended test time and run the same exercise on the result.