If you sat the old 800-scale GMAT, scored a 740, and are now staring at a school's website that quotes a class average of 687, your stomach probably dropped before your brain caught up. Take a breath. Those are two different tests on two different scales, and the gap you are panicking about may not exist. This post is for the Indian applicant caught in the messy middle of the GMAT changeover, trying to figure out what GMAT Focus Edition scores actually mean and what to target for a 2026 or 2027 intake.
The old GMAT faded faster than anyone predicted
Poets and Quants reported on September 3, 2026 that the transition to the GMAT Focus Edition has effectively tipped over at the top of the market. At Northwestern Kellogg, the share of the entering class submitting the new GMAT jumped from 3% in 2024 to 46% in 2025. Chicago Booth saw a nearly identical move, from 4% to 39% in a single cycle (Poets and Quants).
That is a 40-point swing in one admissions year. For context, adoption curves at business schools usually crawl. This one sprinted, because the legacy GMAT was retired for new test-takers and the Focus Edition became the only version most 2025 candidates could actually book. The result is that "average GMAT score" now means the Focus number at most top-50 programs, and the old 800-scale figures you memorised from a 2023 forum thread are already historical.
What GMAT Focus Edition scores really look like now
Here is the part that calms most applicants down. The Focus Edition tops out at 805, not 800, and it is scored on a different curve, so a raw comparison to the old scale is meaningless. On the new scale, the class averages at the very top cluster tightly. Kellogg reports roughly 687, which is currently the highest average GMAT of any MBA class in the world. Harvard sits near 685, Stanford around 689, and Wharton near 676 (GMAC).
So a 685 on the Focus Edition is not a weak score that needs an apology. It sits right at the M7 median. The old-scale equivalent of those averages was routinely quoted around 730 to 740, which is why a candidate reading a "687 average" without context assumes the bar has collapsed. It has not. The bar moved to a new address and kept the same height. Published concordance tables from the test maker, and the comparison work summarised by prep providers like Magoosh, are the only honest way to translate between the two.
Why this changeover hits Indian applicants harder
Indian applicants live and die by percentiles, and the changeover scrambled the percentile map. On the old GMAT, the quant section was so saturated with strong Indian and Chinese test-takers that a 49 in quant sat around the 74th percentile. The Focus Edition rebalanced the sections and rescaled the percentiles, so the same underlying ability now maps to a different rank. If you are benchmarking yourself against a cousin who applied in 2022 with a 750, you are comparing across a scale break, and the comparison will only make you anxious for no reason.
The second problem is data lag. Many Indian coaching centres, YouTube channels, and college WhatsApp groups still quote old-scale targets because that is what their 2021 to 2023 material says. An applicant who anchors on "you need a 740 for ISB or a US M7" may over-prepare on the wrong scale, or worse, retake a perfectly competitive Focus score chasing a number that no longer exists.
If you are an IT services engineer targeting a US M7
You are in the most over-represented pool in global admissions, so your instinct to grind the GMAT is understandable. On the Focus scale, aim for 685 and above to stay at or near the M7 median, and treat anything from 675 upward as genuinely in range if the rest of your file is strong. What you should not do is retake a 675 Focus score three times to reach an imaginary 740. The marginal admit value of that fourth attempt is close to zero, and the time is better spent differentiating your story from the 4,000 other engineers with similar numbers. That differentiation, not another 10 points, is what our MBA and MiM consulting work spends most of its energy on.
If you are a reapplicant sitting on an old-format score
If your file carries a legacy 730 or 740 from 2023 or 2024, that score is still valid until it expires, and top programs will read it on its original scale. You do not automatically need to sit the Focus Edition to "match" the new averages. Convert your old score using the official concordance, see where it lands on the Focus scale, and only retake if the converted figure sits meaningfully below your target program's median. For many reapplicants, the honest answer is that the test is already handled and the ding came from the essays or the recommendation, not the number.
What this means for Indian applicants
Three practical moves. First, stop comparing across scales. Find out whether a quoted average is old GMAT or Focus Edition before you react to it, because a 685 and a 730 can describe the same competitive position. Second, set your target on the Focus scale for any 2026 or 2027 intake, since that is what the class you are joining will overwhelmingly submit. Aim for the program median, not a mythical ceiling. Third, once you clear the median, redirect every remaining hour into the parts of the application that a test score cannot fix.
A strong Focus score gets you read. It does not get you admitted. The Indian applicant pool is deep enough that two candidates with identical 690s routinely get opposite decisions, and the difference is almost always the narrative, the recommenders, and the interview. If you want an outside read on whether your number is already good enough to stop testing, a structured profile evaluation will tell you faster than another mock exam. And if the score is settled and the essays are the weak link, our MBA and MiM consulting is built exactly for that gap.
Common questions applicants are asking
Is a 685 GMAT Focus score good enough for the M7? Yes, in the sense that it sits at the M7 median. Kellogg averages around 687, Harvard near 685, and Stanford near 689 on the Focus scale. A 685 makes you readable at every M7 program. Whether you are admitted depends on your differentiation, not on squeezing out another 10 points.
Do I need to retake the old GMAT on the new Focus Edition? Not usually. A valid old-format score is accepted on its original scale until it expires. Convert it with the official concordance and only retake if the converted number sits well below your target median.
Why is the average GMAT lower than it was a few years ago? It is not actually lower. The Focus Edition uses a 805-point scale and a different curve, so the numbers look smaller while representing the same competitive level. It is a scale change, not a drop in standards.
Should Indian applicants still target a 99th percentile score? Percentiles were rescaled with the Focus Edition, so old percentile targets do not transfer cleanly. Anchor to the program's median score on the current scale rather than to a percentile you remember from an older cohort.
Related reading
- MBA and MiM admissions consulting for applicants who have cleared the score and need the story to catch up
- Profile evaluation for a candid read on whether your number is already competitive
Sources verified September 9, 2026. Score data reflects publicly reported class averages and the GMAT Focus Edition transition as of that date. Next review scheduled January 15, 2028. GMAT is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admission Council; WePegasus is not affiliated with GMAC.