If you have wondered whether Age influences your ability to score high on GMAT, the 2012 Profile of GMAT Candidates report by GMAC gives some clear clues. We looked at the Mean Total GMAT Score for the past 5 years and here is what we found:
1) Students younger than 20 Years perform the best in GMAT with a mean GMAT Score of 594.4
2) The worst performing group as expected were the 50+ age group that had a mean GMAT score of 462.6
3) There was a steady drop in GMAT Score as age progresses with the exception shown only by three age groups – 24 to 25, 26 to 27 and 28 to 30. 
There are many reasons why age impacts GMAT Score, here are a few:
1) Mental Agility
When you are in the 30+ age group, your ability to process complex information like the one you see in Reading Comprehension, Integrated reasoning and data sufficiency decreases drastically. When you are in college, the information that you process on a daily basis are already complex, and it does not take any extra mental effort to process GMAT prep materials.
2) Prep Time
When you are in the 30+ Age group, the responsibilities both at work and at family will increase 2-3 folds, leaving you with very few hours to prepare for the GMAT. Your performance in Data Sufficiency and Integrated reasoning can improve with 1-2 months of practice.
3) Familiar Territory
When you are in college, you are already preparing for related topics like Math and Grammar, which makes cracking Problem Solving and Sentence Correction much easier. Many students would also have a hang of how to solve SAT and GRE questions, which makes it easy to switch to a similar exam. Having said that, the trends seen among 24-30 age groups is encouraging. You can still perform well with good GMAT preparation.
4) Five Year Validity
Plan to take the GMAT when you are in the 20-22 age group, just before your first full time job. Since GMAT Scores are valid for 5 Years, the test scores would be handy when you apply to Business Schools between the age of 25 and 27.
GMAT Scores by Age Groups (2007 -12)
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
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