The Major Field Test for Master of Business Administration (MFT-MBA) is a national standardized exam administered in the United States at the end of MBA programs. It is a comprehensive exit exam. The MFT-MBA aims to assess skills, knowledge, and reasoning ability within the domain of standard MBA curriculum. It is administered by

Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service (ETS), founded in 1947, is the world's largest private educational testing and assessment organization. It is headquartered in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Lawrence Township, New Jersey, but has a P ...

(ETS) and has been used in the MBA programs of over 300 U.S. universities.

History

Most MBA programs require an exit exam to gauge students' comprehensive competency in the field of business management. The MFT-MBA began being offered in 2002. It was developed nationally by leading educators to assess the skills of graduating MBA students. It is also used as a tool to compare business programs across the United States. ETS issues an updated test every 3–4 years in attempt to ensure high content validity. The most recent test forms are 4BMF (February 2005 - June 2009), 4FMF (September 2009 - June 2013), and 4JMF (September 2013 – present).

Content

The MFT-MBA is based on MBA core curriculum. Unlike tests that are not aligned to anything but their own curriculum, the MFT-MBA emphasizes content validity. In order to display

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and ensure a consensus of what best reflects core curriculum, the content is constructed using results of a national curriculum survey. According to ETS, content experts from a diverse representation of higher education institutions (including Major Field Test users and nonusers) participate in this survey. Basing the exam on core curriculum makes it a level playing field exam, giving it meaningful results and enabling it to measure reasoning ability. The test contains 124 multiple-choice questions. There are approximately 32

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

questions, 31

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

questions, 33

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

questions, and 28 managerial accounting questions. Half of the questions require the strategic integration of two or more subject areas. In addition to factual knowledge, the test evaluates the student's abilities to interpret materials, understand relationships, and analyze and solve problems. The Major Field Test for MBA can only be taken once. The amount of time allotted for taking the test is three hours. It is taken on a computer. All exams are given at proctored facilities. Test takers are provided with scratch paper and pencils, but calculators are not permitted. All test questions present four answer options to choose from, only one of which is correct.

Scoring

A national scoring guide is issued annually. Scores range from 220-300. According to ETS, the overall scaled score on the MFT-MBA measures

critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

and

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

ing within the domain of standard MBA curriculum. The chart on the right provides a scoring summary at approximately every 10th percentile. Form 4BMF was last used in 2009 making the 2009 scoring guide 4BMF's last scoring guide. Form 4FMF was last used in 2013 making the 2013 scoring guide 4FMF's last scoring guide. The 2015 scoring guide is the most up to date guide for 4JMF (the current test form).

Recognition of top performers

Several universities such as Rutgers, LSU, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha give awards to recognize their students whom received top scores on the MFT-MBA. The honors societ
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uses the MFT-MBA to recognize the top 10% of MBAs in the United States.

Use by accreditation bodies

The MFT-MBA and similar tests are used by business school accreditation bodies such as the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) to satisfy their assessment and accountability requirements.

References