Score Preview Added to GMAT

Prospective business students taking the GMAT exam will now be able to preview their unofficial scores before deciding whether to report or cancel them, the Graduate Management Admission Council has announced.

The score reporting feature is available to all test takers and will take effect at all 600 test centers around the world that administer the GMAT exam beginning on Friday, June 27, 2014.

“We are pleased to offer this feature as part of our efforts to make preparing for and taking the GMAT exam easier,” says Ashok Sarathy, GMAC’s vice president of product management. “The new score reporting feature gives test takers more certainty and control in the testing process and in how their scores are reported to schools.”

Test takers are given the option of reporting or canceling their scores immediately after taking the test and before leaving the test center.

Under the new process, test takers will see their unofficial scores — Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, Verbal, and Total — and will be given two minutes to decide whether to accept them. If they do not make a choice, their scores will be canceled.

In addition, test takers who decide to cancel their scores at the test center will be able to reinstate them within 60 days of the test date for a $100 fee. After that, scores will not be retrievable.

If there were two things I would recommend to test takers to get the most out of this new feature, says Sarathy, they would be:

• Know what score you’re willing to accept so that when asked whether your wish to send your scores or cancel them, you have already considered your answer.
• Understand that you have 60 days to reinstate a score you might have canceled but decide later that you want to send.

Analytical Writing Assessment scores are unaffected by the change. They are not included on unofficial score reports available immediately but are reported on official score reports delivered within 20 days.