The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) announced on Wednesday that prospective business students taking the GMAT will now be able to preview their unofficial scores on Test Day before deciding whether to report or cancel them. This change will be effective for all GMAT test takers at all testing locations starting on June 27, 2014.
Up until now, GMAT test takers have been given the option of reporting or canceling their scores immediately after taking the test but before seeing their unofficial scores. 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 or not to accept them. If a choice is not made, their scores will be canceled by default. 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.
Analytical Writing Assessment scores are unaffected by the change. These scores are not included on unofficial score reports available immediately but are reported on official score reports delivered within 20 days.
How Does the Change Affect You?
We at Kaplan feel that GMAC's decision is a good one because it gives test takers more control over their testing experience and how they present themselves to schools. We believe this will allow test takers to show up on Test Day with more confidence knowing that if they perform below their goals, they don't necessarily need to submit their scores to schools. This change by GMAC is similar to the transparency introduced by the GRE testmakers in 2012 with the GRE ScoreSelect option.
GMAC's Advice
To get the most out of this new feature, GMAC recommends that test takers:
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Know what score they're willing to accept so that when asked whether they wish to send scores or cancel them, test takers have already considered their answer.
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Understand that they have 60 days to reinstate a score they might have canceled but decide later that they want to send.
Kaplan's Advice
We at Kaplan would also add the following advice: This new policy doesn't mean that test takers should devote less time to studying for the exam because an individual can only take the GMAT once every 31 days and only 5 times within a calendar year. In addition, it costs $250 to take the GMAT, so canceling scores comes at a substantial price. As always, the best option of all is for test takers to prepare sufficiently with comprehensive materials and realistic practice so that they can test just once and achieve the score they need.
Please contact KaplanGMATfeedback@kaplan.com if you have any questions.
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