Cancelled Scores Removed From Score Reports; Repeat Exams Allowed After 16 Days; and Authentication Code Replaced With Date of Birth
RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - Jul 16, 2015) - Committed to enhancing the GMAT exam experience for test takers, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) today formally announced the implementation of three new GMAT features and options that become effective on July 19, 2015. The organization will remove cancelled scores from score reports; allow graduate management education candidates to retake the GMAT exam after a 16-day time period rather than the previous 31-day retake period; and enable test takers to view their Official Score Report online using their date of birth instead of an authentication code. These features will join a host of other updates that GMAC made over the last year.
"We continuously ask candidates and test takers about their GMAT experience and seek input from them about ways to make that experience better," said Ashok Sarathy, vice president, Product Management, GMAC. "This new change in GMAC's score cancellation process will help candidates gain more control and confidence over their GMAT experience by allowing them to cancel their scores without the cancellation appearing in score reports."
According to Sarathy, GMAC's research has shown that candidates cancel scores for a wide variety of reasons, and not solely based on poor test performance. Therefore, the removal of the "Cancel C" indicator will provide students an opportunity to present scores they feel best represent their skills. This feature will be applied retroactively to all previously cancelled test scores as well. Any score cancellations done prior to July 19, 2015, will not be included in score reports sent to schools after July 19, 2015. Score reports already sent to schools cannot be modified. As always, candidates have 60 days to reinstate a cancelled score.
In addition, GMAC will provide candidates with the option to retake the GMAT exam after a 16-day time period versus the current 31-day retake period. This allows candidates the flexibility to retake the exam within a shorter period of time in order to accommodate their schedules, study habits, peak performance times and school deadlines. As always, candidates can't exceed five GMAT exams within a 12-month period.
The third new feature enables candidates to access their Official Score Report online using their date of birth for authentication. A separate authentication code will no longer be issued at the test center. This change will streamline the process for candidates looking to access their GMAT scores -- eliminating the need for the test taker to remember their code and retain the code printout provided by the test center. If an individual takes the GMAT multiple times, they will no longer have to refer to multiple authentication codes. Since scores are good for five years, this new feature will make it easier for candidates to retrieve information about their GMAT score any time they need it.
All of these new changes follow steps GMAC already implemented to enhance the GMAT experience, including the January 2015 introduction of the GMAT Enhanced Score Report and the September 2014 introduction of the GMATPrep Diagnostic Report, both of which provide in-depth analysis of the test taker's overall performance on the GMAT exam including their performance on the various sections and subsections within the exam.
Other recent features and new products aimed at assisting prospective new business students include Score Preview in which the test taker is able to preview their unofficial scores before deciding whether to report or cancel them; extensive updates to the Official Guide for GMAT Review 2016 series including 25 percent new content -- more than 350 never-before-seen questions across the Quantitative, Verbal and Integrated Reasoning sections of the GMAT exam -- and other significant updates to the online portal; and The Official GMAT Integrated Reasoning Prep Tool -- the only dedicated Integrated Reasoning prep tool available that contains retired Integrated Reasoning items.
About GMAC: The Graduate Management Admission Council (gmac.com) is the nonprofit organization of 213 leading graduate business schools from around the world. GMAC is the owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®), used by more than 6,100 graduate programs worldwide -- along with other products designed to help students find, connect, and apply and gain admittance to business and management programs around the world. GMAC is based in Reston, Va., with offices in London, New Delhi and Hong Kong. The GMAT exam -- designed expressly for graduate business and management programs -- is continuously available at 630 test centers in 115 countries. Additional information about the GMAT exam is posted on mba.com. For more information about GMAC, please visit gmac.com/newscenter.