New GMAT In-Depth Score Report Made Available

Starting next month, GMAT test takers seeking a competitive edge will be able to get an in-depth score report that will help them identify their weak spots.

The so-called Enhanced Score Report allows test-takers to compare their performance at both the section and subsection levels to that of people who took the test over the past three years.

The new score report, which will cost test-takers an additional US$25, is the latest add-on for the test, which already costs US$250.  In June, the Graduate Management Admission Council, which publishes the GMAT, made it possible for test takers who believe they bombed on the test to cancel their test scores before they leave the testing center – and to reinstate the scores within 60 days for a US$100 fee.

Key features of the new report include an overall performance ranking for each of the exam’s four main sections, sub-section rankings, a time management ranking, percentage of questions answered correctly, average response time, and a customized analysis of the test taker’s strengths and weaknesses.

The information, if used properly, would allow test-takers to tailor their studies to target their weaknesses, whether it’s a specific question type or a time-wasting habit that leaves them scrambling to complete the test. By correcting such problems they can improve their score when they retake the test.

How useful is the new GMAT tool?

The new product seems tailor-made for highly competitive applicants trying to break into super-selective MBA programs that put a premium on high GMAT scores, and for those who might benefit from the extra insights because they’ve chosen to go it alone, without the help of test-prep classes.

But not everybody is sold on the idea.  Adam Raichel, a master tutor at admissions consulting firm The MBA Exchange, told the web site Poets & Quants that the new report could help test-takers identify weaknesses, particularly those surprised by a score far below their expectations, but that the extra analysis is of generally limited value.

“The breakdown of ‘average time spent per question’ is interesting, but won’t come as a surprise to any applicant who has clocked his or her performance via other means,” she said. “The breakdowns of verbal performance (i.e. into critical reasoning/reading comprehension/sentence correction) and of quant performance (i.e. into problem solving/data sufficiency) are given by percentile only, and not by ‘number correct out of number presented,’ so they are a vague indication of true performance in most cases.”