In this guide, I’ll cover everything you need to know about your GMAT score report: what’s on it, what it means, and how schools use it in their MBA admissions decisions. I’ll cover what’s actually on a GMAT score report, both official and unofficial, show you a GMAT official score report sample, and walk you through some of the most frequently asked questions about GMAT score reports.

 

What’s on a GMAT Score Report?

There are two basic types of GMAT score report. You receive your unofficial GMAT score report as soon as you finish the test.  Your unofficial GMAT score report includes your unofficial scores for each part of the test, except for the analytical writing assessment.

You’ll receive your GMAT official score report within 20 calendar days after you finish taking your exam. Your official score report includes your official scores for every part of the test.

Your GMAT score report also contains information about you as a test-taker, as well as scores from all the GMATs you have ever taken, with the exception of any scores you’ve canceled. Let’s take a look at the two different types of GMAT score reports.

 

Unofficial GMAT Score Report

You’ll get your unofficial GMAT score report as soon as you finish the test. It shows up on your computer screen before you exit the program.

Your unofficial GMAT score report will show your unofficial verbal, unofficial quantitative, and unofficial integrated reasoning scores, as well as your unofficial total score. You won’t get an unofficial AWA score, because your AWA essay needs to be read to get its score.

You’ll also get a preview of your percentile ranking. Your percentile ranking is super important for understanding how well you performed when compared to other people who took the GMAT. For instance, if your ranking is 76%, that means you did better than 76% of test-takers. The higher your percentile ranking, the higher the percentage of test-takers you did better than.

When you see your unofficial score, you’ll have an opportunity to cancel delivery of your GMAT official score report. If you feel like you didn’t perform very well, and you still have time to retake the GMAT, you may want to consider canceling your scores. You can cancel your scores at the test center for free, or you can wait up to 72 hours to cancel them for a fee. For more information about why and how you may cancel your GMAT scores, check out our guide on sending GMAT scores.

You’ll also receive a printout of your unofficial score report to take home with you after the exam. This printout will have additional information, like your ID number and your authentication code, which you’ll need to easily access your scores electronically once your official GMAT score report is available.

 

 

GMAT Official Score Report

As you can see in this GMAT official score report sample, your GMAT official score report has information about you as a test-taker, as well as your GMAT official scores. This report will be sent to the programs you’re applying to, so there’s more information on your profile that helps identify you, including your country of citizenship and your self-reported GPA, than on the unofficial report.

The first part of your GMAT official score report has information about where and when you took the GMAT. This information is important in case there’s any discrepancy with your test or with the test center, such as an inaccurately reported result. You can use this information when speaking with GMAC to help identify your exam session and clear up any issues. Discrepancies are extremely rare, so don’t worry too much about this information.

The next section of your score report has test-taker information, like your email address, date of birth, and GMAT ID. All of this information is automatically populated based on information that you gave GMAC when you registered for your test.

The third section includes optional test taker information. You can choose whether or not you want to report this information and you can choose what information you report. This section includes information about your undergraduate university or college, your graduation date, and your GPA. The section heading says that this is “self-reported,” which tells schools that you report this information yourself in case of any discrepancies.

Finally, as you can see from this GMAT official score report sample, your official GMAT score report has all of your official GMAT scores on it.

Your official GMAT score consists of five parts:

• Total Scaled Score (on a scale from 200 to 800)
• Verbal Scaled Score (on a scale from 0 to 60)
• Quantitative Scaled Score (on a scale from 0 to 60)
• Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) Score (on a scale from 0 to 6)
• Integrated Reasoning Score (on a scale from 1 to 8)

The total score is a scaled combination of the verbal and quantitative scaled score. It reflects how well you did on the quant and verbal sections of the GMAT. The AWA and Integrated Reasoning sections do NOT affect the total score.

Your score report will include all of your active GMAT scores. If you choose to cancel your scores on test day or 72 hours after test day, your scores won’t be reflected in your GMAT official score report.

All admissions committees will see exactly the same information you do when they view your official score report. That means that they’ll see all of your active GMAT scores, as well. But don’t worry about admissions committees seeing your old scores: they’ll only take into account your highest GMAT scores in their decision.

 

 

GMAT Score Report FAQ

In this section, I’ll go over some frequently asked questions about GMAT score reports, including how much they cost and how to send them.

 

#1: How Much Do GMAT Score Reports Cost?

Your GMAT registration fee covers sending your official GMAT score report to up to five schools for free. If you want to send your GMAT scores to more schools, it costs $28 per school. There’s no way to expedite your GMAT scores as this time, so make sure you pay attention to application deadlines so that you’re sending your scores with plenty of time.

 

#2: How Do You Send GMAT Scores?

Part of your GMAT registration fee covers automatically sending your score report to up to five schools of your choosing. These schools must be selected at the test center before your start your exam. You don’t have to send any scores at this time, but it won’t be free if you send your scores at a later date. Remember, if you cancel your scores, the schools you select won’t receive your report. It costs $28 to send additional score reports, which you can order by phone or online. For more information about sending your GMAT scores, check out our guide.

 

#3: Can You Order Another GMAT Score Report?

If you choose to send additional schools your scores, or to send your score reports at a later time, a $28 fee per school will apply. You’ll need to wait to do this until you receive your official score report. You can order more score reports online or by phone. There’s an additional $10 fee to order your GMAT score report by phone.

 

#4: How Long Does It Take For Schools to Get Your GMAT Scores?

Schools receive your official score report electronically within 20 calendar days of your exam (the same time you do). Additional score reports will be sent about five business days after you place an order. You can choose to send your additional score reports online, by fax, by phone, or through the mail. If you choose to send your GMAT score report by mail, you’ll have to pay an additional fee. If you choose to send your score reports online, by phone, or by fax, the school will receive them around five business days after you place the order. If you send the reports by mail, it’ll likely take longer, depending on shipping speeds.

 

 

#5: How Do Schools Use Your GMAT Score Report?

Admissions committees use your GMAT score report as an indicator of your academic preparedness for an MBA program. It shows schools how ready you are to take on the rigorous coursework in MBA classes. Schools want their students to succeed, so they look for applicants that are ready to handle the demands of their programs. Your undergraduate GPA and grades in any supplemental coursework you’ve taken also give programs information about your academic preparedness.

 

#6: What Does Your Percentile Score Mean?

Your percentile score tells how well you performed when compared to other people who took the GMAT. If your ranking is 64%, that means you did better than 64% of test-takers. The higher your percentile ranking, the higher the percentage of test-takers you did better than.

 

#7: Do Admissions Programs Really See Your Old GMAT Scores?

For the most part, yes. As I mentioned before, your official GMAT scores will show up on your official GMAT score report, except for any scores you’ve canceled. However, any scores that are over five years old won’t show up on your score report. You can pay to get scores that are between five and ten years old reinstated to your score report. Any scores that are more than ten years old are no longer valid.

Remember, schools will focus way more on your highest scores. It also always looks good to an admissions committee if they see that you’ve improved your GMAT scores overtime. Improving your scores shows you’re dedicated to your academic performance and willing to work hard to achieve your goals

 

What’s Next?

Carrier pigeon? Email? Snail mail? Wondering how to send your GMAT scores? Learn all about sending your official GMAT score report in our complete guide.

Now that you know what’s on your GMAT score report, dive into what your score actually means with our guide to your GMAT total score and learn how important your GMAT total score really is.

What even is a good GMAT score? In our guide to what makes a good GMAT score, we’ll break down what makes a strong GMAT score for different schools and tell you how to decide what’s a good GMAT score for your goals.