Insights from GMAT Enhanced Score Reports: Getting Inside the Test Writers' Minds

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New insights into the scope of the GMAT and how GMAC test writers think about the exam are always useful. Enhanced Score Reports (ESR’s) give us another opportunity to get into the test writers’ minds.

If you take the test in a test center, you can get an ESR for US$30 at mba.com, even if you canceled your scores. Unfortunately, ESR’s are not available if you take the test online.

ESR’s provide greater detail on your performance. If you are planning to re-take the exam, an ESR is a wise investment. In GMAT tutoring sessions with those who have already taken the exam, I always recommend reviewing the latest ESR together because some take-aways are non-obvious.

In particular, through links that may only be discovered by rolling over key words in the online version of the ESR, the GMAC reveals additional information about the topics that are tested and how they are categorized. The quant category descriptions can be found here, and the verbal category descriptions, here. Though ESR’s may not seem relevant for those who have not taken the exam yet, they nonetheless provide guidance “from the horse’s mouth” that is useful before taking the exam!