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Executive Assessment scores are valid for 5 years from your test date, according to GMAC, the test administrator. This means you can use your scores for an Executive MBA or some full-time MBAs at any time within that period.
If you’re planning your MBA, knowing the validity of your Executive Assessment scores can help you time your test strategically. Most business schools accept scores up to 5 years old. Thus, the right timing can give you flexibility in your application schedule.
Keep reading to learn how Executive Assessment score validity works, when scores expire, and how schools handle older scores in the admissions process.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- Executive Assessment Score Validity: What You Need to Know
- What Do Schools Consider a Valid EA Score?
- Do Schools Prefer Newer EA Scores?
- When Do Executive Assessment Scores Expire?
- Can I Send an Expired EA Score to Schools?
- Key Takeaways
- What’s Next?
Let’s start by answering the main question on everyone’s minds: for how long can you use Executive Assessment scores?
Executive Assessment Score Validity: What You Need to Know
GMAC, the organization that administers the Executive Assessment (EA), considers EA scores valid for 5 years from your exam date. For example, if you took your EA on April 2, 2024, your score would remain valid until April 2, 2029.
While your score is valid, it will appear in the score history section of your MBA.com account.
However, some business schools may use their own criteria for score validity. Before sending EA scores, confirm each school’s policy to ensure your score meets their requirements.
TTP PRO TIP:
Always verify the score validity rules for each of your target programs before submitting your EA results.
What Do Schools Consider a Valid EA Score?
GMAC determines the Executive Assessment score expiration by counting forward from the exact date you took the test. However, Executive Assessment score validity for MBA applications may differ, as business schools tie score validity to their application deadlines.
As a result, whether your EA score is valid can depend on both the institution and the application round.
KEY FACT:
Each business school sets its own rules for EA score validity, which may differ from GMAC’s official calculation.
For example, here’s how the Wharton Executive Program determined EA score validity for admission to the class of 2026:
Wharton Executive Program
- Round 1: EA test date between October 15, 2020, and October 15, 2025
- Round 2: EA test date between November 17, 2020, and November 17, 2025
Let’s look at an example scenario based on these parameters.
Scenario: Wharton EMBA Round 1 Deadlines
Let’s imagine a student applying to the Wharton Executive MBA Program in Round 1 of 2025. They plan to submit their application by late September 2025 to meet the deadline.
Suppose this student took the Executive Assessment on October 18, 2020. From GMAC’s perspective, that score would still be valid by the deadline of October 15, 2025, because it falls within the 5-year window. The score would also be valid for Wharton admissions.
However, if the student took the exam on October 2, 2020, although it would be valid at the time the application was submitted according to GMAC, it would not be considered valid by Wharton admissions because it expired before the application deadline.
If you’re applying within a couple of years of taking the EA, you needn’t worry about the scenarios above. Your score will likely be within all schools’ deadlines. The standard validity period for EA scores is 5 years, and we’ve never seen a school shorten that to 4 or 3 years.
KEY FACT:
While EA expiration dates can shift based on application deadlines, GMAC’s official score validity period is always 5 years.
Now, let’s discuss whether schools prefer newer or older scores.
Do Schools Prefer Newer EA Scores?
Are you concerned that MBA programs might view your Executive Assessment score less favorably because it’s a few years old? You actually don’t need to worry. Admissions committees typically evaluate valid EA scores the same way, whether they were earned recently or several years ago. You won’t gain an advantage by taking the EA right before applying. Additionally, you won’t be penalized for submitting a score from a prior year, as long as it’s still within the validity period set by both the test-maker and the school.
That said, if your EA score is a few years old and you feel it no longer represents your current abilities, you might choose to retake the exam. Doing so could give you a higher, more competitive score. Whether to retest is a personal choice, but remember there’s no downside to applying with an older, valid score.
KEY FACT:
As long as your Executive Assessment score is within the valid date range accepted by the program, it will be reviewed on an equal footing with other applicants’ scores.
Now that we’ve covered how long EA scores remain valid, let’s look at what happens once a score expires.
When Do Executive Assessment Scores Expire?
Once your Executive Assessment test date passes the 5-year mark, GMAC removes the score from your official score history. It is no longer considered valid by GMAC or by business schools. In other words, after 5 years, the Executive Assessment score reporting window closes.
Although you can no longer cancel EA scores, based on the Executive Assessment score report policy, you may request an older score report from GMAC (for a fee) for scores up to 10 years old. Keep in mind that any score older than 10 years is not available under any circumstances.
KEY FACT:
Executive Assessment scores expire after 5 years, at which point they are no longer valid and no longer appear in your online score record.
Can I Send an Expired EA Score to Schools?
You can ask GMAC to send an older Executive Assessment score to schools, but only if you haven’t taken the EA within the past 5 years. This service comes with a fee, and GMAC will advise schools to interpret it cautiously.
However, nearly all business schools, and possibly all of them, will not count an EA score older than 5 years toward your application’s testing requirement. Even if you request that GMAC send the score, admissions committees are very unlikely to view it as valid.
If you’re considering submitting an EA score beyond the 5-year mark, contact the admissions office first to confirm whether it would be considered at all. Scores that old carry little to no weight in the admissions process. Schools may advise you not to send them.
KEY FACT:
While you can request that GMAC send EA scores up to 10 years old, most schools won’t accept them for the testing requirement.
Key Takeaways
- Your Executive Assessment score will remain in the score history of your MBA.com account for 5 years from your test date.
- The way schools determine score validity can differ, sometimes depending on the specific application round. Always confirm the exact policy with each program you’re applying to.
- Regardless of school deadlines, the official EA score validity period is 5 years. A score within this window is considered current. Schools will evaluate it equally alongside other applicants’ results. You do not need to retake the exam simply to have a “fresher” score.
- After 5 years, EA scores expire. GMAC removes them from your online score history. GMAC does offer the option to send scores that are between 5 and 10 years old (for a fee), but most business schools will not accept scores that fall outside the standard 5-year validity period.
What’s Next?
Now that you have learned about the validity of your Executive Assessment scores, you may be interested in learning about what constitutes a good Executive Assessment score or whether you should retake the Executive Assessment.
