From now on, when you report to a test center to take the GMAT, be ready to submit a fingerprint. A digital fingerprint is one of several additional security measures being introduced by Pearson VUE now that it has assumed responsibility for GMAT administration. Your fingerprint, along with digital files of your photo and signature, will become part of your official GMAT record. (We’ve heard a rumor that Pearson VUE will also start providing small erasable white boards in place of note paper, to limit the possibility of anyone carrying away notes about test questions. We have not, however, been able to confirm this.)

It looks more and more like the GMAC’s unhappiness with ETS test security was a major factor in last year’s decision to switch the GMAT test administration contract to Pearson VUE. There’s no question that insuring test integrity is a priority for the GMAC and b-schools alike. Bob Swieringa, dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Business and a former chair of the GMAC board of directors, was quoted in a GMAC press release on the fingerprinting requirement as saying that, "The integrity of the GMAT is critical to business schools. It’s the best objective tool we have for predicting how well a student will perform. We want to know—and students want to know—that every applicant’s GMAT score truly reflects his or her ability to succeed."