# How the checks work, and where they stop.

> Two checks, both in your browser. The Review scores your bullets against written rules. The X-Ray reads your exported PDF back to see what survives. Neither predicts a hiring decision.

Last updated October 18, 2026

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## 1. Import

PDF, Word and text files are read on your device and sorted into fields you can edit.

### How each file type is read

- PDF: opened with PDF.js and turned into positioned pieces of text.
- DOCX: read from the document's own XML.
- Plain text and Markdown: read as they are.

Import is best-effort. Unusual headings, graphics, scans, complex tables and multi-column layouts can come in incomplete or grouped wrongly. Parsing vendor Textkernel likewise separates text PDFs from scans that need OCR, and asks for the original document ([its file-format guidance](https://developer.textkernel.com/TKPlatform/master/file-formats/)).

## 2. The Review

Written rules score each bullet. No language model, and nothing is made up.

### Every rule and what it costs

- −26: no number or scope; a weak opener such as “responsible for”.
- −12: filler phrases, vague amounts such as “various”, passive voice, over 34 words.
- −5: not opening on an action verb, first person, under 6 words, a list of tools with no result.

The overall score leans on evidence: the bullets' average, plus the share of bullets that show a scale or a result, then structure and the recruiter screen. A rule that fires more than once, such as dates missing on six old roles, costs at most a quarter more than it does once. A phrase pasted onto three or more bullets is judged as if it weren't there, and a repeated bullet or role counts for nothing. An empty bullet isn't scored at all: no file prints it.

Some things cap the score instead of costing points, so more words or keywords can't outweigh them: fewer than four bullets that show a scale or a result (70, or 55 under two), a claim that reads as impossible (70, or 45 for two), a blank left in brackets in your title, summary, skills or education (70; a blank in a bullet scores as if it weren't there until you fill it), a summary holding contact details or written at over 90 words (65), and no number anywhere in the bullets (84, below ATS-ready). A summary that an import ran into another section is pointed out but not marked down. A generic ending such as “improving efficiency by 12%” earns nothing. Below 150 distinct scored words, the score is provisional: quality is scaled to at most 64 because there is not enough content to judge. Repeated material does not clear that limit. Concise resumes of 150–249 words have no length ceiling.

With a job post in Job match, the score is the fit for that job: half for the posting's requirements shown on the page (a bullet counts more than a skills list, and a keyword list counts nothing), 30% for evidence and 20% for readability. Two missing must-haves cap it at 55, and a missing licence, registration or right to work at 40. On a benchmark of 156 resume and posting pairs in 12 fields, labelled by hand before scoring, it ranks them in close to the same order (Spearman 0.86, and 0.86 on the six fields held out while the rules were written).

A higher score isn't a promise that a recruiter will prefer the writing. Not every bullet needs a number, but one count, size or time a reader can check is the bar for ATS-ready. Keep claims you can defend; never invent one.

## 3. Export and X-Ray

The PDF is one column of real text in standard fonts, drawn top to bottom. The X-Ray then opens those exact bytes with PDF.js and reads them back.

### What the X-Ray checks

- That a usable text layer exists.
- Name, email, phone, headings and bullets, and their order.
- Encoding, document metadata and page count.
- The share of your words found in what came back.

The export keeps images, text boxes and tables out of resume content, and sets metadata, a language and left-to-right reading. It isn't a fully tagged accessible PDF, but it follows the rule the W3C and the PDF Association describe: keep the text, and keep it in order.

Which layouts break, from 108 generated PDFs: [the research, with its data](https://atsprep.com/research).

## What the checks can't tell you

- They don't run Workday, Greenhouse or any employer's system, and those differ by customer. The [ATS guides](https://atsprep.com/ats) state only what each vendor publishes.
- A clean X-Ray means PDF.js read your text in order. Other readers can differ.
- No score predicts an interview or a recruiter's choice.

## Sources

- Mozilla: [PDF.js, the reader the X-Ray runs](https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/)
- W3C: [PDF techniques for WCAG 2.2](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Techniques/pdf/)
- PDF Association: [Techniques for accessible PDF](https://pdfa.org/techniques-for-accessible-pdf-background/)
- Textkernel: [Supported file formats](https://developer.textkernel.com/TKPlatform/master/file-formats/)
- Adobe: [Create and verify PDF accessibility](https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/create-verify-pdf-accessibility.html)
- MDN: [Using files from web apps](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_API/Using_files_from_web_applications)

Spot a mistake? Email [support@atsprep.com](mailto:support@atsprep.com) and this page gets fixed.

## About ATSPrep

ATSPrep (https://atsprep.com) is a free resume and application workspace. Match experience to a posting, strengthen claims with evidence, and track the next action. Its PDF check shows text recovered by ATSPrep's extractor, not an employer's proprietary ATS or hiring decision.

- **Price:** Free plan forever: your ATS score, every fix, job match, 5 AI edits a day and PDF downloads, with no card or watermark. Optional ATSPrep Pro ($5/month, or $24 once for 6 months) adds 300 AI edits a day, Fix all with AI, AI tailoring, Word downloads, all 6 templates and unlimited practice with Pip.
- **Account:** none needed to import or edit a resume, or for its first check and 3 rechecks a day. A free sign-in is needed for PDF downloads (Word files come with ATSPrep Pro), to sync, and for more than 1 AI edit.
- **Your file:** parsed and exported inside the browser. The resume file itself is never uploaded.
- **Sent:** matching a job by meaning, on by default once you add a job (the lines involved). Only on a button press: AI edits (the lines involved), a job link (the link) and Pip voice calls (your speech). Never your contact details, and none of it is stored.
- **Connection:** some tools load on first use and need a connection to download. Local storage is not a cloud backup.
- **Accepts:** PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, or pasted plain text.

Start here: https://atsprep.com/studio