Does the official GMAT CAT work like the GMAT Pill?

Hi btan219,

I think you're overanalyzing a bit here. Most of your scores are in the 500 region.

The best practice tests are the ones from GMATPrep software from mba.com - but even those do not always reflect the actual experience for every student.

That said, there is an adaptive nature to the test and it does not necessarily have a 100% sensitivity to your response every time. It's highly unlikely to get multiple difficult level questions in a row if you continue to get them wrong. But that doesn't necessarily mean you will always see a level 600 question after getting a 700 wrong.

The exact algorithm is not public knowledge --- but we would be cautious to say that a certain difficulty level question adjustment will ALWAYS appear after a certain response. Instead, we integrate probabilities to these kinds of events. Most of the time you will get an easier question when you get the current question wrong -- but not always.

Also -- note that difficulty of a question is just one dimension. There may also be other requirements/constraints such as type of question (sum of sequences vs algebra, etc) that are taken into consideration.

In any case, if you are looking into this in this much detail, you most likely are wasting time focusing on something that doesn't matter to your learning. Focus on correcting your mistakes. Focus on understanding why you got a certain question wrong and what you could do differently next time to avoid that trap.

As you've pointed out, you've already taken several practice tests -- all within the low 500 range. Stop taking additional tests -- and start learning from each of these tests. And don't take an additional test until you've retaken one of these prior tests and gotten to your target score. If you can't even reach your target score with a test that you already know the answers to, then you've got a problem.

So go back and learn from your mistakes. Don't worry about these algorithm details that won't make a difference.