Frequently Asked Questions About GMAT Score Estimator1. Is it precise?The score that you are given by the estimator consists of several scores – an estimated single score and then a confidence interval represented by the gray circle. There is a degree of certainty about each of them. For example, chances that you will score the exact number we estimated are probably 30% (can very significantly for different tests), but there is a 90% chance that your final score will fall within the confidence interval. Also, please note to set the Performance Under Pressure lever accordingly – you may want to set it to the lowest and highest settings to see the full spectrum of your possible scores. If not sure - leave it in the Average setting (read more about it below)
2. How does the score estimator work?The score estimator relies on several pieces of information – practice test scores, final gmat score, and one’s ability to perform at the test center when compared to the home environment. There are several algorithms involved. The formula is based on the user-submitted scores and is adaptable, so as more scores are submitted, the formula is changed and refined. The formula is a bit complex for our liking, but in a nutshell, we use regressions to understand how each of the practice test scores correlates to the final GMAT. Several relationships are established. After that, we use weighted averages of the regression results, add some secret sauce and arrive at the estimated score. We are also using confidence intervals to provide a more accurate picture and give 95th or 90th interval. During trials, we have been able to predict most scores with great accuracy. If your experience is different, please reply to this thread – we’d love to hear your thoughts and score results.
3. Why did I not get the score estimated?Score estimation an approximate rather than precise science – think of it as a direction rather than exact coordinates. Even if we had an absolute exact algorithm, there would be still factors that would create some volatility across the results:
3.1. Human factor: one’s performance depends on many factors including sleep, ability to focus, and stress. We take into consideration these factors but only on a global/average level. Thus the closer you are to the average, the more precise score you will get; at the same time, if stress is your second nature, your performance will be better than our estimation
3.2. Each of the practice tests we use for estimation have differences in them. Even minute ones count in this case.
3.3. Quantity of data – see the next two bullets below
4. Which practice tests will yield the most accurate GMAT Score estimation?We don’t have this answer quite yet, but can tell you that your best results will be based on GMAT Prep and
Manhattan GMAT as those two tests have the most records
5. Which practice tests are less reliable for GMAT Score estimation? We have only about 50 scores for Kaplan and Princeton Review in the database, so results involving these two scores will be less accurate until we are able to gather more data
_________________