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750 w/48Q. High Enough? (76th percentile) 04 Jun 2014, 19:50
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Hi All,

So I took my GMAT last week and scored a 750 (48Q, 44V). While I was ecstatic about my overall score (I hadn't scored higher than 730 on my practice tests), I'm slightly worried about my quant score. Apparently a 48 used to put one above the fabled 80/80 threshold, but now it corresponds to only the 76th percentile. If I'm aiming for H/S/W, will this score be high enough? Or is the 80/80 criteria set in stone?

Thanks!
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750 w/48Q. High Enough? (76th percentile) 04 Jun 2014, 20:17
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Hi All,

So I took my GMAT last week and scored a 750 (48Q, 44V). While I was ecstatic about my overall score (I hadn't scored higher than 730 on my practice tests), I'm slightly worried about my quant score. Apparently a 48 used to put one above the fabled 80/80 threshold, but now it corresponds to only the 76th percentile. If I'm aiming for H/S/W, will this score be high enough? Or is the 80/80 criteria set in stone?

Thanks!
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First of all, congratulations! A very competitive score!

As for the 80/80 split, it's certainly not set in stone. Schools 'prefer' to have a balanced score and hence the 80/80 rule of thumb. That said, 76th percentile isn't far from 80 so it is almost like an 80/80 split. I think it is good enough for H/S/W. I don't see you facing any discrimination based on your Quant score. My advice would be that you should focus on your application now. A great GMAT score is 25% of the battle - focus on the rest of the 75% now!

Best Wishes!
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750 w/48Q. High Enough? (76th percentile) 05 Jun 2014, 06:55
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Hi All,

So I took my GMAT last week and scored a 750 (48Q, 44V). While I was ecstatic about my overall score (I hadn't scored higher than 730 on my practice tests), I'm slightly worried about my quant score. Apparently a 48 used to put one above the fabled 80/80 threshold, but now it corresponds to only the 76th percentile. If I'm aiming for H/S/W, will this score be high enough? Or is the 80/80 criteria set in stone?

Thanks!

First of all, congratulations! A very competitive score!

As for the 80/80 split, it's certainly not set in stone. Schools 'prefer' to have a balanced score and hence the 80/80 rule of thumb. That said, 76th percentile isn't far from 80 so it is almost like an 80/80 split. I think it is good enough for H/S/W. I don't see you facing any discrimination based on your Quant score. My advice would be that you should focus on your application now. A great GMAT score is 25% of the battle - focus on the rest of the 75% now!

Best Wishes!
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Thank you for the response! On a somewhat related note, do you think the quant percentiles will continue to fall? I actually just finished undergrad so I don't plan to apply for another 2-4 years, so I'm somewhat worried my 48 could fall further below the 80/80 threshold.
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750 w/48Q. High Enough? (76th percentile) 05 Jun 2014, 10:30
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From what we've been hearing from admissions offices, it's pretty well-known that the curve has permanently shifted on quant and that that shift is directly attributable to the surge in GMAT test-takers from the BRIC nations, where verbal scores tend to lag pretty far behind the mean.

The upshot on that - if your verbal is high enough to get you to a 750 overall, there's just about a zero chance that your quant score will be seen as a detriment. (Since for a living I teach "be wary of words like "always" and "never" on Critical Reasoning questions I won't say exactly a 0% chance, but if you're rounding to the nearest thousandth it's 0%) There just aren't that many 76th percentile quants out there that also have a verbal above the 75th, so schools have had to adjust that "golden ratio" of 80th/80th/700+ to the point that we now talk about it more like 70th Q / 80th V / 700+. If you think about it, that 48Q is the FOURTH highest possible quant score (51, 50, 49, 48).

The general trend of more GMAT takers with high quant ability from BRIC nations and slightly fewer from "the west" seems to be holding, so we may soon see that 48 = 76th percentile dip a point or two lower, but again keep in mind that that trend also comes with a counterbalancing verbal trend *and* that you still have the 4th highest quant score possible. Schools know that. What we've been telling our students is that if you're shooting for a top 10, you have to get your quant score to 47 to feel good about it. BUT - there's so little room for error to get from 48 to 49 or 50 that if you've satisfied that 47+Q and balanced with an 80th+ percentile verbal and a score well into the 700s the GMAT isn't going to be your problem on your application. Like Karishma said, now's your time to focus on other aspects of your application - find leadership positions in your new career or extracurricular pursuits, set yourself up for promotions at work, demonstrate that you're already taking steps toward your post-MBA career applications, etc. You're in a lucky position - only 2% of all b-school hopefuls score as high as you did on the GMAT!
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750 w/48Q. High Enough? (76th percentile) 06 Jun 2014, 06:46
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VeritasPrepBrian
From what we've been hearing from admissions offices, it's pretty well-known that the curve has permanently shifted on quant and that that shift is directly attributable to the surge in GMAT test-takers from the BRIC nations, where verbal scores tend to lag pretty far behind the mean.

The upshot on that - if your verbal is high enough to get you to a 750 overall, there's just about a zero chance that your quant score will be seen as a detriment. (Since for a living I teach "be wary of words like "always" and "never" on Critical Reasoning questions I won't say exactly a 0% chance, but if you're rounding to the nearest thousandth it's 0%) There just aren't that many 76th percentile quants out there that also have a verbal above the 75th, so schools have had to adjust that "golden ratio" of 80th/80th/700+ to the point that we now talk about it more like 70th Q / 80th V / 700+. If you think about it, that 48Q is the FOURTH highest possible quant score (51, 50, 49, 48).

The general trend of more GMAT takers with high quant ability from BRIC nations and slightly fewer from "the west" seems to be holding, so we may soon see that 48 = 76th percentile dip a point or two lower, but again keep in mind that that trend also comes with a counterbalancing verbal trend *and* that you still have the 4th highest quant score possible. Schools know that. What we've been telling our students is that if you're shooting for a top 10, you have to get your quant score to 47 to feel good about it. BUT - there's so little room for error to get from 48 to 49 or 50 that if you've satisfied that 47+Q and balanced with an 80th+ percentile verbal and a score well into the 700s the GMAT isn't going to be your problem on your application. Like Karishma said, now's your time to focus on other aspects of your application - find leadership positions in your new career or extracurricular pursuits, set yourself up for promotions at work, demonstrate that you're already taking steps toward your post-MBA career applications, etc. You're in a lucky position - only 2% of all b-school hopefuls score as high as you did on the GMAT!
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I'm feeling much more at ease with my score after your analysis. Thanks for the in-depth reply!
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