Algorithm Question - Confused by discrepancy between sections

Question

I took the Exam Pack 1 Practice test this morning and scored a 730 (Q49, V41).

Mistakes in Quant (8 total): 4, 8, 14, 19, 20, 28, 33, 37

Mistakes in Verbal (8 total): 2,18, 20, 21, 26, 30, 35, 41

This is where my confusion lies. Larger percentage of questions right on Verbal, with a big streak of questions right (3-17) and I still managed to score 8 points lower than my Quant score! Does anyone have an explanation for this? Is it perhaps that The questions I missed on Verbal were easier ones than I missed on Quant? Or that 3 wrong questions in 4 (18-21, 3 incorrect) hurt me?

Would be great if someone could shed some light on this.

Would be great if someone could shed some light on this.

Thanks

BrentGMATPrepNow · Answer

Your scores are not based on how many questions you answer correctly; they're based on the  level of difficulty  of the questions you answer correctly.

To illustrate this, I'll share an experiment I performed.

When I was writing the article  Taking the GMATPrep Practice Tests Multiple Times  ( https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/taking-gmatprep-practice-tests-multiple-times ), I took GMATPrep Practice Test #1 four times, and each time I answered every second question correctly (I did this for the quant section only)

Given that I correctly answered exactly half of the questions each time, you'd expect my quant scores to be roughly the same for all 4 tests.

My 4 scaled scores were: 19, 23, 26 and 42

This represents a percentile range from approximately 8th percentile to the 63rd percentile.

So, don't worry about how many questions you answered correctly. It has nothing to do with your score.

Aside : If you're interested, we have a free video explaining the GMAT scoring algorithm:  https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/general-gmat-strategies?id=1251

Cheers, 
Brent

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize. As such, you shouldn't be spending time trying to figure it all out. You'd be better served working on building up your skills. A far more useful gauge would be to review each CAT and determine how many questions you SHOULD have gotten correct, but didn't (due to a silly/little mistake). Those mistakes are the things that you have to fix to score at a higher level.

This is an outstanding performance overall, so you'll really have to nitpick your work to find any 'missing points.'

1) When are you planning to take the Official GMAT?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

bgbeidas · Answer

Hey Rich,

I would say 4 of the 8 mistakes were bad ones on the Quant side. On the Verbal side 6 of the 8 were SC mistakes so I really need to do a lot of work on that particular category. Studying grammar rules and applying them in the same manner that one would apply math rules doesn't come naturally to me. The Empower SC videos seemed to help at the time but the questions I got on the GMAT seemed like a totally different animal. So I will have to figure it out somehow.

I am planning on spending another month on Math to make sure my score stays up there regardless of what questions I receive (basically making sure the 49 wasn't a one off). Then I will end my prep with a month of Verbal focus (mainly SC). I plan to take the test towards the end of April.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

You should take advantage of the Forums here and post those Quant and SC questions. You'll likely receive plenty of advice and tips about the various ways that you can handle those prompts.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

bgbeidas · Answer

I already had a look at the explanations on here. Some were somewhat helpful. The problem for me is that I am not a huge math person. Your approaches are the sort that really resonate with me (not just talking about Test It etc, even when you approach problems purely mathematically). The explanations on this forum tend to come from people with very mathematical backgrounds.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Actually, your verbal score is much better than your quant score. A Q49=78%, but a V41=94% (% is percentile). This is because the GMAT does not assign "points" that can be compared directly. Each score that you get is a measure of your ability level in that section (as measured by the GMAT). The interpretation of these scores, however, depends on how well  other  people do. In the case of the GMAT, the performance of test takers over the last 3 years is used. This is why you can't say that 41/51 on quant is the same as 41/51 on verbal. Both 41 and 51 mean completely different things in quant and verbal. For example, even a V44 (98%) is slightly better than Q51 (97%).

730 is a great score. All the best for the exam.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

If you'd like, you can PM me a list of the questions that you're curious about. If I can add any new perspective to the posts that are already included, then I will.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

bgbeidas · Answer

Well, my PERCENTILE is better, but my actual score is 8 points worse. I shouldn't really be comparing it to the general population as everyone has their own unique situation (ESL, Engineer, etc). I am just confused as I have read a lot about putting streaks of correct questions together and doing well early on in the test to set your level. I understand that amount of questions answered correctly is not totally relevant, but what people are failing to explain to me is why my Verbal score could have been that much worse than my Quant score. It isn't like they were giving me questions I couldn't answer in the beginning... I answered everything they gave me correctly! Did the algorithm just not throw me enough high level questions then after my first 8?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Again, your verbal was not "worse". It was significantly better than your quant. The scaled scores are almost meaningless without the percentiles associated with them. The highest ability level that the GMAT can measure in a section is assigned a scaled score of 51. But the highest ability level the GMAT can measure in verbal is itself much higher than than the highest ability level the GMAT can measure in quant. Think of it this way: in verbal, the GMAT is fitting more detail on the same scale. And I'm not saying that's a good thing (I think most of the detail on the high end in verbal is not of any use to bschools). But the bottom line is that the GMAT (currently) uses V45-V51 to represent 99 and 99+ scores, and that pushes even really good scores like 94 to V41. But is that V41 low ? No reasonable person would say that it's low. If it helps, you should keep in mind that all the GMAT score scales (including the 200-800 "total") are almost completely arbitrary. The GMAT could have been on a 100-1000 scale (or a 260-340 scale :wink:

). Everyone, including schools, uses (and needs) the associated percentiles to make sense of the scaled scores.

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Algorithm Question - Confused by discrepancy between sections

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