Discrepancy in scores

Question

GMAT Power Prep 1:-
V31 (12 incorrect)
Q43 (7 incorrect)
Total 610

GMAT Power Prep 2:-
V40 (11 incorrect)
Q44 (7 incorrect)
Total 690

Can someone explain the inconsistency between no. of incorrect questions and the scaled score?

Kelzie01 · Answer

No one can give you the precise reason, but it is most likely some combination of the level of questions you missed and the order you missed them in. Missing early questions will hurt you more, as will missing a chunk of questions in a row. On the flip side, getting a good streak of correct answer will boost your score.

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 Sanky7,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize. It takes into account a number of different factors - far more than just the number of correct and incorrect answers (and there's also the issue of the 'experimental' questions - the ones that don't count; getting all of those questions correct would have NO impact on your score). As such, you shouldn't be spending time trying to figure it all out.

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.

1) How long have you been studying?
2) What is your goal score?
3) When are you planning to take the Official GMAT?

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

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Hi Sanky7,

There are a lot factors that contribute towards your final score and the difficulty of questions plays a big role.
This discrepance can happen because of the following reasons:

1. You had a lot of incorrect questions early on in the test (first 10 problems)
2. You had a streak on incorrect questions somewhere
3. You did not complete the test.

I see that you have already given two Official tests. You can buy additional ones from mba.com
You can gain some easy points in the quants section.

1. How long have you been studying?
2. Are you following any preparatory course to build fundamentals in the quants section?
Most of the preparatory companies including ours offer a free trial of the course. You can opt for one and see if the course suits your needs.

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Hey Sanky7,

We can't comment for other tests but do note that no test prep company's algorithm will exactly match the real thing. The best we can do is get close.

You can always take a free GMAT PILL practice test here complete with detailed performance and timing analytics: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... ctice-test

In terms of our scoring, many of our students report scores that are +/- 30 points from their actual GMAT test and so are a relatively good indicator of their performance. That said, no practice test can perfectly replicate the actual score algorithm, but this is quite close.

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Discrepancy in scores

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