GMAT algorithm

Hello, Anto1998, and welcome to the forum. I agree with what has been written above: the difficulty of the questions you answer correctly or incorrectly--taking into consideration that anything unanswered will be marked incorrect--seems to be the driver of your eventual score. I would only like to add that the time spent per question does not seem to weigh into the results at all. As far as GMAC™ is concerned, a correct response is a correct response, and if you can do that over and over and make your way through the entire test that way, you will earn the highest score, despite a Quant section that might be completed in half an hour or one that was a whisker away from the time cutoff.

A common misconception that I see in a lot of students who are in the earlier phases of their prep especially is that all questions need to be answered in two minutes or, preferably, under two minutes. This is not only false, but fixating on the clock through all stages of prep can hinder your progress. Focus on the concepts first, shore up any gaps that exist in your conceptual understanding, and practice getting more efficient at tackling problems later (unless your test is at the end of the month or something). Regarding the clock, even a test-ready student should only be concerned about the average amount of time spent per question. Some questions may take longer, some shorter. It happens all the time, and achieving the right balance is the real goal.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Even though it seems weird, the algorithm doesn't even necessarily keep track of how many you get right/wrong. (I actually don't know for sure whether it does, but for an item-adaptive test like the GMAT, it would be completely normal if it didn't.) It definitely doesn't base your score on how many you got right. The questions actually aren't "weighted" either in the way that you're thinking. What I mean is, it's not like some questions are naturally "worth more than" others.

There's not a great way to game the system, other than to make sure you answer every question (even if you need to guess) and try to spread your wrong answers out throughout the section and not get a bunch wrong in a row. But if you're still interested in learning more about how the scoring works, check this out: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... an-i-miss/

Hi,

Yes, it depends on the weight of wrong questions, doing mistake in easy question attracts more penalty than that in difficult question.
Also, it depends on the time spent, getting a question correct in lesser time is better than in more time (since the level of the next question will be greater).
Its safe to try and get initial 10 questions & last 5/6 questions correct in both Quants & Verbal sections, even if you have to spend a little more time on these questions.

All the Best