GMAT difficulty Algorithm - GMATPrep vs Actual Exam

Question

I did an analysis on the difficulty level of questions on the Quant section of GMAT Prep mock test, on which I scored Q50. I was surprised to see way more Sub-600 Lvl questions than what I was expecting. The attached image shows the difficulty level and topic of questions presented by the GMATPrep algorithm as the test progressed. (Difficulty percentage is as represented by the same question on GMATclub)

Overall, I was presented with :

Sub-600 Lvl : 12 questions
600 - 700 Lvl : 14 questions
700 Lvl : 5 questions

I wanted to know if this level of difficulty is in line with the actual GMAT exam as well. Has anyone else done this sort of analysis?
Also, Can someone tell me how GMATclub rates the percentage of Official question difficulty and how accurate is it as per official data.

https://i.postimg.cc/WzzjRKy0/GMAT.jpg

Aditim12 · Answer

I haven’t done the analysis but I did find the actual gmat quant harder. (Maybe because I was nervous or maybe because I had not practiced a lot of hard Qs)
But surely, gmat prep mock test 1 and 2 are VERY old, I guess 2010. (I’ve only taken 1&2). they have not changed the questions so don’t determine difficulty level from those mocks.

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FALSEnine9 · Answer

Aditim12
Premises : GMAT prep mock test 1 and 2 are VERY old, I guess 2010. They (GMAC) have not changed the questions.
Conclusion : Don’t determine difficulty level from those mocks.
Assumption : GMAT Questions from the previous years/decades were considerably easier than the ones being presented these days.

Flawed Assumption?

rahulp11 · Answer

Interesting analysis, a similar observation was made by another user back in 2018 with responses from GMATninja and KarishmaB explaining how the GMATclub question difficulties are calculated. Quoting GMATninja's response below link to the post here https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmatprep-ana ... 74288.html

Aditim12 · Answer

That’s not what I’m saying. Those questions are old meaning they follow an old pattern. GMAT must have obviously changed the paper pattern in a decade. 
IMO, Gmat mock tests are used for their scoring method because gmat conducts the test
And of course, what may be difficult to you, may not be difficult to others and vice versa

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GmatKnightTutor · Answer

I wanted to know if this level of difficulty is in line with the actual GMAT exam as well. Has anyone else done this sort of analysis?

The Official-Guide classifies questions as EASY, MEDIUM, or HARD. The actual exam, if you check an ESR, for example, may refer to a set of questions as MEDIUM HIGH.

I did an analysis on the difficulty level of questions on the Quant section of GMAT Prep mock test, on which I scored Q50. I was surprised to see way more Sub-600 Lvl questions than what I was expecting.

If you're interested in looking at some Q50 ESR data and what type of question difficulties are thrown for that type of score,  you can click for it on the GK frontpage .

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi FALSEnine9.

My experience with the real GMAT quant section has been that the questions seemed relatively easy, or at least straightforward, with only a handful being noticeably challenging. So, that experience and your analysis seem to match.

Also, if many people on GMAT Club either repeat the questions from the official GMAT practice tests or answer them after seeing them on the tests, then they could be rated slightly easier than they actually are because of people getting them correct more than would be the case if they were all seeing the questions for the first time when they answered them.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  FALSEnine9 ,

The GMAT official practice tests use the same algorithm as the actual GMAT exam. This algorithm operates with fewer constraints in the practice tests than in the actual exam and uses responses to all the questions to generate a score estimate, whereas the GMAT uses at most 28 in quant and 30 in verbal.

Going beyond this is not easy (most likely impossible), and the patterns we think we see in our analysis are unlikely to lead to reliable conclusions.

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