Interactive comparison tool - How did I do on the GMAT?

Question

Hi all, I have recently found this Interactive GMAT Comparison Tool on the GMAC web-site interesting. You may compare your performance to the performance of other GMAT test-takers per different categories/countries. So, for example if you are aspiring MBA candidate from India or China at the age of 26 you may see how well other guys in that category perform and what is your percentile in peer group. You may discover also that women on average perform better than men ...but up to 540 score and then men are performing better. Girls but don't be disspointed so much.

Only the major categories are presented. See example of verbal % for test-takers from USA, India and China. 2011-02-15_163004.png Here you may see how Chinese and Indian test-takers perform if compared to all MBA applicants. Guys you are math wizards

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AmrithS · Answer

Cook man :D I'll check it out... Lemme see how many of me country me are smarter than moi

cmv · Answer

As a 31+ woman from Western Europe/US with 760, I'd like to thank you for the morning ego-boost!

Now, more seriously, it was very interesting to look at the distributions for various countries, especially for the Quant.

AmrithS · Answer

Results:

My GMAT scores were:

Total - 650 (79 %ile) 
Quant - 44 (65 %ile)
Verbal - 37 (80 %ile)
AWA - 5 (56%ile)
Now among Indians who wrote the test, the corresponding percentile scores are:
Total - 69 (-10 percentage points)
Quant - 53 (-12 percentage points)
Verbal - 83 (+3 percentage points)
AWA - 45 (-11 percentage points)

M23A · Answer

Interesting data. Thanks for the site.

https://gmatclub.com/static/posted_from.png     Posted from    GMAT ToolKit

ahs · Answer

very interesting... thanks for sharing the link!

heygirl · Answer

That was interesting! Looks like test-takers from some countries(India , China) perform much higher than GMAT averages

desiaggie1980 · Answer

More competitive in bay area full of us

Posted from my mobile device

abmyers · Answer

American schools need to learn how to teach math....so sad here

BabyBeagle · Answer

Couple reasons this conclusion might not be warranted:

1. Foreign GMAT "writers" probably know they cannot hope to compete on verbal, and focus a ton of studying on math.

2. Selection bias. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that the Indians and Chinese who take the test are smarter relative to their respective populations than the average American GMAT taker is to his. In other words, you dip further down into the American intelligence pool simply because you have more Americans taking the test.

In 2010, for example:

China had 22,178 GMAT takers from a population of 1.3B
America had 151,252 from 300MM, about 30x per capita more.

Furthermore, imposing a $250 fee on a poor(er) country keeps a lot of weak math people out of the test. GDP/capita is $50K in the US, $7K in China. Imagine what American scores would be if the test were ~5x more expensive? How much harder would you study if the test were $1,250, and you knew you'd have to pay again that to take it again? If you dare to correlate financial success with math smarts, the argument gets even more compelling.

I'm just spitballing some half baked ideas, but it's interesting stuff to think about and discuss.

PS, where did my thread from earlier go?

PTK · Answer

I would completly agree with you in respect of first reason. I am a non-native and for me it is more easier to increase math than verbal.

For the second arument, however a contrargument may be that: "americans having more money have a better access to high quality materials and teachers, and thus must have higher scores".

BabyBeagle · Answer

That's a great argument. It took me a while to wrap my head around it, but it does speak to the resource advantage of prosperity overcoming the lack of motivation that same prosperity may engender.

Like I said...half-baked. This could be a fun game of "find the flaws." I still think that America's educational system does not fully explain the difference in math scores, though I do think it plays a part. We also have very soft parents who do not push us as hard as non-american parents do.

The Chinese Mothers controversy illuminated a consequence of this type of parenting for me, something that I had always suspected. Academic success, particularly success on a quantitative test, comes from attitude, and the confidence (or maybe even conceit) that one can do anything - that all intellectual aptitude is within reach and no concept out of grasp. Being pushed as a kid to excel academically, although it can turn you into a social retard, forces you to find that aptitude within yourself or else be made to feel inadequate. In turn, you never end up thinking, "I'm not good at math."

saeedt · Answer

Thanks Pkit, what a good tool. I just understood that my 35 V on my first CAT attempt with no practice is not a bad score. 2nd, I understood best time for GMAT is 25-30.Thanks God I'm 25 now

Yes, Yes, Competition is unfair. My score of, say, 650, well equals and American's 700. At least, they don't have to travel to a foreign country just to take the test. I have to. Poor me

whiplash2411 · Answer

This is right to a great extent. Though I live in the US, I come from a country that is known for its notoriety for these hard-core exams that make people suicidal. And I think I should add one more point to this discussion - math education in the US is very different from the math education in countries like India or China. There is more emphasis on people learning what they want to learn rather than force feeding everyone to go into Engineering. Another point is that a larger majority of the people who try to take the GMAT in India or perhaps even China come from a technical background wanting to switch into a business background or gain some ground by raising in the ranks through the acquisition of an MBA. This biases the criteria so badly.

Needless to say, this debate between native and non-native speakers is to no end. Speaking in English everyday gives the native speakers an edge while a large majority of technical test-takers gives a math advantage to the non-natives. There really is no point complaining that America should teach "better" math or that Indians should learn better "English" - it really is a matter of leveraging your own skill set and sucking it up when you know you suck at something and just studying. And mind you, there are exceptions to this rule everywhere.

whiplash2411 · Answer

No, I don't think it is unfair at all. You want to come to their country to study, so you play by their rules. It's all a matter of choice innit? Oh and before I get hounded by criticism, I am not an American national.

heygirl · Answer

Fair or unfair, that's how the test is!! And there can be endless debates on the education system of any country.
I agree with Whiplash here, if one has to go to a particular country, the rules of that country have to be followed....oh,well, neither am I an american national :D

saeedt · Answer

whiplash2411 and heygirl,

It seems we are building a conversation on a wrong premise. I didn't say that following rules of US schools is unfair. Sure when I accept to study there, I also accept to act according to their rules. It's obvious. If those rules were wrong, US weren't the leader in education now! what I said is unfair is Iranian's applicants' restrictions. Most of the books are not available here and we should travel abroad to take GMAT, too. While a Chinese, for example, takes a taxi and arrives at test center in half an hour, I should spoil several couples of my precious near-exam time traveling abroad. Will I be able to sleep enough the night before the exam there? Won't I get lost and arrive late at exam? Won't I be mugged or any other unpleasant event just before the exam? I think it's enough to say the result of such people like Iranians are biased.

Schawjibb · Answer

This is an awesome tool. Thanks for sharing it with us, Pkit!

+1

yogesh1984 · Answer

@ Pkit and all - regarding Quant score I would say that many of the (or even if I say most of the then it would not be exaggeration of the fact) Indian nerds don't come to GMAT land but rather take IIT+IIMA,B,C route. So figure for Indians is definately understated :!:

because the top notch talent does not come.... while I am not sure about chinese nationals case. Also one more pertinent point is here that parents try to push their kids for science subjects. Intrestingly social sciences, Humanities are ther kind of subjects seen as last resort of education or as if you are doing time pass :evil:

PTK · Answer

I do really appreciate math skills of most indian applicants. You guys are really math telented. 
Well I think it would be fait to compare a nation's intellegence based on only GMAT scores. What a "could be true" conclusion I can make is that you guys are very quantatively skillfull irrespective whether you take the GMAT or not.

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Interactive comparison tool - How did I do on the GMAT?

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