GMATClub attends GMAC Test Prep Summit

Question

Folks,

GMATClub.com was extended an invite from the GMAC to attend the third GMAC Test Prep Summit, which took place on 10/15/2009 in NYC. I attended the conference on behalf of GMATClub.

GMAC has hosted a conference every two years (2005, 2007, 2009). The attendees of the conference were all groups or companies that offer prep for the GMAT. I was able to connect with people from MGMAT, Veritas, score800.com, Princeton, Griffon Prep, Bell Curves, Manhattan Review, Ace Prep, etc.

The conference was rolled out to provide more outreach to test takers. Prior to this, the GMAC was focused on maintaining relationships with the schools and not much else. This changed when new people moved into senior positions (last 5-8 years). There has been a shift to provide more outreach to test takers. This can be seen with the major improvement in the OG books (from 9th to 12th edition), official verbal/math guides, GMATPrep, etc.

All in all, it was a very beneficial conference.

The write up is attached, and the attached PDFs are referenced in the write up.

Write up: GC Write up TestPrep Summit Oct 2009 - admin.doc

Please post all questions here. I will monitor this thread and respond accordingly.

Best,
mohater

Some interesting facts (summary by bb)
RETAKING GMAT
1. Retake rate is 20%
2. Average gain from retaking is 34 points
3. 31% of retakers do not improve their original score
4. 14% improve by 100 or more points
5. 42% retake within 31-60 days (the soonest you can take the test is 31 days after the first test)
6. Quant is more likely to be improved (2.5 points) than verbal (2.1 points)

OTHER INFO
1. All questions count though the first few are still the deciding ones - you can do well if you answer the first 10, but your score will decrease if you keep missing questions
2. Penalty for not answering questions is 3 percentile points per question.

This is so far all I fished out of the powerpoints.

Attachments

File comment: GMAT Bus Schedule.PDF
GMAT Bus Schedule.PDF [154.96 KiB]
Downloaded 604 times

File comment: GMAT Security (Rudner).PDF
GMAT Security (Rudner).PDF [181.4 KiB]
Downloaded 381 times

File comment: GMAT Psychometrics (Rudner).PDF
GMAT Psychometrics (Rudner).PDF [870.39 KiB]
Downloaded 773 times

File comment: Agenda.pdf
Agenda.pdf [29.81 KiB]
Downloaded 359 times

File comment: GC Write up TestPrep Summit Oct 2009 - admin.doc
GC Write up TestPrep Summit Oct 2009 - admin.doc [40 KiB]
Downloaded 417 times

This is so far all I fished out of the powerpoints.

pm4553 · Answer

Thanks for the documents, mohater! +1

I have a couple of questions, I'm not sure if these were covered in the summit, but if you'd know, would be very helpful.

- Did GMAC mention if there is any correlation between GMAT(real) vs GMATPrep vs OG's? To me, there is definately a huge difference in the difficulty level among the three.

- Did they touch base on how experimental questions or anything around that?

mohater · Answer

Hello pm4553,

The GMAC doesn't have any reliable data for your first question. The GMAC r&d group tries to release questions for GMATPrep and OG's that best match "real" questions (also trying to only use questions that are not US culture based). Among the organizations present, there was praise for improving the tools provided by the GMAC as over the years.

The GMAC's main goal over the years has been to make sure no group has an advantage on the GMAT. 
 
One thing to keep in mind is the OG ranges from very easy to 650 level questions (not too many 700+ on OG books). GMATPrep has a pretty decent pool of questions, but it's still only a practice test.

As for your second question...

Per Dr Rudner:

The experimental questions used to show up in fixed locations. If you paid attention and tried to deconstruct the paper practice tests along with Powerprep and GMATPrep, you could figure out where the experimental questions (it carried through on the real test). This is no longer the case as the GMAC has incorporated much more randomization into the test.

Experimental questions are still used and will show up.

Thanks,

DenisSh · Answer

Unfortunately, pdf files are of too bad quality.

eresh · Answer

I also have a question regarding the experimental questions. I know there is no marks for not getting the answer right. However, say I correct 5 answers in a row, then I encounter an experimental and get it wrong, would it affect my next question? Or the next question will be based on the previous real test questions result?

mohater · Answer

This was out of my control. I used the scanner that was available to me and this is the result. Should I come across a better scanner, I will scan the handouts again.

Experimental questions will NOT affect the band of question you receive. Experimental questions are used to gauge the difficulty of a question before it is introduced as a real question (and to decide if it will be introduced as a real question). Only graded questions will affect your results.

PS
This was not covered during the conference.

bb · Answer

I can read most everything just fine - works well when printed.

skpMatcha · Answer

Is it that with experimental questions the # of quant is 37 and verbal is 41 ? or with out ?

mohater · Answer

With.

The experimental questions are embedded into the test. The test taker has no way of differentiating between graded questions and experimental questions.

41 verbal questions includes experimental questions
The same goes for the 37 quant questions.

eresh · Answer

How many of them are experimental? I read somewhere that it is 10 for both the sections. Don't know for sure.

mohater · Answer

The GMAC does NOT publish how many of the questions are experimental. Some of the prep companies/orgs speculate about the number of questions, but there is nothing to confirm.

Don't waste your time trying to figure these things out. Treat every question as though it is scored and move along accordingly.

prome2 · Answer

+1!

Awesome post! Why isn't this stickied??!!

vicksikand · Answer

This is huge! I never realized/knew that not having completed a section could have such a pronounced effect on the total score/percentile. Case in point :
1. Powerprep 1:720 (V39,Q49) - 3 Verbal questions unattempted
2. Powerprep 2: 690(V42,Q42) - 3 to 4 Quant q's unattempted, 1 Verbal unattempted.
3. Gmatprep 1 : 630 -dont remm the scores(took it a while back) but 6 V q's unattempted.
4. Gmatprep 2 :650 - again 9 verbal unattempted.
With that said - I believe I have to stop dwelling on the first 30 q's and start pacing myself better after the 1st 15 q's. I just couldnt figure out why the scores were so divergent; I mean the deviation was simply inexplicable -in the next attempt I will pace myself better and I will make educated guesses towards the end(if I have to). I think its better to guess than to take a hit of say 15-20 percentile points.

This article maybe a lifesaver for me - thanks a ton guys!

+1 for you Mohater!

vicksikand · Answer

Following up on my previous post: 
GmatPrep 2(repeat/unistalled):690 (V36,Q48) - attempted all questions - had to rush through a few questions towards the end, but I guess overall - I have a new strategy now. For the record there were 1/2 V repeats and 2 Q repeats - I had to solve them anyways.

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GMATClub attends GMAC Test Prep Summit

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