Knewton Free diagnostic Test scoring- a little weird?

Question

Hi Folks,

I just finished Knewton's free diagnostic test with a score of 650. In Quant i got 9 questions and wrong and my section score was 41. This score seems a little awkward to me as I have taken 2 GMAT prep and scored 47/48 with as many as 14/15 questions wrong.

Even in verbal, I got 6 wrong out of 41 questions (with first 22 answers correct) but got only 40 whereas even with 9 incorrect answers, I got 42 in GMATprep.

I know the scoring is not based on the number of questions right or wrong but on the difficulty level. However, If I am getting alot of questions right, shouldnt I be getting more difficult questions? I'm a little confused with the algorithm (more so because Knewton has the original algorithm developers for GMAT working with them!)

So, my question is this- how much should I rely on Knewtons score? Even though my scaled score is 650, I really do not know what to make of it!!

Would appreciate responses from users.. Cheers

whiplash2411 · Answer

Their CATs are a tad weird. But I'd say that their overall score is a decent estimate despite the section scores. For instance, I had 5 wrong in Q and got a 48 and 10 wrong in verbal with a 40. 48-40 gave me a 750. While a 50-47 gave me a 770 on GMAT prep. So I think your overall is decent but the scaled ones should probably be higher.

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bb · Answer

I know Knewton has put quite a bit of effort into getting their tests to be accurate, so I would say they should be on par, esp that they offer a 50 point money back guarantee.

PTK · Answer

Welcome gmatpapa

I have observed that their raw scores may not correlate with GMATprep scores, but I agree with Whiplash that their overall scores generally correlate with official GMAT scores.

gmatpapa · Answer

Hmmm.. Thanks. But I thought scaled scores directly correlate to the overall score. So if the overall scores are representative, so should the scaled scores, dont you think? Here's my score in the last 4 full length CATs I've taken:

GMAT Prep: 710
MGMAT: 710
Kaplan: 640
Knewton; 650

I've heard alot of people in GMAT club forums say you can safely add 70 points to Kaplan's score, so according to this idea, my Kaplan score of 640 becomes 710. So you see, the scores except Knewton are pretty consistent (SD=0 :lol:

), and those are quite recommended tests too. So something tells me I shouldn't really be too bothered by Knewton's score.. Would love to know test score experiences of current/ past knewton students..

), and those are quite recommended tests too. So something tells me I shouldn't really be too bothered by Knewton's score.. Would love to know test score experiences of current/ past knewton students..

strikethree · Answer

I don't know... a 60 point differential doesn't seem too skewed. If it was 200 pts, then there might be a red flag...

However, I am also a bit puzzled on how the scoring works.

I recently signed up for Knewton (this being my first GMAT course) and took my first GMAT diagnostic test. Obviously, I can't comment about other tests but most of the difficult math questions seemed bunch up at the front. Is that normal? (I was quite worried when I saw very easy questions pop up at the later stages of the math portion.)

At any rate, I scored a 680 (46 Q 37 V) on the diagnostic so a 50 pt guarantee to 730 isn't too bad.

puqq · Answer

If anything, the 50 point money back guarantee is most likely to indicate a biased overall result.

I took their test today:
2 questions wrong in quant - 47 (total time used- 55 min :D )
6 questions wrong in verbal - 39

Actually, their results seem to correlate with the old fashioned GMAT scoring (non CAT), google RAW GMAT score calculator

Wishbone · Answer

47/39 is pretty high it's 700+ either way right?

Also, I thought knewton's test was very much reflective of the ACTUAL GMAT, imo only though

gmatpapa · Answer

But I found a lot of the questions exact replicas of OG problems, with just proper nouns changed. May be thats why you found the questions as they are in the actual GMAT..

Wishbone · Answer

Now that you mention this I do remember a few questions looking like OG problems with a few SUBTLE changes, I'll agree with that, not sure if it's more than that though, I mean there are only so many ways you can test certain question types, so I'm not sure if these small changes would somehow inflate your score?

Maybe I'm not as articulate as I want to be, but do you see what i mean? if you do the OG I'm pretty sure you have seen pretty much ALL the Q types, inflating your score only because you've seen them, not sure knewton's exam would want to inflate only because they are the only company guaranteeing 50 points?

gmatpapa · Answer

I guess I see what you're saying. I might just say that even if Knewton uses OG questions with very subtle changes, and explains the questions in a good way to students, its good enough. As you rightly said that OG contains all problem types so a student most likely will learn all the methods in tackling questions from the most authentic source, the OG. Probably Knewton realizes this and thats why it uses such questions and offers a money back guarantee.

agdimple333 · Answer

I gave knewton free test just now and i scored 44 in quant; 8 incorrect answers.

In GMAT prep even with 13 wrong i had scored 49.

Not sure of the discrepancy.

Aj85 · Answer

hii, I gave knewton's diagnostic test today and got 730.(q46, v 45) I believe its questions were pretty good and representative of OG and gmatprep. I do feel marking was a little strict in quant but at the same time I also feel marking for verbal section was very lenient. Overall I liked the experience of knewton test.

MBAji · Answer

730 is great on their test... their scoring seems a bit wonky but they called my score almost to a t if I average the test results... the quant scoring leaves no room for mistakes.. you'll lose huge points even if you get a couple of them wrong...

Aximili85 · Answer

guys great to see this thread. I just wrote the free Knewton and got a 650, M 38, V 43. My last MGMAT was a 740 (M47, V44). Umm, should i be panicking? I have 13 days before the test (august 3rd). I'm going to sit and review in a bit, but seriously, a NINE point drop in quant??? And that too, while writing the test, I was thinking "wow this is SO much easier than Manhattan!"

Anybody have any insight? Anything would be hugely helpful. Also, I don't I got any of the "typical" tough question on permutations/probability etc. Weird.

What the hell! Here are my other scores over the last 3 months, 
GMAC 1: 710 (inflated becuase of OG 12 question repeat), 
Veritas (free): 690
MGMAT 1: 700
MGMAT 2: 700
Princeton (free): 700
MGMAT 3: 740
Knewton (free): 650!!!!!!!!!

gmatpapa · Answer

You should absolutely NOT be panicking.. Use those 13 days efficiently and you'll do fine on your G-day

spurthinaidu · Answer

I just had knewton free diagnostic test and scored 640 (46Q, 31V). Is this score similar to other GMAT CAT tests.
I got 5q wrong in Qunat and 8 in verbal.

sTePhz09 · Answer

rvrbE642

sTePhz09 · Answer

SILLLY ME <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" />

versatile · Answer

I have subscribed to knewton.

I really doubt the scoring pattern

I scored 630-650 in 5 of my mgmats, i took one of knewton's normal test ( not diagnostic ) , and i scored 570

what i fail to understand is that i got only 5 Qs wrong , these five Qs were also not in raw, these 5 Qs were very much distributed in the given set of 37 and i scored only 39 in Quant

I got 10 Qs wrong in verbal and i scored 30 only , again these 10 Qs were also distributed within 41 Q - except one incident of 2Qs wrong in raw.

I really dont know which one to consider ? the consistency of mgmat or the scores of knewton ?

Please guide

Knewton Free diagnostic Test scoring- a little weird?

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