New GMAC Feature - Select the Order of Sections on GMAT [Pilot]

Hi

please advise whether I should choose Verbal over Quant to start with to maximize my score for my strongest section or go ahead with quant followed by verbal. Besides that I am less anxious during verbal. I am always struggling with quant.

thanks

hi,
the sequence would depend from individual to individual on his/her ability to handle things in different circumstances..
1) the first set of people would be those who do not get fatigued in 3 hrs exam and can tackle anything the same way in first hour and also last hour. Here completing your strong area would be helpful as that may give you momentum to carry forward to your weak area, a momentum which may help you tackle few odd Qs on the confidence gained through the first half.
But if you intend to lose concentration in later part, best would be to kep the best for later half and put in your best mind on the weak area. A perfect score in one and a poor score may not be better than a good score in both.
2) Best would be take two mocks one in normal scenario, and others in opposite sequence. you may not get the overall score, as no mock would have incorporated hese changes for one to test the efficacy of switch overs, but you can compare sectional scores and see what suits you better.

finally chose Q V R A. 1st of March. free and fun.

hi,
so you have decided to keep the best for the last..
All the best..

Hi guys,

I have received an invitation to take the GMAT section order Pilot Program. Did GMAT extend the Pilot period ( February 23 – March 8, 2016.)? because i see some mid March dates(14th,16th) available to select. (I chose VQRA option)Did I click on the wrong link to register? Please confirm. Thanks you!

Did anyone use the section order feature on the GMAT yet and saw a (hopefully positive) change in scores?

took my QVRA and scored q44 and verbal 23 =))) lol even being drunk i can get above 30. dunno really =(

ir 7. in awa interestingly i was fresh. cancelled. after verbal was done i felt so relaxed and calm.

looks like the order does not work for me. even opposite - i was really anxious during first 10 quant questions. the timing was good on q17 the timer showed 38 mins. after that i was getting i think touger questions the last 3 questions i just blindly guessed. i think some warm up before quant is required for me - ir solely would be ideal before jumping into quant.

I request others who have already participated in pilot program to share their experiences, score, and the difference they found.

Sent from my Mi 4i using Tapatalk

I got in on the last available date for the Pilot Program.

Test date: March 15th

Order: Quant - Verbal - Essay - IR

I took the pilot couple of days back...improved 20 points...(from 710 to 730)....Though the Pilot has certain advantages for sure, I think my improvement was due to some other small changes I made in my approach. I opted for QVRA. Q is my strongest(scored a 51 here, improvement from 50). Probably being fresh might have helped a bit to focus on silly mistakes. In V I scored 38 (improvement from 35)...Yes I was little less drained, but more importantly I focused on attempting all questions positively( an not guessing 3/4 in between spaced out like I did in my previous tests)...I took this time out from not spending extra time overthinking on questions and not taking notes in RC....Using this strategy I was scoring in same range in practice tests as well....I took 4 official tests again this time around (750, 740, 750, 730 )...Didnt prepare much this time...just the tests and few other practice questions from Q Pack for a period spanning 10 days. My last GMAT was 6 months back. Hope this helps.

I can safely say that the freedom to choose test order was a big booster for me. For my exam order i went for QVRA, with the strategy that I can carry on my confidence from Quant to Verbal. Compared to my 1st attempt, I was fresh, relaxed and mentally better prepared for Verbal. In my opinion the choice order will definitely benefit test takers when it will be made available and should push up people's scores.

Tried to post link of my score improvement, but as this is only 2nd post so can't post urls - i went from 650 to 760, and I would say the flexible test order definitely contributed to this improvement.

That's a huge score increase. Congrats!

However, the GMAT will make this feature available to all only if it notices no significant difference between the score increases(?) of those who use the feature and the score increases of those not using the feature

Are the questions any harder? I'm due to take a QVRA on March 15th and I just realized they may have made the q's more difficult?

Anyone notice any increase in difficulty?

What would make you draw this conclusion? As a matter of fact, altering the algorithm to change the difficulty of the questions is precisely what the didn't do.

I hope that's the case -- The thought just hit me and I had a very vivid oh sh*t moment.

I'm just wondering why more people aren't posting about crazy score improvements after having taken the pilot test.

I did not notice any deviation from the standard quant section. What really bothers me is my insanely fluctuating verbal score: on mgmat I scored 35-39, veritas 32-36, gmat prep 35-37. On this pilot I got verbal 23 - this is abnormal and is not consistent with my verbal ability across the tests and previous gmats. My verbal just cannot flucatuate that wildely!

This makes me to conclude that verbal algorithm is different from quant algortihm (which actually rated me quite consistently from q40 to q43 and q 44 this last pilot exam) on gmat - in a manner that reconfirms the gmat prep experiments taken by guys here on the forum where they answered first 10 questions incorrect and with the rest q correct they got verbal 23. This is only explanatation that comes to my mind.

So imho first 10 verbal questions weigh more for a good verbal score than first 10 quant q do for the quant one. Something is just really inconsistent about the gmat verbal algo that gives me consistently 36-37 and then dumps to 23: from above 80% down to 30%.

Wheras the quant gmat algo is really consistent and shows the quant ability. Overall I am realizing now that tthe order of sections is not a great factor. GMAT measures your overall ability, and does it quite fairly. At least for the quant section.

I believe it's because the "fatigue" factor is a bit overplayed. Most people aren't going to have a massive jump in score because they took their essay and IR at the end instead of at the beginning.

Keep in mind, the GMAT is a standardized test. They have to keep everything similar so that scores can be fairly compared year to year.

shasadou - I would recommend that you look more at your strategies and knowledge of content instead of worrying about the GMAT algorithm. I promise, your scores can wildly fluctuate depending on a number of circumstances. I've experienced it firsthand.