Official GMAT Practice 3: Scoring Explination

Question

has this ever happened to anyone? I completely blanked on time management on the GMAT official practice test 3. Ended up leaving 10 blank (7 quant, 3 verbal). The score although not great was 580. Are a string of correct answers at the beginning more important? very confused on the scoring and if more value is given to correct answers at the beginning.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

If you have the Official-Guide (you can get an e-version from the MBA website), there is some myth vs. fact info regarding the algorithm in the beginning you may find interesting. May change how one thinks about the first 10 questions, for example.

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-contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm

zachadam1999 · Answer

Thank you. I didn’t realize that some people did this as a strategy. In my case it was unintentional, just thought it was interesting that my score didn’t drop more. For my target school USF the minimum is a 550. For scholarship reasons anything In the low 600 is the goal!!! Thank you  GmatKnightTutor  for taking the time to reply !

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GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Think there could be a misunderstanding. Might be better to check out the specific info written in the guide. The post below may be interesting to check out as well. Ultimately, on an actual GMAT at least, overly focusing on the first 10 questions especially if it means "leaving 10 blank" may not be an ideal approach. The guide mentions there is a significant penalty for not completing. https://gmatclub.com/forum/new-format-g ... 69682.html -contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm

KarishmaB · Answer

Because GMAT scoring is adaptive, it makes sense that the bigger steps are taken in the beginning. 
So if you answer a 500 level question correctly in the beginning, you will likely get a 550 level question. Perhaps another 550 level question and then you will get a 600 level question and so on... Later on in the test, the algorithm will fine tune its estimate of your capability and will also ensure that you get questions from most topics so you may not see big score jumps. So by the last 5 questions, if the algorithm has pegged you around 650, it may be making up its mind in the 640 - 660 range, not 550 - 750 range. So missing a few questions may bring your score down by 10 - 20 points at most. But there is a big penalty for leaving questions unanswered so you should certainly guess if you run out of time. If you mean to say that you left last 7 Quant questions unanswered in your test, had you guessed on those 7, your score would have been even higher.

But it is not a good idea to spend an inordinate amount of time in the first few questions. Solve them to the best of your ability and take a step back before moving on to the next question to ensure you have made no 'careless' mistake. Spending too much time in the first few questions will only make you more anxious going forward and you will not be able to perform to the best of your ability. Think about it - say you spend 4-5 mins on a question that was 'hard' for you. If you answer it correctly, your next question will be even 'harder.' Will you spend another 5 mins on it? If you answer it incorrectly, you anyway lost your time invested in that question. So it is only a lose-lose proposition.

At the end of the day, don't try to game the algorithm. Do every question to the best of your ability within 2-3 mins (skip quickly and save yourself some time if a question seems too hard). At the end, if you are left with a few questions with the time running out, guess on all remaining questions and walk away.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi zachadam1999,

Here is an article that provides more information:

Should You Spend Extra Time on the First 10 GMAT Questions?

Official GMAT Practice 3: Scoring Explination

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