Percentile to percentage conversion chart?

Question

I have noticed specifically in verbal section that my accuracy levels are between 48% to 50%. However, this is absolute grading and relative grading might vary. In a lot of 50 or 5 million candidates there is an odd chance of scoring as low as 30% percentile or as good as 80% percentile, sufficient for a decent score with my personal absolute percentage grading. Hence, I am not in a position to figure out exactly where do I stand. I just took one Kaplan online CAT and scored a mere 560(Q 38, V 25) and I know very well Kaplan's tests are pretty exhaustive. I felt an acute pressure while taking the test and therefore see myself standing at a 670 to 680 based on the GMAT score predictor graph, which is worthwhile decent enough but insufficient in my personal regard. The more number of questions I can try and get correct can be planned based on how many I could afford to go wrong and I wish to practice my exam timing along this strategy. I'd appreciate if someone could throw some light on the absolute percentage to relative percentile ratio.

bigoyal · Answer

I don't think there is any relationship between absolute percentage to relative percentile ratio. The score you get depends upon the level of difficulty you have reached. You may score higher in a test with 10 incorrect answers than in test with just 6 incorrect answers. :evil:

Try attempting GMATPrep as many times as possible. You'll get some idea on where you stand.

bb · Answer

I agree. There is not relationship. GMAT is a complex adaptive test that's capable of exactly pinpointing your performance. The number of questions answered correctly has no correlation with the score - only the number of Hard questions (that are scored) answered correctly. Go through the GMAT FAQ to get up to speed with the test features: gmat-faq-frequently-asked-questions-about-gmat-75809.html

BarneyStinson · Answer

Alright, your points have some weight. So you tend to say that attempting to get as many correct as possible is the only thing that could be done in the exam. Very well agreed!!!!

However, how do we categorize questions based on difficulty? To me every new question appears with the same levels of difficulty. It is a race against time before I completely read the question, understand what is being asked or the anomaly in the question and come up with the perfect logic that helps me get the optimum answer. And at this, I fail consistently at 48% to 50%. However, I have noticed that the harder it gets for me to comprehend the question, the more probability I have for choosing the wrong option among the answer options. I want to minimize this to the maximum. And I need practice of much harder questions. What study material is good enough to get to this?

mohater · Answer

Don't forget the experimental questions. You could miss all of those and still score 90+ percentile on both sections.

bonedry · Answer

Do the experimental questions stick out? For instance, could you be getting a lot of hard questions and then suddenly get an easy one, meaning that one might be experimental?

bb · Answer

Sometimes they do. Both ways actually - Hard, Hard, Easy, Hard or Easy, Easy, Hard, Easy. That's why the usual strategy/advice for GMAT is - take one question at a time and don't worry about the big picture (plenty of other things to worry about). There are about 14! (30%) of the test questions that are experimental and do not count towards your final score.

mohater · Answer

bb is right, never try to bank on knowing what is experimental and what is scored. Treat every question the same, and watch your time.

BarneyStinson · Answer

Watching time is the harder part. If you don't comprehend the question in the first go, you re-read it and lose time. Even if you understand the question wrongly or partially, there are good chances of getting lost with one of the wrong choices. If none of the choices appeals quite well, you are doomed. Panic sets in in its initial phase and you start dwelling deep into the question to get it right. Especially when it is in the very first set of 15 questions. And there you go, you are losing time completely.

GMAT is simply a test of reading ability, acknowledging what is read and coming up with a proper logic within the right time. Damn, if only I could install an Intel processor with predetermined logic to compute the question applying specific fundamentals, inside my brain, to come up with OAs everytime!!!!

GmatNY86 · Answer

So if I'm taking a test and I see a very easy question then I shouldn't necessarily think that I must be scoring poorly? Is the GMAT the only test that he experimental questions or do test prep programs like Kaplan, MGMAT, and Princeton Review do to?

bigoyal · Answer

Thats true. I have attempted 6 GMATPrep tests (2 tests X 3 times), prepared log for each, marking the questions which were tough and in which I spent lot of time and tried to do some analysis. The initial 6-8 questions are easy, not time consuming. If you are going well, the level of difficulty keeps increasing. But to my surprise, in my log I noticed some very-very easy question shooting up randomly even when I answered last 3-4 tough questions correctly :shock:

Towards the end, again the difficulty level starts dropping (this is what I feel). Try to nail some of the most difficult questions which GMAT will start throwing after around 15 mins. This will shoot your score.

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Percentile to percentage conversion chart?

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