700 on New GMAT Format - Experts, please help with new scoring pattern

Question

Hi Experts,

Need your guidance.

I just finished my GMAT Official Practice Exam 3.

Quant: 28 out of 31 were correct | Score is 49 and 75% percentile which is very strange to me. I expected more.
Verbal: 26 out of 36 were correct | Score is 35 and 76% percentile probably is right.

Overall 700 with 88 percentile.

Can someone please tell me what is the accuracy required in this new GMAT format??

Thank you in advance!

Regards
Shiva Agrawal

AjiteshArun   KarishmaB   EMPOWERgmatRichC

BrentGMATPrepNow · Answer

The GMAT scoring algorithm isn't as straightforward as one might believe. Your scores are not based on how many questions you answer correctly; they're based on the  level of difficulty  of the questions you answer correctly/incorrectly.

To illustrate this, I'll share an experiment I performed: 
I took GMATPrep Practice Test #1 four times, and each time I answered every second question correctly (I did this for the quant section only)

Given that I correctly answered exactly half of the questions each time, you'd expect my quant scores to be roughly the same for all 4 tests.

My 4 scaled scores were: 19, 23, 26 and 42

This represents a percentile range from approximately 8th percentile to the 63rd percentile.

Cheers, 
Brent

adkikani · Answer

Hi shiva2906 See if this helps. All the best.

egmat · Answer

Hi  shiva2906 ,

Your score of 700 is good and will help you define your path till your test. However, before you do that, I would like to bring to your notice something about GMAT. GMAT, being an adaptive test, accuracy is not the best metric to track your performance. Your current scores are ability score and hence not directly proportional to the number of questions you got correct. The scores of two students who miss 9 questions each can be as different as Q29 (16th percentile) or Q49 (74th percentile)!

Btw, what is your target score for which you want to know the required accuracy?

Attend the Strategy Session this weekend to understand what the most accurate metric is to track your performance and how to ace GMAT Rajat Sadana, e-GMAT co-founder, is conducting a strategy session this weekend on strategies to ace GMAT. He would also be discussing the difference between accuracy and ability and how to use your mock scores to reach your target score.   Register here   to reserve your spot.

Regards,
Aditee

AjiteshArun · Answer

You're actually asking this question: "Can someone please tell me what is the accuracy required in this new GMAT Prep  format". The accuracy of the GMATPreps took a major hit recently with the introduction of the new format and, given that the exam packs have small question pools, you should probably not try to overanalyze your results in those tests.

The scored portion of the actual GMAT itself, however, has not changed  at all , and Q50 scores have been seen on the actual GMAT with anywhere from 1 to 6 mistakes. Note though that this doesn't mean that you can't get a Q49 if you make 6 mistakes. As the others have pointed out above, this depends to a very large extent on the characteristics of the questions you got. It just means that it is  possible  to get a Q50 even with 6 mistakes. Maybe more, if anyone has seen an ESR of a Q50 with 7 or more mistakes. Also, it appears from  this thread  that you can reduce the probability of a Q49 greatly if you make fewer than 4 mistakes on the 28 scored questions in the quantitative section.

Remember that all of this is for the  actual GMAT . We can't apply any of this to the GMATPrep tests.

KarishmaB · Answer

Note that the new exam format is no different from the previous format. The Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections are shortened by only reducing the number of unscored items (and reducing the time accordingly). The scoring algorithm remains exactly the same. 
Accuracy is just one aspect of the algorithm, which is actually quite complicated. Besides, the practice test algorithm may not be exactly the same as GMAT algorithm. I would suggest you to not worry about this, put your faith in the process and focus on the weaknesses you identify from your practice tests.

shiva2906 · Answer

Hi Brent, Thank you for your response. So I will present some more data here. I got the 3rd, 17th and 23rd question wrong in GMAT Practice Exam 3 which means there was not more than 1 question wrong in any of the 3 sets of 10. Now from 3 to 17th and 23rd to 31st can be termed as a decent run. I didn't find questions getting tougher though and also, still not convinced I should be at 75 percentile. Is there a bias here that Prep test didn't give me tougher questions even when I was getting right.

Thanks again Shiva

shiva2906 · Answer

Hi Aditee

Thank you for the response.

I agree to your point above. However, how do I ascertain that I am on the right path in the exam or in the prep.

In quant, I will tell you stats of my last 3 GMAT official practice test:

GMAT Official Practice Test 3  - I got 3rd, 17th and 23rd question wrong (28 out of 31 correct) which ain't too bad because I didn't get questions wrong in series. Yes, I will work to correct even these 3. I have 49 and 75 percentile.

GMAT Prep Test 2:  When I gave the GMAT Prep test 2 last week, I had 8 out of 37 wrong (worse ratio) but my score was still 49 and percentile was 83. 
 GMAT Prep Test 1 (in June):  I had 15 out of 37 wrong (even worse ratio), but my score was still 49 and percentile was still 83.

It's confusing me very much (all the above info is correct to dot). I thought I aced it this time as I can see definite improvement in accuracy but my score is actually moving down!!!!

I am targeting 750 ideally for which verbal definitely needs work but now, I am totally confused..

Regards,
Shiva

shiva2906 · Answer

Hi Ajitesh sir, Happy to see you here. I think I attended a couple of your verbal classes in Jamboree 3 years ago.

I have the same question for you as I have asked to Aditee. Aren't Gmat official practice test supposed to give a decent idea about the score. How is that I am scoring more on Free software than the paid one? The below stats don't seem to present a pattern at all to me. In Quant, I will tell you stats of my last 3 GMAT official practice test: GMAT Official Practice Test 3 - I got 3rd, 17th and 23rd question wrong (28 out of 31 correct) which ain't too bad because I didn't get questions wrong in series. Yes, I will work to correct even these 3. I have 49 and 75 percentile. GMAT Prep Test 2: When I gave the GMAT Prep test 2 last week, I had 8 out of 37 wrong (worse ratio) but my score was still 49 and percentile was 83. GMAT Prep Test 1 (in June Mid) : I had 15 out of 37 wrong (even worse ratio), but my score was still 49 and percentile was still 83. It's confusing me very much (all the above info is correct to dot). I thought I aced it this time as I can see definite improvement in accuracy but my score is actually moving down!!!! I am targeting 750 ideally for which I believed verbal should be focus area now but this pattern confuses me about Quant as well. Regards, Shiva

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Shiva,

So, there is no exact accuracy that you need to achieve in order to get a particular GMAT score. Since the GMAT is an adaptive exam, you are presented with questions of various difficulties throughout an exam, and your quant and verbal scores are based on the difficulties of the questions you are getting correct/incorrect.

As I tell my students, you really should focus on the things you can control, and the number one thing you can control is getting better at the GMAT. If you get to a place where you can dominate GMAT quant and verbal, you won’t have to be concerned with the intricacies of the scoring algorithm, because you will have the skills you need to get an amazing GMAT score.

That being said, when is your GMAT?

If you have any further questions, please reach out.

Good luck!

AjiteshArun · Answer

Good to run into you, and good to see that you're still looking to get into a good program

1. The paid tests are probably not as accurate as the free ones. They have a small (in comparison) pool of questions, and this small pool means that the algorithm doesn't have quite the same flexibility in choosing questions in these tests that it does in the free tests. This reduced flexibility almost certainly means that these tests produce scores that are less reliable. Don't take this to mean that the score estimates from these tests are un reliable. They are simply less reliable. 2. 3 questions wrong is not bad at all, but if you ended up with a 49 for just a few mistakes, it most likely means that you got some questions that the test considered relatively easy wrong. That is, the test would not expect a Q50 or Q51 level test taker to get even these few questions wrong. On the actual GMAT you will almost certainly have more breathing room, so don't try to game the GMAT on the basis of what you think you have seen in the GMATPreps. 3. Do not go by the percentiles you see on the practice tests. Refer only to the scaled (6-51) scores. The reason for this is that the percentiles change every year, on the basis of data from the last 3 years. If you really want to check your percentile score, refer to this page . Q49 is now 74%

( this page explains why). All your tests seem to be telling you that you are currently at Q49, so this seems to be a reliable estimate of your current ability. Don't worry about the number or pattern of mistakes on your practice tests. Instead, keep working on your weaknesses and try to minimize or eliminate silly mistakes. Feel free to reach out for any further assistance.

egmat · Answer

Hi  shiva2906 ,

One of the reasons for this difference could be that you got easier questions wrong in your last attempt while the questions that you got wrong in your first two attempts must have been tougher. You must not spend too much time or energy on this result as it will only confuse you and drain you out.

SCORING 750 ON GMAT You can score a 750 on GMAT by scoring a Q50 and V42. You may also target your own sectional scores using the   GMAT Planner  . Here is an example of a student who went from 700 to 750:
 • Akshay improved from a 700 to 750 with a dedicated 10 days of preparation. Learn how he executed the strategies taught in live webinars to achieve this feat.   Click here   to watch his video interview.

HOW TO IMPROVE IN VERBAL Your current score of V35 is 76 percentile while the required score of V42 is at a 96 percentile. This means you would have to work on increasing your score by 20 percentile points and will require effort from your end. However a score of V35 indicates fairly good grasp over concepts and you just need to   fine tune your prep   to reach the next level by following the below mentioned steps:
 1. Evaluate topic level weaknesses by taking   Ability Quizzes  
2. Isolate weak topics (Go to Skill data section)
3. Improve upon them

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Aditee

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