Success % to score converter

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm new on the forum and I started working on my gmat 3 months ago for about 250 hours. 
I would like to know if there is a way to evaluate a score (not precisely) by the percentage of success I have. I don't really understand the GMAT scoring process, there are sometimes 37-40 questions for each section but each one is scored out of 52. Evaluating my score through the percentage of success would allow me to clearly know where I should and should not work. Currently, I have about 75% success on the quant part and 57% success on the verbal part.

Thank you in advance !

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  alexcauwel . Since the GMAT™ is an adaptive exam, the overall percent of questions you get correct cannot be used in any meaningful way to predict a score. Why, you may wonder? Because it completely depends on the level of difficulty of the questions you might be answering correctly, and on the way the test is subsequently raising or lowering the standard. Two test-takers could each get about 75% of Quant questions correct and walk away with radically different scores. Perhaps the first person kept getting Easy questions correct but missing just about everything else (with a Medium question successfully attempted here or there); the second person might get all the Easy and Medium questions right but hit a wall on Hard questions. You ought to set benchmark percentages for each type of question at each level of difficulty, per the official categorization. If, for instance, you wanted to hit a 700, I would recommend achieving a 90 percent proficiency or higher on Easy questions, 75 percent or better on Medium questions, and 60 percent or better on Hard questions. You can tier these percentages according to your target score, and they only serve as a general guideline, but they can help you narrow your focus a bit more and see where you really need to spend time. The more you delve into each sub-category, the more you can put yourself to the test. For instance, CR might be sitting at 50 percent overall, but your  boldface  percentage might be 40 percent, your  assumption  accuracy at 60 percent, and your  strengthen/weaken  accuracy at an even 50 percent, not to mention other types of CR questions, all of Medium difficulty. You will have to spend some time sorting out these sorts of details if you are to pinpoint which areas you need to shore up and which ones you can rely on, not just in terms of accuracy, but also in terms of speed. (You should be timing yourself at some point in your prep.)

I hope that helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. The community would like to see you succeed. Good luck.

- Andrew

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi alexcauwel,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize - and it takes into account far more than just the number of correct answers (or percentage correct). Thus, the only practical way to assess your GMAT skills over time is to take FULL-LENGTH CATs/mocks at regular intervals and under realistic conditions (re: taking the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, if you're testing at a Test Center, then wear a face mask, etc.).

From what you're asking, it's not clear whether you've taken any practice CATs yet or not - so if you have not taken any, then you should plan to take one soon (perhaps this weekend). Once you have that Score, you should report back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results and come up with a study plan.

It would also help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) What study materials have you used so far?
2) If you've taken any CATs, then on what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

alexcauwel  - Welcome to GMAT Club!

You have already put in 250 hours of study? Wow. Please understand that GMAT is a test of your abilty not accuracy. You could get a lot of questions incorrect and still manage to score high. To understand how, please make sure to internalize the GMAT Algorithm and how the test is scored. All the best.

alexcauwel · Answer

Thanks y'all for your answers,

So I understand that a good way to work would be to try each question within each difficulty and see approximately where I should work. Did you know of a book that classifies each question by difficulty? Because I'm in prepmyfuture and the questions are given randomly.

I already took a test at the beginning to assess my level and I scored 470 on a non-CAT test. I plan to take one next weekend.
 
For the past 3 months, I have been planning 3-4 hours of work 5 days a week, as I have found that 250 hours of work is equivalent to a 100 improvement in my GMAT score. I have only worked with prepmyfuture which offers a lot of exercises with correction and a lot of explanations on each GMAT topic. My overall goal score is up to 650+ in the hope of joining a European business school as Bocconi, St Gallen, Essec, Skema and Parisian universities as Dauphine, Sorbonne, Assas. I plan to apply around January for the year 2021-2022.

Thank you again !

N.B : I am not a native English speaker.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello again,  alexcauwel . That is interesting about prepmyfuture. Are you sure there is no way to check your performance across different levels of question difficulty? I find that remarkably odd and disadvantageous if so. I have checked out the website, and I cannot find any information about using  official  questions. You will want to ensure that you grow accustomed to taking on official questions, since they have a certain feel to them, particularly in Verbal. Third-party material tends to be either too grammar-focused when it comes to, say, SC, or it is centered on teaching a single concept when most official SC questions test several different concepts at once. You should get your hands on an official guide, for one. The questions are listed in each category by difficulty, so you know which ones were Easy, Medium, or Hard on the actual exam. Access to the question bank through Wiley Efficient Learning is a plus. As a cheaper alternative, you could scour the  Practice Question Banks  on this site and simply work your way through questions marked "Source: Official Guide" or "Source: OG" and so on. The level of difficulty for a given question generally falls in line with the official designation, although there are exceptions. At least you would have a better benchmark than from practicing random questions. There are even downloadable error logs that align with the questions from each Official Guide. You can find those in  the OG Directory .

Best of luck to you.

- Andrew

alexcauwel · Answer

Thank you Andrew, I was just planning to buy the official guide book kit. And if the questions are classified by difficulty it can only be a good investment.
About prepmyfuture the platform is based on 4 sections: quant lesson, quant strategies, verbal lesson, verbal strategies. It provides 4 mock tests of which 2 are CATs. 
Could you recommend a site to take a CAT mock test? I saw on the site that there is the GMAC mock test, is it the most reliable way to evaluate your score?

Thanks again!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi alexcauwel,

You still have plenty of time before you plan to take the Official GMAT - which is great! You can access 2 free practice CATs at www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). That score will give us a good sense of your current skills, strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have that Score, you should report back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results and how you might adjust your studies going forward.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

alexcauwel · Answer

Hi rich!

This is not what I call plenty of time as I plan to take my GMAT in January and I can only carry around 15h of work per week since I have my courses during the week. 
Yesterday I have done some research and found a website which explained that it was 3 step in order to get a 700+ : 1st step is too familiarize with the different subject of GMAT and exercise them. Once this step done, level is around located between 50-60 percentile. Second step is to customise questions in order to improve accuracy through different difficulties of questions, as everyone says me here. And third step is to test our readiness with mock test through each subsections. 
I believe that I have done first step and I have to begin second step. 
What do you think about that ?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello again,  alexcauwel . I agree with Rich above about taking the official practice tests through mba.com. The first two, the free ones of the six offered, have a deep question pool, but some Experts are of a mind that the later tests, 3 through 6, are more indicative of what you can expect to see on the current iteration of the exam. In terms of a score prediction, though, nothing beats the official mocks. I have read many debriefs over the past year and a half, and I can tell you that collectively, GMAT Club users have taken just about every practice exam under the sun. I have read zero debriefs in which test-takers have said that anything else prepared them better for the eventual exam. Start with official practice questions, increase your proficiency through the OG, and then take an official practice test to see where you stand. As for prepmyfuture, if you have access to 4 mock tests, then by all means, take them. But do not place too much stock in the scores until you see how they match up against your scores on the official practice tests.

Once again, good luck to you, and if you have further questions, there are plenty of us here who are willing to offer some advice.

- Andrew

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi alexcauwel,

Since you have already put in 250 hours of prep, I also agree that taking a full-length MBA.com practice exam would be a good next step. If you do so, feel free to report back with your score breakdown, and I can provide some further advice. Also, you may find it helpful to read the following article:

How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for Success

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi alexcauwel,

With another 2-3 months of prep time and an average of 15 hours to study each week, you could potentially improve a great deal. That having been said, we have NO IDEA of your current 'ability level' - and to properly plan out this next phase of your studies, we need more data. For some reason, you have avoided taking practice CATs since you took your very first one (3 months ago) - but that needs to change. You should plan to take a NEW CAT/mock every 1-2 weeks going forward - and make sure to take each CAT in a realistic fashion that matches-up with how you will take the Official GMAT (re: take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, if you'll be at a Test Facility, then wear a mask, etc.).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

alexcauwel · Answer

Hi everyone,

I just ended my practice test and I’ve scored 560 (41q,25v).

Posted from my mobile device

Hovkial · Answer

An overall "percentage of success" would not be very helpful in determining how the final score is calculated. That is a crude measure. The Official GMAT breaks down each test into multiple subsections within each of the broad quant and verbal sections. You will be presented with questions from either most or all of these subsections. For example, in the quant section, you might see questions pertaining to number properties/integers/exponents, rate/distance, counting/probability and so on. On the verbal section, the sentence correction portion may present you with questions related to verb/tense, pronouns, etc.

To match your preparation to the actual test, you should accordingly align your preparation with each of these subsections. You will find all these topics listed in the official guides.

Another point to bear in mind that you should be cautious about the terms "easy" and "difficult". A question type might be easier for you and yet difficult for another person. Your preparation should account for these differences. The official guides will list questions in increasing order of difficulty as those difficulty levels were determined through analyses of the responses that were provided by thousands of testtakers.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi alexcauwel,

This is a reasonable result for a first CAT/mock (the average Score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). Raising a 560 to the point that you can consistently score 650+ will likely require at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. With a planned Test Date in January, you have 2.5 - 3.5 months of potential study time - so with the proper, guided Study Plan, I think that you would have a good chance of hitting that Goal in the timeframe that you originally described.

1) Did you use one of the Official GMAC practice CATs or did you take a CAT from a different source?
2) Are you planning to take the At-home GMAT or are you planning to take your GMAT at a Test Facility?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

alexcauwel · Answer

Hi Rich !

I believe that I have to work consistently my time management and my verbal basis in order to get around V34 and increase my difficulty through quant questions in order to get Q48+. 
I just received my officials guides and registered into Wiley Efficient Learning so I will exercise on it. 
To answer to your questions, my mock test was the CATs test offered by GMAC on mba.com, now it remains one. I plan to take a mock test every 2 weeks in order to see my improvement. 
As far as I am concerned, I will take the test at home to be not stressed and keep focus.

Thank you again !

Posted from my mobile device

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