V42 ESR with 2 counted questions wrong: has the scoring curve changed?

Source: https://gmatclub.com/forum/v42-with-only-two-questions-incorrect-367002.html#p2844486

I've already written some well-received posts here on GMAT Club regarding the correlation between incorrectly answered counted questions and sub-scores on GMAT Verbal and Quant, based off hundreds of ESRs (Enhanced Score Reports) from real GMATs.

Before certain super-users chime in yet again: yes, I already understand that this type of "counted questions wrong vs. GMAT Verbal/Quant score" analysis is an oversimplified way of looking at the scoring on a 3-parameter adaptive exam such as the GMAT. On an adaptive test, of course there is more to your GMAT score than simply the number of counted questions answered correctly. Other scoring factors include the difficulty level of each question, the order of each question, whether consecutive questions are answered incorrectly, and even the question types and topics.

However, we now have 5 years and counting of ESRs, and a mountain of hard evidence from which to draw. These ESRs tell us that on Verbal, there has always been a strong correlation between the total number incorrect and the final score, much more so than on Quant. In other words, the GMAT's adaptive algorithm doesn't affect your final score nearly as much as it does on Quant, where the first half of questions is of utmost importance for this reason. For example, I once earned a V47 (99%) despite answering 2 questions incorrectly in the first quarter of questions:



Although V42 usually correlates to around 4-5 questions wrong, I recently saw an example of a V42 (96%) with only 2 counted questions wrong! This student answered 28 or 30 counted Verbal questions correctly (93% accuracy), and yet "only" scored V42 out of 51. In other words, they lost 9 points on Verbal because of only 2 questions. Harsh.

You may have also noticed that GMAC recently updated its percentile tables for 2021, and that not much has changed, especially on Verbal. However, if it's harder to earn the same sub-scores than it used to be—if, in other words, you need more questions correct to earn the same score—then it's possible that the GMAT Verbal section may indeed be getting tougher, despite what the percentile tables tell us.
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