Is there a change in scoring pattern in Kaplan GMAT mocks?

Question

Hello I have purchased a Kaplan book in January 2013and received access to 5 online mock CATs. I was quite aware of the scoring pattern of Kapan (the usual 50-60 points lesser than the other mocks and GMAT prep.) But what surprised me is the scores I have obtained on KAP Mocks 1 and 2. Please let me know if there is a change in the scoring pattern. Also how do the scores vary when compared with the actual GMAT/ GMAT prep mocks? Diagnostic (CAT 1): (May 5th ) Percentage below quant: 97% (got 11 incorrect) Percentage below verbal: 69% (got 18 incorrect and 2 unattempted) Overall 740 !! (how is that even possible !!!) :shock:

CAT 2: (May 8th ) Percentage below quant: 98% (got 5 incorrect) Percentage below verbal: 83% (got 15 incorrect ) Overall 750 !!! :shock:

My other mock scores: GMAT prep 1: 690 (March 15th 2013) Manhattan GMAT 1 free online : 680 (April 4th ") Veritas free online : 710 (April 11th ") Please give a clear picture regarding this. Despite committing 15 mistakes, how is it possible to achieve 750 !

ankurgupta03 · Answer

Even i faced the same issue, I also got a score of 740 and 720 despite many incorrects.
Also did you observe that the paper is not adaptive, i got 10 medium questions and then 20 high level questions.

I believe that the papers we get free with the GMAT premier are not adaptive and not upto the mark so just solve them for questions and do not reply on the scores.

Can any one from Kaplan adress our querry?

jonathanwylie · Answer

Hi,

It looks like you are scoring in a range. Just remember, you really can't use the number correct to calculate score. It is not how may you get correct. It is how hard the ones you get correct are.

The reason your verbal score was so much lower on the first one is that you left some questions unanswered (there is a greater penalty for that).

We put a lot of effort into making our online tests as realistic as possible.

I am not really sure what paper tests you are referring to. There is no way for anything on paper to be truly adaptive since a CAT is designed to deliver the next question based on the answer to the previous.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Best, Jonathan

ankurgupta03 · Answer

Hey jonathan,

I also have the same problem. The tests discussed here are the tests which come free with the Kaplan GMAT premier book and are online tests.
By papers i meant the mock tests which are online ... sorry for the confusion.
I have received scores as high as 740 730 with around 16 wrong in verbal and got a score of 42 in verbal.
Also one thing i noticed was that starting 10 questions are always medium level difficulty and there after high level questions only. I don't think this is adaptive test.

Please clarify my doubt.

yashguptauop · Answer

I had a similar experience today. But my verbal percentile is 64% which answers the question-despite a low total score of V32Q51 I managed to score 740. I think this mainly has to do with how other people in sample space, who appear in kaplan online tests, perform.

Avinash99 · Answer

same problem....760with many ques wrong in verbal...

Posted from my mobile device

KapTeacherEli · Answer

Hi folks,

The GMAC is very explicit that the math sectional raw score and the verbal sectional quant score are not directly comparable. Nonetheless, the percentile breakdowns of the two sections,  here , are very interesting. Note in particular that the highest quant score (51) is only the 97th %ile--a full three percent of the test group gets that score!

Quantitative performance follows a very irregular distribution. That means that many people come in on the bottom, having not used much math in their day-to-day lives for years, but a large group of people (engineers, accountants, etc) are extremely well versed in math and can do exceptionally well on the test.

Conversely, verbal distribution follows a much more typical bell curve with a long tail--scores go up to 51 once again (and once again, not actually directly comparable to a 51 math), but they stop tracking individual percentile at around 45 as the "tail" of the bell curve gets increasingly smaller. Most people, native or non-native, end up in the middle of this range, with very few doing extremely poorly or incredibly well.

For that reason, the "percent below" scores on math and verbal can't really be compared.

Finally, as for the overall scores with that number of errors--as Jonathan said earlier, a lot depends on he location and difficulty of the questions you got wrong, not just the number. The test is adaptive, which means your percent correct is a poor indicator of whether your final number score is accurate. So, take pride in your accomplishments, and use them to build your confidence as you get ready for Test Day!

Best,

NR91 · Answer

Same question

I just gave my third mock CAT from Kaplan and got the following score -

Overall 720

Quant - 98%ile with 8 incorrect
Verbal - 56%ile with 18 incorrect

Now, I am seriously about to questions the scoring as 98%ile is about 51 in quant and in verbal 56% is 30, translating into score of 680.

Please guide me, if i am missing something

kan89nit · Answer

maths 98 percentile 
verbal 23 percentile
overall 740 in kaplan video tst is his possible

tronghieu1987 · Answer

Same to me here. I've just score 960 with Quant percentile: 97 (7 incorrect); Verbal percentile: 96 (17 incorrect, however first 9 medium ques correct).
While the Quant percentile is just ok with my history Quant scores on GMAT Prep (50-51), the verbal result is quite shocking. The highest Verbal scores I got in GMATPrep and Manhattan tests were 33-34. In fact, on the first real test 1 month ago, I score only 26 in Verbal.

Any explanation for the above result?

Is there a change in scoring pattern in Kaplan GMAT mocks?

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