score breakdowns for GMAT 710

Question

It seems to me that the range of subscores that result in a 710 GMAT are rather strange. For instance I have seen 48q/38v, 49q,37v, 49q,35v on this forum all listed at 710s. I have also seen 49/39v as 720 and 730.

Im admittedly biased because I'll be applying with my 710/49/39, and this score is right in that 50% range for most top schools. Would've been nice to list a 720 instead!

Can somebody shed some light on this for me? It seems odd to me that a 49q/35v or 49q/37v is a 710 and a 49/q39v is also a 710.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi atcooke,

Pondering this issue really isn't a good use of your time. The Official GMAT includes a slight 'curve' (not enough to radically alter anyone's scores, but a curve nonetheless) and the curve varies a bit from year-to-year.

The good news is that Business Schools do NOT care about about the difference between 710 and 720 - they're both outstanding scores. In basic terms, you have the "GMAT score" aspect of your application(s) covered, so you now have to look at how to maximize the other areas of your applications.

What Schools are you thinking about applying to?
When are you planning to apply?

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

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi atcooke,

I'd second Rich here and urge you not to get too hung up on a 10 point difference. If you're feeling at all uncertain about where you stand with the schools you're interested in applying to, feel free to reach out to them directly and ask to speak to an admissions advisor. I'd also like to stress that a 710 is still an excellent score, so try not to beat yourself up over just missing on a 720.

Best,
Rich

KarishmaB · Answer

Here is a very rough explanation of why you might see that: Look at the official percentile ranking vs score charts here: https://www.mba.com/india/the-gmat-exam/ ... -mean.aspx Say you have 100 people with 100 different scores and you rank them from 1 to 100 based on their scores (100 being the highest scorer) If among 100 people, you are ranked anywhere between 79 and 88 in Quant, you will get a raw score of 49. Similarly, if you are ranked anywhere between 76 and 81 in Verbal, you will get V35. Your total score is calculated based on your overall performance - it is not a simple average of your two raw scores. It is calculated separately taking all questions into account. A 710 total score gives you 92 to 94 percentile so out of 100 people, you are ranked between 92 and 94. It is higher than 88 and 81 because your rank is quite good in both so overall, in the total, you get ranked even higher. Say person 1 has Q49 with a rank of 88 and V35 with a rank of 81. Say person 2 has Q49 with a rank of 79 and V39 with a rank of 89. Overall, it is possible that their performance is at 710 - the first person being ranked 92 overall and the second person being ranked 94 overall. The takeaway is that raw scores and total score aggregate a bunch of slightly varying ability levels. They do not measure on a smooth continuous gradient. So, there is barely any difference between 710 and 720 and the schools know that. If you could take the official exam two days in a row, you could easily see a difference of 20 or so points in your total score without making any changes in your preparation.

atcooke · Answer

thanks everyone I appreciate the insight!

score breakdowns for GMAT 710

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