Scoring in Verbal

Question

Dear GMATCLUB?

I have a qestion that suppose I get 10 questions wrong in SC and in a second scenario those 10 wrongs are distributed in SC, RC, CR - then which scenario will hurt my Verbal score more - former or the latter?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi arriusdaze,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize. It takes into account a number of different factors, not just the number of correct and incorrect answers. As such, you shouldn't be spending time trying to figure it all out. You'd be better served working on building up your skills.

Since that algorithm is proprietary, no GMAT company has an exact match for it, thus CAT scores can vary a bit based on the 'biases' involved in their respective designs.

Since your goal is ultimately to improve your scores, a far more useful gauge would be to review each CAT and determine how many questions you SHOULD have gotten correct, but didn't (due to a silly/little mistake). Those mistakes are the things that you have to fix to score at a higher level.

1) How long have you been studying?
2) What resources have you been using?
3) What is your score goal?
4) When are you planning to take the GMAT?

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

arriusdaze · Answer

Dear Rich,

Thanks a lot for the insight. Please tell me one more thing- can you suggest me any resources where I can practice just the verbal section test without having to sit for the quant section?
And in your view how easy it is for someone to improve from V36 to V42 or lower 40s?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi arriusdaze,

While I understand why you would want to practice just a full Verbal section, that is NOT a realistic way to go about training for the GMAT. The Verbal section on Test Day is the final 75 minutes of the Exam - AFTER you've spent about 3 hours dealing with everything else that comes before it. As such, endurance and fatigue issues are aspects of the GMAT that you have to train to deal with.

At higher and higher scoring levels, the GMAT becomes really 'sensitive' to little mistakes - if you make too many, then your score will drop (and you won't be able to get into the V40+ range). In the Verbal section, at the higher levels, the questions become a bit more 'nit-picky' and the wrong answers become more subtle. If you're scoring at a V36 right now, my guess is that many of the questions that you get wrong in the Verbal section are ones that you 'narrow down to 2 choices and then guess wrong.' To improve, you'll likely need to invest in some resources that will teach you the necessary Tactics, patterns and little 'secrets' to the Verbal section, so that you can avoid those wrong answers and pick up the points that you're looking for.

I'll be happy to offer some suggestions, but I'll need you to answer the questions from my prior post first.

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

arriusdaze · Answer

Hi Rich,
I have been using GMAT Economist tutor for the past 2 months (the same length of my preparation). It's not that, it hasn't helped. My quant score now is steadily around 50. So by getting a V43 I can get around to 740-750 I think. My Verbal score has improved from V28 (avg) to V37 allowing me to score in the 690-700-720 (most recent GMATprep test score - 720 - Q49V38) range. My goal is 750. But in any case I guess it is too late my GMAT is in 3 days and I asked because I was horrifies to see that my Verbal scores are just stagnant. They are not improving at all! And tests are proving unhelpful as in 1 I get 2 CR wrong which is okay in another I get 6 CR wrong and yet in some I get 9 SC wrong or maybe 6 RC wrong.

Also when I practice from OG - I get most questions -CR correct. But when it comes to other question bank. There I go wrong.

So, this is how it is.

Regards,
Aseem

TeamGMATIFY · Answer

You can practice the Verbal section from the Question Pack1. Apart from this, you can put a stop watch and solve questions in the time manner. However, this would only be for your practice. This wil not help you inculcate test taking habits, That can only be developed by taking CATs along with AWA and IR. Since you have just 3 days left for your GMAT, the oly thing you can improve is your test taking temperament. 1. Pay special attention to the first 10 questions in each section 2. Take both the breaks 3. Do not think about the overall score ever. You will get what you deserve

All the best!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Aseem,

Since you've waited until the last few days before your GMAT to ask for advice, there's not much that anyone will be able to offer to you. You're not likely to make any big changes to how you're handling the Verbal section and you should NOT be doing too much studying in the last couple of days before your GMAT anyway (NO CRAMMING! - it won't help).

You could do a bit of analysis on your CATs though. Can you define WHY you're getting questions wrong? Are you missing a little detail when you read CR or RC? Are you not taking enough notes? Are you unclear on certain grammar/idiom rules?

Assuming that your practice CATs were taken in a realistic fashion, you're remarkably close to your score goal right now. The little mistakes that I mentioned in my last post WILL be the deciding factor in how you score. If you can eliminate them, then you'll hit your goal; if you can't, then you won't hit your goal. This is all about the 'precision' in your work now. When you're taking the GMAT, you should think about what you can physically do to be more precise with your work and then do it!

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

arriusdaze · Answer

Hey Rich, and everybody else who commented on my post and might be interested. I scored 730 on my GMAT. Not a bad score.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Aseem,

That's fantastic news about your Official GMAT! You clearly hit your stride on Test Day and delivered up to your potential.

1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores?
2) Do you know which Schools you plan to apply to?

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

arriusdaze · Answer

Dear Rich,
Thanks a lot! Yes I did.

1) My break-up is Q50, V38. and I did super badly in IR - 04. Don't know what happened there.
2) I am thinking about INSEAD, ESSEC and ISB(Indian School of Business). (Application process started)

Do you think that the skew towards Quant and the IR could hurt me?

Regards,
Aseem K.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Aseem,

First off, a 730/Q50 is an outstanding score (it's above the 90th percentile overall), so you should apply to any Business Schools that interest you. Many Business Schools have publicly stated that they do NOT use the IR score as part of the application review process, so you shouldn't have any problems with an IR4. You're ultimately asking Admissions questions though, so you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

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

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