Suggestions and Feedback

When I went for the GMAT two days back, there were eight people who entered the Pearson Vue center in Delhi, and I was one of them. I was assuming that the number would be a lot less, considering that R1 is already over, and R2 is a long way off. It appears that I'm not the only one to have postponed the GMAT and applications to R2. That would mean that forums like BeatTheGmat will continue to be buzzing with activity for at least a few of the coming months.

This post is about online forums, BeatTheGmat (BTG) in particular, and particularly about the posts at the I-Beat-The-GMAT (or equivalent) section in such forums. I have always faced a certain disquiet reading about the experiences of test takers who have scored 700 and above; not because I thought it to be personally unattainable, but because the sheer number of people who appear to score a 700 and above appeared to be a bit too large. In fact, very few posts, even today, on BTG actually talk of a sub-700 score. So, I began to wonder if a 700 and above score was normal, and if that was the way things are.

I am not aware of the percentage of test takers who get a 700 or more in GMAT in a particular year. Perhaps a reader of this post with the figures can educate me on that. But if I were to believe to what is there on the forums, it would seem that the percentage would be pretty big. Almost as if, anything below a 700, and you've failed.

It took me a while to realise that a person receiving a sub-700 score would not write about it in forums. There are a few stories from sub-700 score receivers, and very inspirational ones, but for the most part they tend to stay off, striving till they have received a 700 and above score before they post their experiences. What this does, is it creates a false feeling that a 700 and above score is the norm, and that anything below it either does not exist or is totally unacceptable.

I think moderators need to address this issue, and bring about a parity in the scores posted on their forums. It will lessen a lot of heartbreak among test takers who have now come to believe that they have failed in their efforts if they have a sub-700 score. To be honest, even I thought the same, and it took me a lot of self reasoning to make myself understand and accept the fact that not everyone gets an 800 and similarly not everyone gets a 700 and above score.

[Also posted on my blog: www.gr8r.wordpress.com ]

Good observation, turnpike.
but you missed an important point here.
Note that it's an open forum, 'driven by the community'. We cannot manipulate what people write here nor we force our members to post their opinions/ experience.
If a member scores less in GMAT than his expectations, it's very likely he would not share his GMAT experience by starting a new thread in 'I just beat the gmat'. It's a human tendency to share joy & success.

Regarding which score is normal & which is unacceptable, lets leave it to adcoms; & yes! we can always refer to percentile rank to gauge 'where we stand'

I agree with Eric, also we dont discriminate, members or their threads based on the the score they get in the GMAT.