Breaking The 700 Barrier: Steady Performance Is Key
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Stacey is a GMAT Instructor living in Montreal. Click here to read more articles from Manhattan GMAT and to learn more about Manhattan GMAT's classes. |
The Scoring Basics
Your overall score out of 800 results from your performances in quant and verbal, each of which is first scored independently on a scale of 0-60*. These subscores are then combined to yield your overall score according to formulae to which only GMAC and ACT (the organizations that own and write the GMAT, respectively) are privy. Each subscore (verbal and quant) receives a percentile ranking as well. This indicates the percentage of test-takers who scored below your level over the past few years. So, for example, if you receive a verbal subscore of 40, you are in the 89th percentile, which means that 89% of all test-takers did not perform as well as you in verbal.
*Note: the 0-60 scales for quant and verbal are not the same; that is, the same score is equal to a different percentile ranking. For example, a score of 40 in quant is the 58th percentile, while a score of 40 in verbal is the 89th percentile – quite a big difference!
The First 7 Questions Myth
One of the great GMAT myths is that the first 7 (or 8, or 10) questions in each section “make or break” your score and that nothing you do after that point has much of an effect on the score you end up with. False! Seven questions are not enough to determine your score. If they were enough, each section would consist of only 7 questions (or maybe 15, so that they could still test their experimentals on us!).
One of the consequences of the myth is the belief that in order to break 700, you must answer those first 7 questions correctly. Untold numbers of test-takers have labored over the first seven, afraid that any mistake will prevent them from reaching that 700 mark. While it is true that you should give each question your best shot within the given time constraints, the absolute number of questions answered correctly is nowhere near as important as the difficulty level of the questions you “earn.” The higher the level you earn (by answering things correctly), the more truly “too hard” questions you’ll be given, and the more you’ll get wrong – but it’s perfectly okay to get “too hard” questions wrong! If you have the capability to get, say, a 48 (83rd percentile) on quant, you will also be given questions higher than the 83rd percentile. You can get all of the harder ones wrong and still get your desired 48. (And then, of course, you’d also have to do well on the verbal to earn the overall 700 score.)
The most serious upshot of this myth is what happens when someone spends too much time on the earlier questions: the person has to race to finish the section. Often, test-takers in this position run out of time and either guess randomly or (worse!) leave some questions unanswered at the end of a section. When we guess randomly, we’re likely to get the question wrong. When we guess randomly on multiple questions in a row, we’re likely to have a string of wrong answers. The per-question penalty for a string of wrong answers actually increases as the string gets longer. The penalty for one wrong answer sandwiched between two correct answers is only about 1 to 1.5 percentile points. The per-question penalty for five wrong answers in a row is about 2 to 2.5 percentile points! Questions left blank suffer the worst penalty of all: a per-question penalty of 3 percentile points.
We also have to consider practical reality: it’s extremely difficult to get 7 questions in a row right anywhere on the test, and you already know why. What happens when you get a question right? You get a harder question. What happens when you get the second one right, too? The next one is even harder. Very few people can keep that up for 7 questions in a row! (And, if you are one of those people who can, you don’t need to worry about any strategies to maximize your score…)
The nutshell: if you do what this myth advocates, it will be extremely difficult to break the 700 barrier.
Quant vs. Verbal?
Many people come to GMAT preparation in mortal fear of the quantitative section. Probability! Exponents and roots! And it’s been years since we first learned this stuff in high school! As a result, many people spend the bulk of their study efforts honing their math skills at the expense of their verbal preparation. The ideal 700 score would be fairly balanced in both sections, but most people are stronger in either quant or verbal. Studies have shown that verbal performance is weighted a bit more heavily than quant performance in the overall score – in other words, it is easier to reach 700 if your verbal is stronger than your quant. In addition, a stronger verbal performance will allow you to score a 700 with a relatively weaker quant performance than the reverse (that is, an equivalently strong quant performance and an equivalently weak verbal performance tends to result in a slightly lower overall score).
So, it seems we should spend a lot more time studying verbal, right? Not so fast! While an excellent verbal performance can indeed take up some of the slack from a weaker quant score, keep in mind that many business schools want to see strong skills in both sections. In fact, some of the top 10 schools apply the “80/80 rule,” which requires that successful applicants reach at least the 80th percentile in both sections.
The nutshell: do not put all (or most) of your eggs in one basket: make sure you prepare well for both sections.
Overall, the key is balance: move steadily through the section, answering what you can and letting go when a problem is too hard or would take too long, and plan your study to build relatively balanced scores in both sections.
12 comments
Vibhor Singhal on August 21st, 2009 at 12:39 am
excellent writeup for beginners
Lares on August 21st, 2009 at 11:12 am
Great article.But one doubt.You said that the penalty of not attempting a question is 3 percentile points.One of my friends got a 780 but he told me that he didn't get time to attempt the last two questions but he said he was sure about all the questions he attempted.Please resolve this paradox.
Michael Dinerstein on August 21st, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hi Lares,
That's a great question. Stacey is currently on vacation, but I spoke with the head of Curriculum Development at our company about an answer to your question. Here's what he has to say:
"If you were to skip the last two questions at the end of a section, it is still possible to lose 6 percentage points on your final score while still earning a 99th percentile score overall. This is because the overall score is calculated from your individual subscores. If your friend scored a 99th percentile on one section and as a result of leaving the last two questions blank, scored a 93rd percentile on the other, your performance could still translate to a 99th percentile, 780 score overall.
"Additionally, the rule that the GMAT will penalize you by 3 percentile points for every blank question is a general estimate. The reason why we have estimated it at 3 percentile points is actually because of a graph we saw at a GMAT conference held by GMAC about two years ago. A presenter at the convention showed us a graph of a student who left the last 5 questions of a section blank. The student was penalized roughly 3 percentile points for each question left blank, which led us to believe that the actual penalty is in that range."
I hope this helps, Lares. Just let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Ritesh Bindal on August 21st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Hi,
I whole heartedly agree with this article. I did first 10 questions correctly in GMAT Prep and still scored 35 in verbal. This was due to the fact that I did 2 bunches of 3 consecutive wrong questions. So it doesn't matter whether the question is first or last, what matters is the level of questions you are doing correctly.
santosh on August 21st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Really nice article this will put an end to myth in scoring patterns
Lares on August 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 am
Hi Michael
That was a very quick reply.Thanks a lot.I have the searched the net for q99percentile and V93percentile and it comes around to 770-780.
So i guess you have to move on without wasting too much time on first ten questions and prevent consecutive mistakes.Thank you.This article was very useful.
Sachin Bhatnagar on August 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 am
I prepared for GMAT for close to 4 months and took my GMAT yesterday. While, I used to score 670-700 in mock tests, I could score only 610 on real GMAT with 47 in quant and 27 in verbal. I know that I failed miserably in sentence correction. During preparation, I completed OG10, OG11, OG 12, Kaplan regular, Kaplan premier, Kaplan 800 and Princeton.
Can someone advise me as to how can I bring about a hansome improvement in verbal section as I plan to take GMAT again after a month
Himanshu on August 22nd, 2009 at 9:33 pm
@ Sachin
Check your weaknesses and then work acccordingly.
Stacey Koprince on August 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 am
Hi, Sachin,
Yes, that's exactly why BTG also provides forums! Go and start a new post in the GMAT Strategy section and describe your situation.
Give more detail than you've given above (more specifics on your strengths and weaknesses, how you actually prepared - what did you do during a study session? - and so on). What practice tests did you take and did you take them under full official conditions? What were your quant and verbal subscores on this tests? Etc.
Also detail your goals more specifically - what is your target score on the verbal (or your overall target)?
FYI to all readers: post questions here that are directly related to the article; if you have other questions, definitely ask those in the forums. Thanks!
Manish Chauhan on January 28th, 2010 at 4:49 am
Hi ,
I gave GMAT on 11 Nov . 700 score with 49 Quant and 34 V .
I applied to ISB hyderabad , but did not receive a call. (2 years IBM as a software engineer)
I am planning to give GMAT again. Last time I gave the GMAT without any preparation.Only official guide 10 verbal section.
What score should i aim for(I can try to get score above 750). Is my decision to give GMAT second time correct.
Stacey Koprince on January 28th, 2010 at 8:11 am
It really depends why they did not admit you; perhaps your GMAT score was fine and there was some other reason they chose not to admit you. Did they give you any information about that? If not, I would contact them to see whether they will give you any information as to the weaker areas of your application - whether that's the GMAT or other things.
If they will give you information, and they say the GMAT score was a problem, then you can also ask what type of score would be acceptable to them. (For example, some top schools want students to score in the 80th percentile or higher in each section.)
Your quant score was in the high 80s (percentile-wise) and your verbal score was in the high 60s, so if they tell you your GMAT score was too low, it's probably more because of your verbal score (though you should ask them to make sure).
If you didn't prepare much the last time, then it's certainly very possible that you will be able to improve your score by studying. Good luck!
Stacey Koprince on January 28th, 2010 at 8:07 am
No. The old paper GMAT used to give 1 point for every correct answer and take away 1/4 of a point for every wrong answer, but the CAT does not work that way.