Scoring confusion

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drolen1
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Topic: Scoring confusion
PostFri Jul 03, 2009 8:18 pm
I'm taking the GMAT next Saturday (the 11th, not July 4th), and have been studying off and on the past few weeks. I really need to buckle down, but working full time and the fact that 1) I usually test pretty well, and 2) I still have 1-2 opportunities to retake the test if necessary has led me to procrastinate. Sad

Anyways, I finally got around to taking one of the GMAT Prep tests, and I'm confused how I scored as high as I did, and whether it's realistic. Scaled scores were 49 and 41 for Q and V, but my total was 750. Which I feel is high with the 7 I missed in the Q section and 6 in the V.

I actually felt pretty bad after finishing the test, especially the Quantitative section since I took it after taking an afternoon nap (not the most alert mind), and have been feeling sick (sore throat started yesterday, at least I'll be better by next Friday). Heck, I was a few seconds short of finishing the Q section. I had just figured out the last question before time ran out. Just how accurate are the scores in the GMAT Prep software?
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barira1
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PostSat Jul 04, 2009 1:10 am
the accuracy of GMATPrep will come to know when you actually give ur exam , do share ur exeprience with all of us as we all are fighting to beat the GMAT .
Keep ur spirit high and dont motivate ur self .
Good Luck with ur exam and beat the Gmat.
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crejoc
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PostSat Jul 04, 2009 2:05 am
drolen1 wrote:
Just how accurate are the scores in the GMAT Prep software?
GMAT prep is always accurate unless it is taken many times( say 5 or more times) in such case the scores get skewed , due to the fact that a number of questions gets repeated, and we know the answers to them already.
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tkherrmann
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PostSat Jul 04, 2009 8:17 am
drolen1 wrote:
Anyways, I finally got around to taking one of the GMAT Prep tests, and I'm confused how I scored as high as I did, and whether it's realistic. Scaled scores were 49 and 41 for Q and V, but my total was 750. Which I feel is high with the 7 I missed in the Q section and 6 in the V.

I actually felt pretty bad after finishing the test?
The number of questions you get right or wrong doesn't matter, per se.

The GMAT is a very smart and complicated test. For example, let's say you're scoring at a very high level, ~780. When it computes your score, it can recognize that if you got an easy question wrong, it was probably a stupid mistake. Therefore, even though that question was answered incorrectly, it doesn't hurt your score that much. On the other hand, getting a hard question wrong would probably drop your score more.

Here's a good example. During my first GMATPrep, I got 50 on quant with 6 mistakes. On m second, I got 50 on quant with 9 mistakes. When I looked back at the mistakes I made, there were a couple "stupid mistakes" that I had not made on my earlier test. But, my score was the same.

Also, two scores of x percentile are going to result in a score with a higher percentile. This is because it is rarer for a test taker to receive two high scores than to receive a high score in one section and a low score in the other. So, even though 49Q = 88th percentile and 41V = 92nd percentile, 750 = 98th percentile because it is much less likely that a test taker to receive two high scores than just one high score. Because you received two high scores, your overall percentile was be much higher than the average.

Finally -- in my own experience, it can be good to feel bad about the test; it means you were challenged, which is exactly what you want. There's no use in trying to guess how you're doing during the test; but, a high score = hard questions, which usually = feeling challenged. You need to go into the test confident, but expecting and ready for a challenge.

Overall, if you look around here, to the extent that your testing conditions simulate the test center's, GMATPrep is a pretty reliable indicator of test-day performance. It sounds like, if anything, your conditions were worse. What's important is making sure you are psychologically prepared for the actual test. I would see if you're making any systematic errors on verbal, correct them, and then get better for the test.

Hopefully this helps!
Tim
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