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Score discrepancies during practice tests

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Score discrepancies during practice tests

by [email protected] » Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:44 am
Hi,

I've taken the gmat twice already and scored 650 (q39 v41) and 660 (q40 v41) respectively. I'm taking it for the third time next week and I've been doing quite a few official practice papers, with the following quant scores in this order:
44
44
47 (woohoo)
42 (today)

I've also done three MGMAT quant mocks, scoring 44 in all of them.

I know test day performance comes down to a variety of factors but I'm quite worried about the 42 I got today. If I get 42 in the real exam text week, and maintain my verbal at 41, I'll probably score 670 or so, whereas I am aiming for 700 (so ideally I need q45 minimum)

Is this score inconsistency during practice tests normal?

Thanks
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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:23 am
Hi schanrai,

There are a variety of factors that can affect your Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal sections, but since your question is about "inconsistency", I'll focus on that subject.

The real issue for most Test Takers is "how many silly/little mistakes did you make?" The inconsistency you ask about is NOT about the exam, it's about how YOU respond to the exam. When reviewing this CAT, you should make a list of every question that you got wrong and WHY you got it wrong. How many questions could/should you have gotten correct, but didn't? Once you've assessed those questions, you should physically redo them so that you work on your "process" and mechanically eliminate the mistake from happening again.

A 700+ score is the 90th percentile, meaning that 90% of Test Takers either CAN'T or WON'T do what it takes to succeed. To earn an elite score, you can't afford to make little mistakes.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:30 am
That is not inconsistent!

You got a 44 twice on the official practice exam and all three times on the unofficial ones you took.

You scored a little better on one test with the 47 and a little less on another with the 42.

A 47 is the 68th percentile and a 42 is the is 51 percentile while a 44 is the 58th percentile. Those scores are all very close.

You are actually very consistent! Your scores are all with +/- 10 percent of your most common score. The difference is likely just a few "silly errors" that you made on the 42 exam and a few less of these errors on the 47 exam.

You can get a 45 on test day without a doubt. Minimize the "silly errors" that you make on questions that you would normally get right and you will get a 45 or more.

Have you gone back through you test where you got a 42 and looked for your avoidable mistakes?
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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 17, 2014 2:40 am
Hi David, thanks for your feedback, you have made me feel a lot better!

I have just looked at the results of the 42 exam and saw that I got 7 questions wrong in a row (Qs 14-20) which I suspect knocked my score down. I need to go through it properly now to see why on earth that happened!

How would you suggest I spend the next 6 days? Is it worth taking more practice tests?
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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 17, 2014 2:41 am
David@VeritasPrep wrote:That is not inconsistent!

You got a 44 twice on the official practice exam and all three times on the unofficial ones you took.

You scored a little better on one test with the 47 and a little less on another with the 42.

A 47 is the 68th percentile and a 42 is the is 51 percentile while a 44 is the 58th percentile. Those scores are all very close.

You are actually very consistent! Your scores are all with +/- 10 percent of your most common score. The difference is likely just a few "silly errors" that you made on the 42 exam and a few less of these errors on the 47 exam.

You can get a 45 on test day without a doubt. Minimize the "silly errors" that you make on questions that you would normally get right and you will get a 45 or more.

Have you gone back through you test where you got a 42 and looked for your avoidable mistakes?
Hi David, thanks for your feedback, you have made me feel a lot better!

I have just looked at the results of the 42 exam and saw that I got 7 questions wrong in a row (Qs 14-20) which I suspect knocked my score down. I need to go through it properly now to see why on earth that happened!

How would you suggest I spend the next 6 days? Is it worth taking more practice tests?
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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 17, 2014 2:42 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi schanrai,

There are a variety of factors that can affect your Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal sections, but since your question is about "inconsistency", I'll focus on that subject.

The real issue for most Test Takers is "how many silly/little mistakes did you make?" The inconsistency you ask about is NOT about the exam, it's about how YOU respond to the exam. When reviewing this CAT, you should make a list of every question that you got wrong and WHY you got it wrong. How many questions could/should you have gotten correct, but didn't? Once you've assessed those questions, you should physically redo them so that you work on your "process" and mechanically eliminate the mistake from happening again.

A 700+ score is the 90th percentile, meaning that 90% of Test Takers either CAN'T or WON'T do what it takes to succeed. To earn an elite score, you can't afford to make little mistakes.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Rich, thank you for your guidance, I will definitely ensure I look through the test with a fine-tooth comb to understand why I performed worse than previous attempts.

Do you suggest I re-do the whole paper or just the incorrect questions?
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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:31 am
Hi schanrai,

The logical place to start is with the questions that you got incorrect. There IS something to be said for reviewing both the Quant and Verbal sections in their entirety though. When you got a question correct, can you define WHY you got it correct. How did you approach the question? Could you have approached it a different way (and possibly saved some time or effort)? Did you guess and get lucky?

Overall improvement isn't just about getting more questions correct. It's about increasing your familiarity and comfort level with ALL the material, the speed with which you recognize the type of question that you're dealing with and the ability to stay calm and make good decisions (even when you're low on time).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by sdc29 » Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:51 pm
David@VeritasPrep wrote:That is not inconsistent!

You got a 44 twice on the official practice exam and all three times on the unofficial ones you took.

You scored a little better on one test with the 47 and a little less on another with the 42.

A 47 is the 68th percentile and a 42 is the is 51 percentile while a 44 is the 58th percentile. Those scores are all very close.

You are actually very consistent! Your scores are all with +/- 10 percent of your most common score. The difference is likely just a few "silly errors" that you made on the 42 exam and a few less of these errors on the 47 exam.

You can get a 45 on test day without a doubt. Minimize the "silly errors" that you make on questions that you would normally get right and you will get a 45 or more.

Have you gone back through you test where you got a 42 and looked for your avoidable mistakes?
Hi David! Hope you're well

Just wanted to let you know that I ended up scoring 48 on the quant section! Unfortunately my verbal score tanked from 41 previously to 34.. meaning I ended up with the same score of 660.

Bit of a bittersweet end but hopefully adcoms will note that I scored well on both sections, just on different exams!
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