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Consecutive Incorrect Problems

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Consecutive Incorrect Problems

by jpjp » Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:01 pm
I've read everywhere that getting consecutive problems incorrect is lethal to your score... but to what degree? Obviously nobody knows the exact algorithm but is there a decent estimate on how damaging it really is or why it's so lethal?

The reason I ask is that I'm currently experiencing pacing issues, which reared it's ugly head when I tried the GMATPrep CAT. I ran out of time much earlier than I usually do, and guessed through the majority of the latter portion of the test, ending the test with a string of 11 consecutive incorrect answers. 11 consecutive!! That's a MASSIVE string of wrongs. Yet my result was a 47 in Quant, which is what I was peaking at on the MGMAT CATs. How could this be?

While it would be great to believe I was on my way to a ridiculous score had I not run out of time, I was getting the same scores (or lower) on CATs where I either finished on time or gave myself a few extra minutes.
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by DanaJ » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:45 am
Our founder attended a GMAC session on the scoring algorithm and I remember him mentioning that for any question you get wrong in a row at the end, the penalty is around 3 percentile points for each question. The guy holding the conference gave them the example of someone at 75 percentile not finishing 5 questions, which got his score down to 60 percentile.

This means that if you were on your way to getting a 51 (which is a 99 percentile score), getting 11 wrong means your score should probably go down to 99 - 3*11 = 66th percentile. A 47 is however a 78th percentile, so I guess that the 3 percentile points penalty rule does not always apply... It's probably adjusted to how well you perform throughout the test, but my guess is that you were heading for a pretty good score if with 11 missed you still managed to pull off a 47!
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by ForeverYoung » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:35 am
I too missed 8 of my last 10 questions and scored a respectable 45 on my GMAT Prep 2 Quant last week. I think the -3% Dana is referring to is if they leave the questions UNANSWERED, not if they get it wrong. All you can do is pace yourself better and make sure you complete every question. I've been working hard on pacing, so you can check some of the advice on one of my threads, the advice is golden. Good luck!
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by jpjp » Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:13 am
Thanks a lot, good luck to you too

So I took it again, this time with much more focus on pacing ... I managed to finish both sections .. but get this .....my quant - I got a total of 11 incorrect, but finished with only a 43! The scoring confuses me much more than any of the problems on the exam.

I get 16 incorrect on my first try, including 11 in a row, and got a 47. I get 11 incorrect TOTAL, and I get a 43?? I only had consecutive incorrect answers twice this time around, #27-28, and #4-5-6. Was it because I got a string wrong early? I've had people tell me that the first 10 is the most important, but I believe I've read here that it really doesn't matter where I get them wrong. Perhaps I need this clarified as well.
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by DanaJ » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:27 am
@ForeverYoung - yes, you're right: it was about answers left blank... I misread above!

It's not only about the number of questions that you get wrong, it's also about how hard they are when you get them wrong. Each question is assigned a difficulty level in its experimental phase and this also has a certain impact on your score. It does seem weird for me as well, but I guess that's just how it works!

We've had countless experts come and say that solving the first right does not automatically guarantee a great score. Think of it this way: if you do invest more time at the beginning, there's a good chance you'll have to either guess a lot at the end or leave blanks. Both occurrences will in the end lower your score!
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