How many EXPERIMENTAL Questions ?

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Param800: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 65; Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 6:54 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Canada; Thanked: 15 times

by Param800 » Tue Dec 25, 2012 6:40 pm

Is it possible for us to know how many experimental questions would be there on GMAT test ? I read somewhere that app 25 % of the questions are experimental ones, is this true ? Or is there no official statement related to this ?

Thanks once again.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Ask the Test Maker | Tue Dec 25, 2012 6:40 pm

OfficialGMAT: Official Company Rep; Posts: 669; Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:06 pmFollowed by: 270 members; Location: Washington DC; Thanked: 143 times; GMAT Score:800

by OfficialGMAT » Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:20 am

Hello, Param. The number of experimental questions on the exam is not publicly available information. Good luck in your studies.

Leah
Official GMAC Representative

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:41 am

Param -

Conventional Wisdom puts the number at less that 25% but as Rebecca has stated that is not publicly available.

However, good test strategy does not depend on knowing the number. Since we know that some questions do not count - say 1/5 or 1/6 are "unscored items" - we know that spending more than 4 minutes on any question really is a bad idea since even if you get it right there is a reasonable chance that it does not count! The presence of these unscored items just helps emphasize a few things:

1) do not get caught up on any one question. Even if you get it right it may not count and spending too long on any one question can hurt your score anyway.

2) NEVER try to figure out how you are doing during the exam. If you base your idea of how you are doing on some "easy" question that you got - or some "hard" question for that matter - it may have been an unscored item that is not even adapted to you. Also, it is really impossible to know just from reading a question what percentile it would be. Simple for you could be tough for someone else.

Speaking of "Easy questions" here is an article I just wrote about E A S I questions https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/12/ ... n-the-gmat

And here is a fun one on GMAT strategy https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... n-the-gmat

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the nona: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 53; Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:20 pmFollowed by: 2 members

by the nona » Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:12 pm

so the experimental questions are a % of the 37 quant r 41 verbal questions or the total in each section will be 41+ x experimental and 37+ y experimental questions ?

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:23 pm

The "non-scored items" are part of the 37 Quant and 41 Verbal -- NOT additional.

The experimental questions will feel the same and will not really be something that you could distinguish from the other questions.

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OfficialGMAT: Official Company Rep; Posts: 669; Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:06 pmFollowed by: 270 members; Location: Washington DC; Thanked: 143 times; GMAT Score:800

by OfficialGMAT » Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:47 am

Hello, Nona. David is correct. The experimental questions are included throughout the exam and are not distinguished in any way. As always, the best strategy is to focus on the question in front of you, and not distract yourself trying to figure out which questions are scored and which are not!

Leah
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