GMAT Strategy

Hi

I gave the GMAT on Saturday....got a 680...pretty happy with my score cause on all the practice tests I have give ( and i must have given about 12-13 tests!) I always got score in the range of 540 to 580...the max i ever scored was 610....so I am happy with a 680....looks like the actual test is easier than the mock tests...

Anyways...now back to my question....I have read some school want balanced scores. This is what my score card looks like

Quant Scaled Score 40 Percentile 56
Verbal Scaled Score 42, Percentile 95

Overall 680, Percentile 85.

I have not yet received my AWA scores...

I feel I don't have a balanced score....56 percentile and 95 percentile does not balance...but what does the scaled score mean?? The 40 and 42 seem to balance....by any chance does this mean I have a balanced score?

Looking for some inputs from the experts...

You're right. A balanced score is according to the percentiles.A 680 is a gr8 score though.

karanrulz4ever is right, if a school wants a balanced score this is based on the percentages. The scaled scores are higher for the quant almost always. The average for quant is about 36 and for verbal is about 27.

You have excelled in verbal! Your quant is also above average so you are not totally unbalanced. There are some schools - MIT comes to mind where your quant score might not cut it, so you may just have to find out which schools are looking heavily toward the quant.

By the way, from what you have said you did the best that you could hope for given your practice tests so if I were advising you I would say don't even think of retake!

And one more thought just for others that read this -- the actual test can be a LITTLE easier than the mock tests for some people. Maybe by 20 points are so - not usually 70 points! What you did was really play well on game day (and you might have even had a little luck with the experimental questions - i.e. you missed some that did not count).

Congratulations!

Hi, i really admire you with your 680 score. I've never taken any GMAT test and I'm preparing for it now.
It's pretty hard for me 'cause I study everything on my own.
Could you share more about your experience to get such high score? Tks a lot.

Seems to me GMAT SD is more like +-80 points.

I took several mock tests,with scores ranging from 710-770, prior to my previous GMAT sitting and scored a dismal 650.

My mock scores were :

730 GMATPrep 1
740 GMATPrep 1 (second test)
760 GMATPrep 2
770 GMATPrep 2 (second test)
710 MGMAT 1
700 Knewton 1
700 Knewton 2
730 Knewton 3
770 Knewton 4

The only,well known, CAT that I didn't use was Veritas'

As you can see that my range was around 700-770,with 770 being the peak performance and 700 being the rock bottom.

So if I underscored by about 80 points,almost 50 points below my baseline as per third party CATs and 80 points below my baseline as per GMAC's own practice test, and shilpa over scored by almost 100 points,then the standard deviation of the test is around 70-100 points.Mind you,it's not just me;many others too have seen outrageously low score on GMAT,more specifically verbal section

This means even MGMAT CAT,whose creators claim that the standard deviation of the CAT is 50 points,is more accurate than a GMAT.

Can't imagine that a prep company has a more accurate algorithm than the creators of the GMAT.

I think that GMAC should just discard its' worthless algorithm and instead pay royalty to some prep company such as MGMAT or Veritas for using its algorithm.

Sorry GMAC,but I think your algorithm is good for nothing.The part of including experimental questions,if at all influences your score by such a degree and is the reason for these scores, further reinstates my point that GMAC's algorithm is inaccurate.If GMAC knows that these questions are causing such extreme discrepancies and wants its algorithm to be as accurate as possible,it would have have discarded these questions.Correct me if I'm wrong,I think there is hardly any test prep company that includes experimental section,and my scores have been as expected in all those CATs.So it is quite reasonable to infer that GMAC's experimental questions are causing these discrepancies.

GMAC was better off with paper and pencil test,as LSAT is.

The part of CAT is all show but no gain.

Can't believe that B-schools are even making admissions based on the results of this algorithm.

What I am a little more unhappy about are the experimental questions.

That is where I think the real wild card comes in...

Let's say there are 8 to 10 experimental questions for each section (quant and verbal).

Normally these should go about the same as the test as a whole - but if not that could really throw things off.

As I mentioned, an increase of 70 plus points over the best ever practice score should either involve some profound strategic insight or possibly a good day with the experimental questions. A bad day could involve getting all 8 - 10 experimentals right (and maybe even spending 3 minutes plus with a few of these) and getting credit for none of these!!

In other words instead of getting say, 5 wrong out of 37, a great result, because of the experimentals you would get credit for 5 wrong out of 28, still a good result..but not the same.

I think that this has a bigger impact than on other tests which have a whole section experimental. So that is my take on one reason for extreme variation.

By the way - given this knowledge - is there anything you can do to use this knowledge of experimentals to your advantage?

David ,you are supreme.

You understood my logic.Thats why I would say GMAC is playing not only with B-schools,but also with the lives of hundreds of thousands of applicants by mis-stating facts,that is,their algorithm involves a S.D of a mere 30,when in many cases it is as huge as 100 points.

The thing I wanna prove is that the real GMAT,unlike the CAT's offered by GMATprep companies,is more about luck than about
knowledge.

We both agree that this thing would NEVER EVER happen on a paper and pencil test,which involves no experimental questions.If GMAC does wanna test its questions,it should offer those questions in a separate section,just as LSAT does.

Infact,this would not happen even on a normal CAT,offered by a decent GMAT prep company,for there are no experimental questions.

I pray to GOD that this time,on 8th December,when I take my GMAT I don't have such a bad luck.

I have taken 4 more CATs since my last attempt,all 4 of them MGMAT CAT.

MGMAT 2 -690 [took it the same day of my GMAT,after arriving home.So the logic that I was tired is proven wrong.]
MGMAT 3 -730 [Q48 V40]
MGMAT 4 - 750[Q51 V41]
MGMAT 5 - 740[Q51 V40]

Also,notice that on MGMAT,on which SD is usually 50,my scores have been very consistent.This dispels the notion that I have a gap in knowledge or that these feats might one off.

Again I'm scoring in 730-750 range,but I'm scared that history might repeat itself.I hope that luck favors me this time!

@shilpaqueen What mock tests did you use? I've done a few Kaplans and my scores on those have been about 100 points less than the GMAT Prep (official) tests. I wonder if that would explain it. But if all your mock tests were GMAT Prep then I'm hopeful that maybe my real test will be higher than my preps!

joannabanana wrote:@shilpaqueen What mock tests did you use? I've done a few Kaplans and my scores on those have been about 100 points less than the GMAT Prep (official) tests. I wonder if that would explain it. But if all your mock tests were GMAT Prep then I'm hopeful that maybe my real test will be higher than my preps!

The tests I took were Kaplan, IMS (Preparation Classes in India). the free Manhattan GMAT....and of course the official GMAT tests...

I think I did better on the final...cause I guess I did concentrate much better in the final then in any of the mock tests...and of-course...I think I got lucky..!

All the best for your exam...

All I want to tell everyone who is preparing.....YOU CAN DO IT....don't get disheartened with bad scores on the mock tests....go there and do your best...!

Cheers!
S

David@VeritasPrep wrote:karanrulz4ever is right, if a school wants a balanced score this is based on the percentages. The scaled scores are higher for the quant almost always. The average for quant is about 36 and for verbal is about 27.

You have excelled in verbal! Your quant is also above average so you are not totally unbalanced. There are some schools - MIT comes to mind where your quant score might not cut it, so you may just have to find out which schools are looking heavily toward the quant.

By the way, from what you have said you did the best that you could hope for given your practice tests so if I were advising you I would say don't even think of retake!

And one more thought just for others that read this -- the actual test can be a LITTLE easier than the mock tests for some people. Maybe by 20 points are so - not usually 70 points! What you did was really play well on game day (and you might have even had a little luck with the experimental questions - i.e. you missed some that did not count).

Congratulations!

Thanks...I have no intention of giving the exam again.....no retakes for me!

The one reason I think I managed a good jump was cause I think I did concentrate much better on the final exam....however I am sure I got lucky!

Btw...I just got my AWA scores...and they are pathetic...4.5 /37% ...Now what would a graduate school looking at my scored think!! I cracked the Verbal....was so so in Quant...and Bombed the AWA...which is also English!

How bad is a 4.5? Any insights would be great...