BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

How to cross the 700 threshold!!?!?!?!

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 155
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:32 pm
Thanked: 3 times

How to cross the 700 threshold!!?!?!?!

by GHong14 » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:49 pm
I been studying for the GMAT for the last 3 months and has been having a hard time crossing the 700 threshold. Depending on the practice I take MGMAT or GMAT Prep I score between 620-650 range. My verbals have increased from 30 to 37 and even 40 if I am lucky. However, my math scores has hovered around the range not going below 37 nor above 42.

Some of the post I have seen in regards to GMAT scoring has said that no matter how well you are doing on the exam even if you were someone who will score into the 700s you will suppose to get 40 - 50% of wrong as a part of the adaptive nature of the test. On the other hand, there are forums that state you can't get more than x many question wrong in either section if you want a shot at scoring above a 700.

This is important because I am wondering if I am not crossing the 700 bar becuase I am getting too many questions wrong or not enough of the hard question right. Does anyone have any insights on the GMAT algorithm? If so please explain. In addition, how does the raw score of each section correlate with your final score?
Top
Source: — GMAT Strategy |
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:26 pm
Location: New York City
Thanked: 68 times
Followed by:37 members
GMAT Score:780

by Adam@Knewton » Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:44 pm
Neither of the above opinions you have referenced is exactly right. Yes, it's true that every test will have some wrong answers and that the difficulty level is far more important than the number of right answers -- however, half is a little high. Most practice tests I've seen that resulted in 700+ scores had around 20 total wrong answers combined.

However, the idea that there is some magic number that you must hit, in terms of right answers, to get a 700 is not backed up by data OR by how the algorithm works. The algorithm gives you questions based on its estimate of your ability level. Sometimes -- often, in fact -- it gives you questions that it thinks are above your ability level. It expects you to get them wrong. If you get them wrong, it doesn't hurt you at all! It just limits you in the sense that the algorithm gets more confident that its estimate is correct. Don't worry, though, you will get another chance at a harder question later on, a chance to prove yourself better than the algorithm initially thought.

It's very important not to play these games while taking the test, of course; you try to answer every question that the test gives you and you try not to figure out if it's easy/medium/hard (because this determination itself takes in a panoply of factors and requires a very advanced computer program, your intuitive sense of the question's difficulty is, frankly, misleading and irrelevant, so don't bother making one, not even in practice).

In terms of the question about a correlation between your "raw score" and your scaled score -- there is none. None at all. In fact, there's no such thing as a "raw score" on the GMAT the way there is on the LSAT (that is, the number of questions you get right in each section). Part of this is the adaptivity issue, in that the difficulty of the questions matters, but a big part of it is the existence of experimental questions. There are 6-8 experimental questions per section on the GMAT, and sometimes even more than that on paid test-prep companies' tests (since they are trying out new questions on a smaller sample of test-takers). So, if you get 12 questions wrong in a section but 2 of them were experimental, that's very different than getting 12 questions wrong while 8 of them were experimental. You can't know anymore on those tests than on the GMAT, so again, there's no point in trying.

To improve, you need to get more questions right. Period. Perhaps the "raw score" of total number right won't go up, but some of the questions you got wrong on your last CAT, if you'd gotten them right, you would have scored higher. It's always as simple as that. The less we worry about the algorithm and how to trick it, and the more we focus on how to improve our math and verbal skills to the point where we're getting more questions right faster, the better we'll do. For all this complexity ... it's as simple as that.
Prep Smarter, Score Higher
www.knewton.com
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 155
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:32 pm
Thanked: 3 times

by GHong14 » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:32 pm
Thanks for the post. Well I have been taking the MGMAT CAt exams and even on sections that I am doing really well in I am getting between 40% to 50% incorrect. Is this a normal phenomenon?
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:26 pm
Location: New York City
Thanked: 68 times
Followed by:37 members
GMAT Score:780

by Adam@Knewton » Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:34 pm
GHong14 wrote:Thanks for the post. Well I have been taking the MGMAT CAt exams and even on sections that I am doing really well in I am getting between 40% to 50% incorrect. Is this a normal phenomenon?
Normal? Yes. But you're not going to get a 700 while still getting 15+ wrong answers on each section. It means you still have some concept-building and strategy focus to do before you're fully ready to ace the GMAT.
Prep Smarter, Score Higher
www.knewton.com
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1