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Register now and save up to $200 Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Free Trial & Practice Exam BEAT THE GMAT EXCLUSIVE Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Reach higher with Artificial Intelligence. Guaranteed Now free for 30 days Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Free Practice Test & Review How would you score if you took the GMAT Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • 5 Day FREE Trial Study Smarter, Not Harder Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Free Veritas GMAT Class Experience Lesson 1 Live Free Available with Beat the GMAT members only code ## On what factors the GMAT software calculates the raw score ? This topic has 3 expert replies and 0 member replies AbhiJ Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts Joined 19 May 2010 Posted: 381 messages Followed by: 2 members Upvotes: 41 #### On what factors the GMAT software calculates the raw score ? Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:20 am There are three points that are in contention a.) No of answered questions b.) Difficulty Level of Correctly Answered Questions c.) Difficulty Level of Missed Questions. My question is is there a penalty for incorrectly answering easier questions. Case 1: 25 Questions answered correctly with the average difficulty level = 700 16 Questions missed with the average difficulty level = 600 Case 2: 25 Questions answered correctly with the average difficulty level = 700 16 Questions missed with the average difficulty level = 550 Can the student in Case 2, get a lower sectional score. So if this is the case then GMAT scoring is somewhat like negative marking(penalty for guessing). ### GMAT/MBA Expert David@VeritasPrep GMAT Instructor Joined 22 Feb 2010 Posted: 2193 messages Followed by: 508 members Upvotes: 1186 GMAT Score: 770 Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:45 am Thank you Rebecca and psychometric team for that candid response. This confirms that one of the most important things that a test taker can do is to focus on correctly answering the questions that she can/should get right. A single false positive or false negative does not matter much. A string of false positives (a student correctly answering a question far above her level) is very unlikely since that would mean that she is indeed capable at that level. It is a number of false negatives that can skew the score, since it is certainly possible for a student to make a number of errors and miss questions that are within her level of ability. For example, if a test-taker scores 100 points lower than expected then one explanation could be that the test-taker made several avoidable errors on questions below her level of difficulty. _________________ Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor Veritas Prep Reviews Save$100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course

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### GMAT/MBA Expert

OfficialGMAT Official Company Rep
Joined
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Posted:
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Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:38 am
Hello, AbhiJ! Our psychometric team saw your question and sent you this explanation:

Yes incorrectly answering easier questions will lower your score. The raw IRT score is a value that takes into consideration the item difficulties and the responses to all the questions that were administered. This IRT score is then transformed to the historic GMAT scaled score with a proportional deduction for questions not answered. This is not the same as a penalty for guessing. If a question is very hard (say a 750 question and you are really a 650 test taker) and you guess incorrectly, the question will not count much. If a question is very easy (say a 550 question and you are a 650 test taker) and you answer it incorrectly, again, the question will not have much weight. If however, you miss many 550 questions, then this set of questions will count more when all the responses and difficulties are evaluated.

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Leah
Official GMAC Representative

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### GMAT/MBA Expert

OfficialGMAT Official Company Rep
Joined
12 Jun 2012
Posted:
629 messages
Followed by:
256 members
143
GMAT Score:
800
Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:18 pm
Thanks for your question! I have passed it onto our psychometric team for a full explanation. In the meantime, you may want to take a look at these two blog posts: http://officialgmat.mba.com/2010/01/13/the-cat-in-the-gmat/ and http://officialgmat.mba.com/2009/09/17/tactics-and-guessing/ which cover some parts of your question.

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Leah
Official GMAC Representative

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