Scaled Score

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 5:28 am
Thanked: 1 times
Followed by:1 members

Scaled Score

by anubhavgulati » Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:09 am
Hi,

My question is about Scaled Score,GMAT Score(Out of 800),No of Questions Correct.
I know its difficult to know how scale score gets calculated,however I have few questions.

1) Scaled score is out of 51 or out of 60, some sites saying 51 while others saying 60.
2) In Quant,if all 37 questions are correct, then scaled score is 60 or less than that. (Max scaled score one can actually get)
3) To get GMAT score of 700/760, can someone let me know approx. number of questions one needs to answer correctly. (assume starting 10 questions in both quant and verbal are correct)

Thanks,
Anubhav

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2193
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm
Location: Vermont and Boston, MA
Thanked: 1186 times
Followed by:512 members
GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:58 pm
I believe that GMAC is reserving some space at the top of the scale. So right now a 60 is not possible.

A 51 on the verbal section, has been referred to as a "perfect score." I think that is the highest score that one can expect to receive on the verbal (although someone may have earned a higher score).

There is no specific number of questions right to get a high score on the Quant. Everyone misses questions. Remember that the test adapts to you.

On the Verbal side, you need to just about get 100% to get the top score and you need to miss very few to get a 45 or above.

So no magic number that we can give out. Remember it is not like a paper test!

Best thing you can do is to get all the questions right that you can and the score will take care of itself.
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2621
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 am
Location: Montreal
Thanked: 1090 times
Followed by:355 members
GMAT Score:780

by Ian Stewart » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:47 pm
Scaled scores ranged from 0 to 60 in the early days of the GMAT. Now scaled scores range from 6 to 51; it is impossible to get a score higher than 51. To get a 51 in either section you need to be essentially perfect on the questions which count (of course, if you answer experimental questions incorrectly, that won't affect your score at all).

On Quant, almost everyone who scores between 25 and 50 gets about one third of their questions wrong. The difference between the 25 scoring test taker and the 50 scoring test taker is that the 25 scorer answers only the easiest questions correctly, and gets a lot of medium level questions wrong, while the 50 scoring test taker answers all the medium and hard questions correctly, but gets a lot of the 'crazy hard' questions wrong. So there's no answer to your question about how many incorrect answers you can have - it's not the number of incorrect answers that matters, but rather *which* questions you answer incorrectly.

On the Verbal, each mistake lowers your score, at least if you are a top scorer. On GMATPrep, with one mistake in Verbal, you score a 49 or 50, and with two mistakes, you score a 47 or 48. So at the top end of the Verbal scale, each mistake costs you between 1 and 2 scaled points. That won't be true, however, if your score is closer to average.
anubhavgulati wrote:
(assume starting 10 questions in both quant and verbal are correct)
If you can be sure to answer the first 10 questions correctly in Quant and Verbal, you don't need to worry about your final score; it will be over 700. Almost no one besides a 750+ level test taker can reliably answer their first 10 questions correctly in both sections no matter how long they spend - if you answer your questions correctly, the test gets very difficult very quickly.
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

ianstewartgmat.com

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 5:28 am
Thanked: 1 times
Followed by:1 members

by anubhavgulati » Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:39 am
Hi Ian,

Is GMATPrep software(2 Preparation tests) gives scaled score from 51 or 60.

Thanks,
Anubhav
Ian Stewart wrote:Scaled scores ranged from 0 to 60 in the early days of the GMAT. Now scaled scores range from 6 to 51; it is impossible to get a score higher than 51. To get a 51 in either section you need to be essentially perfect on the questions which count (of course, if you answer experimental questions incorrectly, that won't affect your score at all).

On Quant, almost everyone who scores between 25 and 50 gets about one third of their questions wrong. The difference between the 25 scoring test taker and the 50 scoring test taker is that the 25 scorer answers only the easiest questions correctly, and gets a lot of medium level questions wrong, while the 50 scoring test taker answers all the medium and hard questions correctly, but gets a lot of the 'crazy hard' questions wrong. So there's no answer to your question about how many incorrect answers you can have - it's not the number of incorrect answers that matters, but rather *which* questions you answer incorrectly.

On the Verbal, each mistake lowers your score, at least if you are a top scorer. On GMATPrep, with one mistake in Verbal, you score a 49 or 50, and with two mistakes, you score a 47 or 48. So at the top end of the Verbal scale, each mistake costs you between 1 and 2 scaled points. That won't be true, however, if your score is closer to average.
anubhavgulati wrote:
(assume starting 10 questions in both quant and verbal are correct)
If you can be sure to answer the first 10 questions correctly in Quant and Verbal, you don't need to worry about your final score; it will be over 700. Almost no one besides a 750+ level test taker can reliably answer their first 10 questions correctly in both sections no matter how long they spend - if you answer your questions correctly, the test gets very difficult very quickly.