Confused on GMAT scoring. do practice tests score the same?

[tj123]

Hi,

I took a practice test and scored the following

Overall score: 590 / 67%
Quantitative : 42 / 66%
Verbal: 30 / 59%

I only got 10 questions incorrect on math
I only got 7 questions incorrect on verbal.

How come my verbal score is much much lower than my math score?
i thought verbal is historically harder for people and that a less number of incorrect questions on verbal would mean a higher verbal score?

please help me understand.

[4seasoncentre]

Is this the GMATPrep test that you are referring to?

The scoring is not based simply on the number of questions that you answer correctly. Please read up on the Computer Adaptive Test system.

As for verbal vs. math, if of course depends on the individual. However I think it is very apparent from the published percentiles that people either do really well or very poorly on the math section. On the other hand, marks for verbal tend to be more clustered around the average.

[DanaJ]

Your test scores rely on more than just the number of mistakes. If you had something like 4 wrong answers in a row, then you got a severe penalty. Another thing to take into consideration is that each section in verbal is relatively balanced. This means that, for instance, if you get all 7 mistakes in SC, this will hugely impact your score. You're "better off" with say 2 mistakes in RC, 3 in SC and 2 in CR.

[tj123]

ya i guess the scoring is truly hard to figure out.
my incorrect answers were sporadic and not in a row for both verbal and math

are gmatprep scores pretty accurate as far as what I would have gotten on the actual GMAT?

Ive heard to assume that the actual GMAT is much harder than the GMAT prep tests. So my 590 on GMAT prep is more like a 550 on the actual GMAT?

[geetashri]

well..not always..i have seen people scoring higher than gprep scores..
Lot depends on the testing conditions and various other factors..it is usually said the your gmat score it somewhere in the avg of your two gprep scores..but then it does vary..

I found the real gmat almost similar to gprep.

[doclkk]

Hi,

I took a practice test and scored the following

Overall score: 590 / 67%
Quantitative : 42 / 66%
Verbal: 30 / 59%

I only got 10 questions incorrect on math
I only got 7 questions incorrect on verbal.

How come my verbal score is much much lower than my math score?
i thought verbal is historically harder for people and that a less number of incorrect questions on verbal would mean a higher verbal score?

please help me understand.

I don't want to single out groups but Indian / East Asian students really skew the percentile for quant. Typically Indian and East Asian students score very well, many times with 48 / 49/ 50 + on Quant and just whatever on verbal. This is similar to their success on the GRE's as well.

So that's not really an explanation, but its a reason why quant scores are harder to achieve. As a group, most Indian/East Asian students think the quant section is a joke and the only thing they review on the quant section is the vocabulary such as learning what integer / remainder mean ... =/ I've met many many Indian / East Asian students and even the liberal arts / film majors have a stronger grasp of numbers than many American that perhaps studied finance / accounting in school.

Keep in mind Indian / East Asian students are not to be confused with Indian American / Asian American students who most likely did not have the same quantitative training as their Indian / East Asian counterparts.

It kinda makes me want to send my kids to china/india to learn math.

Sorry about the tangeant.

As for scoring - ... MGMAT class says that you're meant to only get about 60% of the questions right. Yes - the first few questions adjust your score more than the latter questions, but by spending too much time on the beginning, you're not really doing justice to the latter portion of the exam. The CAT is meant to at the end essentially adjust to what your true score is so then when it finally gauges your real score, in hypothetical land - you'll be getting one right / one wrong.