Confusing GMAT results - need help interpreting!

[wmalvino]

I just finished my GMAT (whew!) but am seriously CONFUSED by the preliminary score posted after the exam.

I felt like I really tanked the math section but was fine in the verbal. The scaled scores I got out were 39 math and 40 verbal.

What was especially confusing was the % ranking. It said for math I was 55% percentile (lame, so not reflective of studying) but for verbal I was 90%.

How is it humanly possible that 1 scaled point makes a difference of 35% percentile points?? What?

Please help!

[myohmy]

Because GMAT test takers tend to be skewed towards quant jocks over verbal types. So, it's much more likely for most to get a high quant score (48+) than a high V score (45+). The percentiles reflect this, in V, everything above 45 is 99th percentile, but in Q, it's either 50 or 51 that's 99th percentile.

[mike22629]

Yea those %s sound right.

I got 50Q (94%)
36V (78%)

So as you can see, you must get a far higher math score to reach higher percentiles. Remember that the percentiles are based on everyone else who takes the test. So most people do far better on the math than on the verbal.

[wmalvino]

Thanks much for input!

Yup - I looked it up online myself & it appears to be true. It's odd, I'm happy w/ the overall score (640) but just seriously disappointed w/ that lame math score.

And I'm not by any means a verbal jock - I usually see myself as being pretty balanced between the two.

For whoever hasn't taken their GMAT yet, it's a lesson for the exponential power of studying for the verbal portion!

[4seasoncentre]

I just finished my GMAT (whew!) but am seriously CONFUSED by the preliminary score posted after the exam.

I felt like I really tanked the math section but was fine in the verbal. The scaled scores I got out were 39 math and 40 verbal.

What was especially confusing was the % ranking. It said for math I was 55% percentile (lame, so not reflective of studying) but for verbal I was 90%.

How is it humanly possible that 1 scaled point makes a difference of 35% percentile points?? What?

Please help!

In my case my Math score was higher than my verbal, but my verbal percentile was much higher than my math percentile.

Because GMAT test takers tend to be skewed towards quant jocks over verbal types.

Lol. I don't think its a matter of "quant jocks". The nature of the material is very different. The standard deviation for Math is quite a bit higher than the SD for verbal. For Math, there are scores all over the place- many do poorly, many do ok, many do well. With Verbal, most scores gravitate towards the median.