How many EXPERIMENTAL Questions ?

[Param800]

Is it possible for us to know how many experimental questions would be there on GMAT test ? I read somewhere that app 25 % of the questions are experimental ones, is this true ? Or is there no official statement related to this ?

Thanks once again.

[OfficialGMAT]

Hello, Param. The number of experimental questions on the exam is not publicly available information. Good luck in your studies.

[David@VeritasPrep]

Param -

Conventional Wisdom puts the number at less that 25% but as Rebecca has stated that is not publicly available.

However, good test strategy does not depend on knowing the number. Since we know that some questions do not count - say 1/5 or 1/6 are "unscored items" - we know that spending more than 4 minutes on any question really is a bad idea since even if you get it right there is a reasonable chance that it does not count! The presence of these unscored items just helps emphasize a few things:

1) do not get caught up on any one question. Even if you get it right it may not count and spending too long on any one question can hurt your score anyway.

2) NEVER try to figure out how you are doing during the exam. If you base your idea of how you are doing on some "easy" question that you got - or some "hard" question for that matter - it may have been an unscored item that is not even adapted to you. Also, it is really impossible to know just from reading a question what percentile it would be. Simple for you could be tough for someone else.

Speaking of "Easy questions" here is an article I just wrote about E A S I questions https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/12/ ... n-the-gmat

And here is a fun one on GMAT strategy https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... n-the-gmat

[the nona]

so the experimental questions are a % of the 37 quant r 41 verbal questions or the total in each section will be 41+ x experimental and 37+ y experimental questions ?

[David@VeritasPrep]

The "non-scored items" are part of the 37 Quant and 41 Verbal -- NOT additional.

The experimental questions will feel the same and will not really be something that you could distinguish from the other questions.

[OfficialGMAT]

Hello, Nona. David is correct. The experimental questions are included throughout the exam and are not distinguished in any way. As always, the best strategy is to focus on the question in front of you, and not distract yourself trying to figure out which questions are scored and which are not!