Official GMAT Scoring Algo

[hwang327]

Hi,

I just took the GMAT again and got 720 (Q49/V40) again! Still aiming for a 760, my plan is to get my quant up to 50, something that should be doable considering that I have achieved such on practice tests and that almost all of my mistakes in quant are careless mistakes...

Now on to verbal... My subscore, per ESR, is 75th percentile for CR and RC and 98%tile for SC. Can someone comment on how the official GMAT verbal scoring algo works? I just wanted to know what is the easiest way to get V44-45 if I maintain my SC score. Ie, if I maintain my SC at 46 (98%tile) and increase my CR to mid 40s, would that be enough to get a V44? My RC score is 35.

Thanks

[Bara]

I'll leave the algorhythm to my colleagues, here.

I want to address a few other things you've mentioned in your post.

First, 720 is a great starting score, and while a 770 is higher, I'm wondering what programs you're applying to that you are compelled to have a near perfect score in Math and an overall top score. In an ideal world, a 50 is fantastic on quant, but you're just about there with the 49.

In terms of your CR/RC how are you actually moving through the material/studying, and answering questions?

Best,

Bara Sapir

[hwang327]

Hi Bara,

Thank you for the reply. The only 4 schools that I am applying to are Wharton, Booth, CBS and Kellogg. I am restricting to these four schools only because I have a great job as is and considering the opportunity costs incurred from going to the US, where I know no one and have to start over, only the top programs would be worth it for me. If I can't get in to top MBA, no harm no foul as doing graduate school is absolutely a non-essential for me.

As for RC and CR questions, my strategy has been doing questions (though up to last week, when I took the exam for the 2nd time, most of my focus has been SC questions)... After doing some reading, my key takeaway was that best CR questions are still from the official source and that LSAT RC passage could be used to supplement RC practice as official guide's passages are too easy.

Love to hear from you.

[Bara]

Well, I'm going to push you on this point:

"I know no one and have to start over, only the top programs would be worth it for me."

Knowing no one and starting over are one of the greatest opportunities I've had in learning about myself and growing, so I encourage you to see this differently. Top programs are also subjective dependingon what you'd be doing at them. An MBA from an excellent to top tier school will provide you with experiences, relationships, learning, and friendships that will last a lifetime. And finding the RIGHT school for you is the best possibility, and that might not be one of the objective, 'top schools.' IMHO

In terms of RC: Yes I agree. OG and LSAC tests. In terms of improving your score. Speedreading that has the GMAT in mind. If you want more information on this (as we're the only company that offers this, ping me off line, and we can set up a time to speak about it.) I've been meaning to write a blog article about this again, but it's not up yet. Or written for that matter.

You can check out www.mindflowclass.com

In terms of CR you can also use LSAC material. These are highly predictable, and practice is the best way to move through improving your performance on them.

Keep me posted on your next steps and accomplishments!!

Best,

Bara

[hwang327]

Thanks for your comments Bara.

Also, I will definitely check out MindFlow as I have discovered that general reading and comprehension is a big part of GMAT and that I need substantial improvement in this area.

[Bara]

Feel free to reach out directly to me.

It's on the hopper to bring our GMAT Speed Reading online, but for now, we offer it in small groups, classes, and through individual study. We can certainly help you out there - - no other company I know of offers this kind of program.

What we've seen from the mindful speed reading protocol and skills are an increase of reading up to 5x (so a student starting, 150 - 250 wpm is increasing their speed up to 1000+. We don't recommend that students read that quickly on the test, because it will take a little while for full comprehension to catch up to that speed. But even doubling, up to 500 WPM, the student typically does comprehend most of what's read.

Remember 80% of the questions point to 20% of the content in the passage. Certainly with this ratio, a reader need not master the content, even though this is the proclivity of the student. Remember, too, that this content is typically edited and reduced down to be less than the most enjoyable of reading material. A student is ONLY given points for correct answers, so the rewarded task is to FIND the answers to the questions, critically think, deduce, infer, or paraphrase what answers are, which require MORE time than reading material - - especially that which is fluff and/or not important. And the speed reading is perfect for this kind of activity.

And for most students, mapping is a waste of time.

We've found that after MindFlow Speed Reading, students significantly increase the number of questions they answer correctly after applying this speed protocol - - typically 1-2 more questions CORRECT per passage. This has a huge impact on the verbal score. Not as easily to chart, the additional time saved has an added benefit on all the other question types on Verbal as well.

In short: it's a game changer.

Be in touch if you want more information.

Best,

Bara

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Hi,

I just took the GMAT again and got 720 (Q49/V40) again! Still aiming for a 760, my plan is to get my quant up to 50, something that should be doable considering that I have achieved such on practice tests and that almost all of my mistakes in quant are careless mistakes...

Now on to verbal... My subscore, per ESR, is 75th percentile for CR and RC and 98%tile for SC. Can someone comment on how the official GMAT verbal scoring algo works? I just wanted to know what is the easiest way to get V44-45 if I maintain my SC score. Ie, if I maintain my SC at 46 (98%tile) and increase my CR to mid 40s, would that be enough to get a V44? My RC score is 35.

Thanks

Here's a post about the GMAT's scoring algorithm: https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2010/0 ... algorithm/

The reality is that to hit a V44+, you have to have extraordinarily high accuracy. Though the algorithm is too complex to offer any metric based solely on the number of questions missed (the difficulty of the questions missed is an important variable) if you go by the GMATPrep exams, it's tough to hit a score in that range if you miss more than 5 or 6 questions on the verbal side. It means that your hit rate has to be very high for all three verbal categories. (But in answer to your question, if you're in the mid 40's for 2 out of 3 categories, my suspicion is that if you're in the high 30's for the last category, you should be in range of where you want to be.)

[hwang327]

Thank you David. Wow, 5/6 wrong for a 44+ on verbal. I sure got my work cut out for me...

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Thank you David. Wow, 5/6 wrong for a 44+ on verbal. I sure got my work cut out for me...

Two last things to bear in mind. 1) It is doable - the key with verbal is relentlessness and attention to detail and 2) a V45 is 99th percentile. That's an very high bar for defining success.

[ceilidh.erickson]

The score range for both Verbal and Quant is theoretically 6-51, but effectively it's nearly impossible to score a 51 on Verbal. One question wrong would likely yield a 49, 2 wrong would be ~47, and as David said, ~5-6 wrong would be in the 44-45 range (no idea why the verbal is so much less forgiving than the quant).

If you got a 49 on quant, you clearly have strong quant skills. You might also be able to bump that up to 50 or 51, then get your verbal up to a 42-43 or so.

But all that said... you already have a 720, so that means you're already at the average/median of almost any top school. Business schools are likely to say "great, check off the high GMAT box. What else does this candidate have to offer?"

It's very unlikely that any program that would reject you with a 720 would accept you with a 760. A 40pt difference from 680 to 720 makes a huge difference, but once you're at/above the median/average, incremental differences matter less, very broadly speaking. A higher GMAT might not actually make a very significant difference. (Unless you're planning to work for Manhattan Prep, and then we'd require a 760+!)

I'd recommend talking to an admissions consultant and see if they think you need a higher GMAT score to boost your application.