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Gmat Prep - Q49

by metallicafan » Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:26 am
Hi friends,

Yesterday, I used the test 1 of the GMAT Prep, and my score in Quant was 49. =) I have read that the most accurate predictor of our performance is this test.

However, I noticed that I failed in 14 questions. Is that possible? Is it possible to get a 49 although I failed in 14 questions? It is important to mention that most of those questions were more difficult than most questions in the OG.

Finally, if I have gotten a good score in quant, what should be my next steps in this section?

Thanks!
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:34 am
First of all, congratulations on the great practice test score.

Please note that your GMAT scores are not based on how many questions you answer correctly; they're based on the level of difficulty of the questions you answer correctly.

To illustrate this, I'll share an experiment I performed.

While writing the article Taking the GMATPrep Practice Tests Multiple Times (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/03/ ... iple-times), I took GMATPrep Practice Test #1 four times, and each time I answered every second question correctly (I did this for the quant section only)

Given that I correctly answered exactly half of the questions each time, you'd expect my quant scores to be roughly the same for all 4 tests.

My 4 scaled scores were: 19, 23, 26 and 42

This represents a percentile range from approximately 8th percentile to the 63rd percentile.

So, don't worry about how many questions you answered correctly. It has nothing to do with your score.

Aside: If you're interested, we have a free video explaining the GMAT scoring algorithm: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1251

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:30 pm
There's a real chasm between Q49 and Q50: in my experience, Q49 seems to allow a whole heap of questions wrong, but Q50 seems to allow at most three or four wrong (no matter where they occur). I've had a lot of students who were getting at most 60% of tough (GMAT-level, not weekly challenge level or anything) math questions right in practice who scored Q49 on the real test, including one just this past weekend, but the only students who get Q50 or Q51 are the type who get 90% of daily/weekly challenge (i.e. harder than the GMAT, though using the same tricks) problems right, and in two minutes each, to boot.

This makes sense given the difference in percentiles between the two scores, but the value of a Q50 is much lower than you'd think - a Q49 is excellent and more than enough to give you a great GMAT score (700, 750, whatever) depending on your verbal. As my buddy Brian@VeritasPrep says, on the quant section, your floor is more important than your ceiling: the GMAT doesn't really reward you much for breaking Q47 or Q48, so once you're there, concentrate on your verbal.
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by metallicafan » Thu May 09, 2013 8:45 pm
Thank you guys!
At the begining, when I saw those 14 questions that I failed, I felt depressed. :( But surprised when I noticed that my score was 49 in Quant. :)
My doubt now is when I should stop. When I could say: Ok, it's enough. I am ready. I would be fine with a 49 because I think that a 50 won't increase my overall score, right?
In this sense, when could I say that I am ready for a 49?

PS. I expect a 40-42 in Verbal.
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