Can CAT RE-CALIBRATION REALLY MAKE THIS DIFFERENCE ?

[dongjie101]

Hi,
I have taken 2 of MGMAT full-length CATs so far, but the scores I received on quant section don’t make too much sense to me. The first exam (CAT exam#2) I did on August 28th I scored 50 on quant which is around 95% percentile. I made total 11 questions wrong during the math section and experienced a few 600-700 level questions. However, on my second exam (CAT exam#3) I finished on September 7th I only scored 47 on quant which is about 78% percentile. But I am shocked to realized I only made 10 questions wrong this time and except for the first question is a 500-600 level question, all the other questions are at 700-800 levels. I understand there is a CAT recalibration starting on August 29th which on average quant scores will be lowered by approximately 1 point. But can this alone really explain the 18% difference between my two exams on quants considering I actually got one more question right and 36 out 37 questions are 700-800 level questions. The following is the details of my both quant section scores. If someone can shed some light on this issue I would be really grateful. I am a ESL student and I have thought math is my strength. But if this recalibration indeed reflects more closely to actual GMAT scores, I may have a lot more work cut out for me.

Alvin Dong 8/28/2012
CAT Exam #2
Score %-ile
Quantitative Score 50 95

Quantitative:  PROBLEM LIST

# ? Type Difficulty %-ile Est.


1 Correct PS 500 - 600 85
2 Correct PS 700 - 800 99
3 Correct DS 700 - 800 99
4 Correct DS 700 - 800 99
5 Correct PS 700 - 800 99
6 Correct DS 700 - 800 99
7 Correct DS 700 - 800 99
8 Wrong DS 700 - 800 90
9 Correct PS 700 - 800 97
10 Wrong DS 700 - 800 87
11 Wrong PS 700 - 800 83
12 Wrong DS 700 - 800 80
13 Wrong PS 700 - 800 76
14 Correct PS 600 - 700 80
15 Wrong PS 600 - 700 75
16 Wrong PS 600 - 700 71
17 Correct PS 600 - 700 74
18 Correct PS 600 - 700 78
19 Correct DS 600 - 700 80
20 Correct DS 600 - 700 82
21 Correct DS 700 - 800 84
22 Correct PS 700 - 800 85
23 Correct PS 700 - 800 87
24 Correct PS 700 - 800 88
25 Correct DS 700 - 800 91
26 Correct DS 700 - 800 94
27 Wrong PS 700 - 800 91
28 Correct PS 700 - 800 93
29 Correct PS 700 - 800 95
30 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
31 Correct DS 700 - 800 99
32 Correct PS 700 - 800 99
33 Wrong PS 700 - 800 97
34 Wrong PS 700 - 800 93
35 Correct PS 700 - 800 95
36 Correct DS 700 - 800 97
37 Wrong PS 700 - 800 94


Alvin Dong 9/7/2012
CAT Exam #3
Score %-ile
Quantitative Score 48 78

Quantitative:  PROBLEM LIST

# ? Type Difficulty %-ile Est.

1 Correct PS 500 - 600 71
2 Correct PS 700 - 800 98
3 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
4 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
5 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
6 Wrong DS 700 - 800 73
7 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
8 Correct PS 700 - 800 98
9 Correct PS 700 - 800 98
10 Wrong DS 700 - 800 78
11 Wrong DS 700 - 800 71
12 Correct DS 700 - 800 73
13 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
14 Wrong DS 700 - 800 73
15 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
16 Correct DS 700 - 800 78
17 Wrong PS 700 - 800 73
18 Wrong DS 700 - 800 71
19 Correct PS 700 - 800 73
20 Correct PS 700 - 800 73
21 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
22 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
23 Correct PS 700 - 800 83
24 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
25 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
26 Correct PS 700 - 800 98
27 Correct DS 700 - 800 98
28 Correct PS 700 - 800 98
29 Correct PS 700 - 800 98
30 Wrong PS 700 - 800 83
31 Wrong DS 700 - 800 78
32 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
33 Correct PS 700 - 800 83
34 Wrong DS 700 - 800 78
35 Wrong PS 700 - 800 78
36 Correct PS 700 - 800 78
37 Correct PS 700 - 800 78

[StaceyKoprince]

I'll take a look and get back to you!

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, Alvin

First, just a note: on the first test, you scored 50. On the second, you scored 48 (you said 47 in your first post). The good news: you should have been at 49, not 48. The bad news: you were at 49, not 50.

It looks like the new recalibration did introduce a couple of issues for which we need to adjust (and we're in the process of doing so). Most students won't ever hit this issue, but you did by virtue of having a very unusual test pattern (11 questions correct in a row - nice job, by the way!).

Your score shouldn't have dropped quite so much at first (from Question 29 to Question 30), but it still should have dropped in general, such that you likely would have ended up with a 49 overall in quant. Essentially, you lifted yourself to the very top levels with those 11 correct questions in a row, but at the end of the test, you missed 4 of the last 8 questions. That cluster would lower your score.

At lower scoring levels, such a pattern at the end wouldn't affect you so much, but the test essentially "expects" you to keep up your earlier performance. At the highest levels, one or two mistakes would be allowed, but 4 in the last 8 would drop your score. And, actually, the same thing happened at the end of your 1st test - you were scoring in the 51 range, then had 3 of the last 8 wrong (to compare the same group: "last 8"), and you dropped to 50.

So the 49 would represent a drop of 1 point from your previous test - which is also what we said would be the "average" result after the recalibration. Also, just to note, I do know that you actually got one more question wrong on the 1st test - the test isn't scored based upon # wrong or # correct (though obviously if you got everything wrong, you'd get the lowest score, and if you got everything right, you'd get the highest score).

Also, one other note. That 1-point difference on the quant subscore corresponds to a drop from 90th percentile to 83rd percentile (on the real test as well as on ours). The percentile "jumps" are wide at the top end of the range for quant, and unfortunately we get "rounded" into the nearest group. You could have been scoring at the 86.4th percentile when the test ended - and then the closest score would be the 49 / 83rd.