CONFUSED - High score but high no. of incorrect questions

[susmita.hazarika87]

Hi Stacey,

I am hoping you are the right person to ask this -
I took GMATPrep Exam yesterday and scored a 740 and I am absolutely thrilled about it.
But my concern is when I looked at how many questions I got wrong there were quite a few.
In Quant I got 12 wrong and in Verbal I got 9 wrong.
My score breakdown is Q49(83 percentile); V41(93 percentile)
and overall 740(97 percentile).

Last year September I had taken the real GMAT and scored a mere 620 after repeatedly scoring above 700 in my mocks and getting similar no. of questions incorrect, mocks were from both Manhattan CATs and GMATPrep.

I am planning to take the exam in a month's time and I worried that I will bomb the real one again because I am not suppose to get this many incorrect questions.

Please help me understand the scoring and if it ok to get 10-11 questions incorrect in both sections and still score above 700.

I can send section-wise screen shots if that might help.

Sincerely,
Susmita

[StaceyKoprince]

That is exactly how the scoring mechanism works on this test - a higher score does not actually translate into fewer questions wrong. :) Not only is it "okay" to get that many wrong, you should actually expect the same thing on the real test.

Your concerns might be alleviated if you learn a bit more about how this test works. I'd recommend taking a look at the Scoring section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered. (Some of it gets pretty technical - you can stop whenever you feel that it's getting too technical for you.)

Now, is it possible to have a score drop on the real test anyway? Sure, unfortunately. I have some questions for you. Did you take that GMATPrep test under 100% official conditions, including the essay, the IR section, the length of breaks, etc?

If not, then your score might be artificially inflated. The essay and IR sections take mental energy, and that will impact your performance on the later sections.

Had you seen any of the questions before? Sometimes people study from forums where the questions are posted, or they take the tests so many times that they start to see repeated questions. If so, how often did this happen? Did you get those questions right or wrong? Did you spend normal time or did you answer them more quickly because you already knew them? (That gives you an artificial time advantage.)

I'd also recommend reading these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

[susmita.hazarika87]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback, especially your articles - Second Level of Learning was very useful.

First Yes I took the test in 100% official conditions, essay, IR and breaks included.

Second Yes I did see some repeat questions, though I took the GMATPrep test after almost a year. It's like once you see a question you can never erase it from your memory, 4-5 repeat questions in Quant and a few more in Verbal, since a couple of RC's were repeated.

Now my question is - there is a very limited no. of GMAT-like mock tests, atleast what I know of, 2 from GMATPrep & 6 more from Manhattan, now for somebody like me who had already exhausted these tests, how do we take a test that will not throw repeat questions. Though I took all of them a year back but I still remember parts of it and familiarity of course makes me read it quicker or grasp what the question is asking quicker, thus saving time in answering.

Depending on my mock tests results I plan to take date before Oct 10th since the application deadlines will start after that. With an inflated score on my mock tests, how do I judge my ability that I will get a similar score on the real test.

Please advise.

Sincerely,
Susmita

[StaceyKoprince]

You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs with repeats as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats.

First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have.

Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.

If you get to the point where you're remembering 5+ questions per section, though, then those tests are no longer useful for you.

I don't know how many tests you're taking, but have you read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... many-cats/

Just want to make sure. :)

If, on your 740 test, you answered more quickly than you otherwise would have on 4-5 questions, and then you were able to use that time elsewhere to answer other questions, then assume that your score is somewhat inflated. We don't know exactly how much, but assume 20-40 points.

If you also answered questions correctly that you honestly would have gotten wrong if they had been new, and if you did this on more than 1 question, then assume that your score was even more inflated.