Evaluating Manahattan scores with actual exam. Help needed

[parag.b.mehta]

Friends,

I have given 4 MGMAT tests till now and following are my scores:

Test 1
Q 44; V 34 Score 640 (No repeats)

Test 2

Q 49; V 38 Score 710 (Some repeats)
Issue here is I had 14 wrong in verbal yet I got a 38

Test 3

Q 48; V 45 Score 750 (Some repeats)
Issue here is I had 11 wrong in verbal yet I got a 45

Test 4

Q 48; V 40 Score 720
Issue here is I had 13 wrong in verbal yet I got a 40

What I need help on is trying to evaluate whether the actual GMAT also gives such good verbal scores if one has so many wrong questions. I have my exam coming up in 2 weeks and some help on this and the Manahattan answering will be really helpful

Cheers !!!
Parag

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes, everybody gets a lot of questions wrong - at all scoring levels. The same thing will happen on the real test.

Your practice scores may not be entirely valid for a different reason though. How did you handle repeated questions? Also, did you take your practice tests under full official conditions (essays, two 8-min breaks, no use of the pause button, all in one sitting, etc)?

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, however, when you see repeats, you answer correctly even when you shouldn't have, or you take less time than you would have on a truly new question, then you are giving yourself advantages that you would never get on the real test - and those advantages will artificially inflate your score.

[parag.b.mehta]

Stacy,

Appreciate your reply and apologies for the repeat postings.

To answer your questions:

1. I did not take the essays but I did time the breaks as such

2. On repeat questions, I marked only those right which I had got right earlier, except in Test 2

3. I did take the time of around 1.5 Mins for the repeats even though I knew the answer.

Lastly, I wanted to know your thoughts (which I could not gather from your reply) on the difficulty level and scoring pattern between the GMAT and MGMAT.

Do you think one can score as high as a 45 in Verbal with 11 Questions wrong?

Also, is the Quant in the actual GMAT as tough as we get in the MGMAT? I mean, I literally had to grasp for breadth after the Quant section :)

[StaceyKoprince]

11 wrong for a 45 (99th percentile) verbal is probably not as likely on the real test - though we don't actually know for sure. I would guess that the real test would be more like 5 to 7 wrong. The real test, though, will also include a bunch of experimentals that don't count - but everything counts on the practice test. So we can't really make a direct comparison on this issue.

In any event, I wouldn't worry about the total # wrong. I literally never even check that after I take a test or when I'm reviewing a student's test - it's that unimportant.

You may have had some score inflation due to not taking the essays (especially on the verbal, as the potential lack of stamina would hurt you the most toward the end of the test). You managed the repeated questions well, though - keep that up if you see repeats in future.

Re: quant, most people do feel our quant is harder than the real test, and I think there are two primary reasons for that:
(1) No experimental questions. The higher you are, the more likely you are to get experimentals that are easier (or even easy) for you, which gives you a mental break on the real test. You don't get this advantage on practice tests.
(2) We have a higher proportion of questions that are computation-intensive, so you're likely to have a few more that give you that "gasping for air" feeling. :)