GMAT Focus: Strange behavior

[ilakshmir]

I bought the GMAT focus quant set (3 tests). I took 2 tests and observed the following:

Test 1:
I had 5 out of 24 incorrect. I fought to complete the test on time and my errors are uniformly strewn throughout the test. I found the test quite challenging as well. GMAT focus reports a score range of: 47-51.

Test 2:
I got 1 out of 24 incorrect. I finished the test with 5 leftover minutes! (Wish they would rollover to the next test:o) I found the test very easy. GMAT focus reports a score range of: 48-51.

Test 3:
I had 2 out of 24 incorrect. I finished the test with 8 leftover minutes. I found the test very easy like Test2. GMAT focus reports a score range of: 47-51.

I was hoping that the second/third test would be a tough one too - If the test adapted, I cannot understand why it did not throw some challenging questions. The # of incorrect answers and the score ranges also do not seem to correlate.

Anyone see similar results? How did people using GMAT focus score in the real GMAT? Any comparisons with MGMAT performance? Please share your experience.

Thanks

[kevinmarmstrong]

Remember that difficulty is hard to measure and is somewhat subjective. Your performance on the 3 tests seems very consistent. How do you do on the GMATPrep quant section? I'm sure you get 48-50 as well.

Keep in mind that no questions in the quant section are mind-blowingly difficult if you have a really good foundation.

[RonPurewal]

hmm.

it's possible that gmat focus just doesn't contain enough hard questions to satisfy the demands of students who are consistently scoring at the 47+ level.

our cat exams have historically had the same problem: if you're scoring at the 750+ level on all six of them, then you'd run out of 700-800 level quant problems by the end of the fifth exam (or the beginning of the sixth). we're beefing up the stock of 700-800 level questions so that this doesn't happen anymore.

it's quite possible that gmat focus is just running out of the hardest problems, especially by the end of the 2nd test / start of the 3rd test.

[mikrodj]

I suffered the same behavior when I took GMAT focus. In my first three tests, I scored in the range 47-51. Then I decided to take the test one more time. In this last test the questions were really easy and even though I just missed one the range went down to 44-50.

So as Ron said the problem might be that GMAT focus does not have too many difficult questions.

[RonPurewal]

anybody else observe this same thing?

we've had a few instructors take the full set, too (i haven't; i've only taken one of the tests), so we'll see whether they can weigh in on the issue.