Gmat Quant score - Very confused!

[JazminD714]

Hi, I know the correlation between the incorrect answers and the score is not easy to figure out and I read in the roadmap guide that a 490 scorer can have the same number of questions wrong than a 720 scorer. But I just took two exams using the Gmat prep software and I found my results difficult to understand. On the first exam I scored Q39, with 16 incorrect answers. On the second one, I scored Q42 with 23 incorrect answers. Aren't 23 incorrect questions too many wrong to have Q42?
Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Nope.

It really is the case that the test scoring is NOT based on the # incorrect. I mean, it would be at the extremes - obviously, if you get every question wrong, you're going to get a 0.

But for a "normal" test experience, you can absolutely get more questions wrong but get a higher score. The scoring is based on the difficulty levels of the questions that you are answering, so it just depends on the mix that you get / how things play out over the course of the test.

Also know that the GMAT is a "where you end is what you get" test. So you could be scoring at, say, a 45 level through most of the test, but if you get mentally fatigued or run out of time and miss a bunch of questions in a row right at the end, and your score drops to, say, 40, then that's your score. Even if you didn't answer as many wrong as last time.

This is why it's so important to have a steady performance across the entire test - and to be able to tell what you can do and what you can't do (so that you can cut yourself off accordingly).

[JazminD714]

Hi Stacey thank you so much for your answer. I would like your advice as to how to improve verbal which is very low right now and I seem to be stuck. While I improved in Quant and now I'm consistent with my score there, verbal is kind of a mess and goes up and down between the 20's and 30's. I started with a V31 in CAT 1, and now Scored a V25 in my second gmat prep software exam. I've been studying for 4 months consistenly: I did the in person Mgmat course, went through all of the Strat guides and OG's, took 5 CATS and the two gmat prep tests. My weakest areas are RC and CR. I struggle with time in RC and time and overall strategy with CR. To improve RC, I started to read every morning articles from The Economist, nyt and scientific american magazine (and I read all of your articles in the blog related to RC). I don't know what else to do regarding these two areas. Should I keep practicing OG problems (although I have very few left) or should I change my overall strategy? Every time I get to the verbal section while doing a CAT, RC and CR feel 20times harder than when studying and practising OG's. I just feel that no matter how much I practice I wont improve.
I would really appreciate your advice, ,
Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you're having such a hard time with CR and RC. You mention score fluctuations and timing issues. It's entirely possible that you are fully capable of scoring at the top end of your current range as long as you don't mess up the timing. If that's the case, and if the higher end of that range is an acceptable score to you, then your real goal here is to fix your timing (and, by extension, your decision-making), not to try to get even better at individual questions.

You've mentioned reading my RC articles, so I'm guessing you've also read others, maybe even the ones I reference below. But I still want you to go through this analysis process - re-reading these article if you've already read them.

One of your tasks is to make it to the verbal section with enough mental energy left in your brain to get all the way through that section. This requires you to make certain decisions in earlier sections (especially quant and IR) to make sure that you're not using up too much mental energy before you even start verbal. Next, you still need to continue to make good decisions as you get into verbal, because you're still expending mental energy! Do too much in the first half of the test, and you'll crash and burn before the section is over.

Read (or re-read) these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat
Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly. The first one is more about the decision-making stuff that I referenced above. The second one is more about how well prepared you are to answer the questions that you do answer, although it includes the component of knowing how to tell that you should let a particular question go (before you've spent too much time and/or mental energy on it!).

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

You can do this for just verbal or for quant and verbal - your choice. And try one thing for me: if you could (retroactively) pick 4 questions in the verbal section to just not do at all, which ones would they be? Why? How much time would you have saved? (Assume you take ~20-30 seconds to decide to bail, so time saved is after that.) How much mental energy (relatively speaking) did you expend on these things? How many careless mistakes did you make elsewhere? Did those mistakes come in clusters anywhere in the test?

Oh, and the work you're doing to read regularly is valuable; keep that up!