MGMAT CAT Exam #1 Scoring

[rshroff]

Hi,

I just took the Manhattan GMAT CAT #1 and got a 700 (Q47 V38).

What confuses me is I got 13 wrong on the Quant and 16 wrong on the verbal and still got this score. Do you think it is accurate? I don't understand how I can get approximately 1/3 of the questions wrong and still get a 700!

Thanks,

rshroff

[StaceyKoprince]

This is exactly accurate - this is how the test works. The scoring is not based on percentage correct (as "regular" paper tests are scored).

Most people get somewhere around 60% correct, regardless of actual scoring level (which also applies in your case). The difference is that you are answering different, and harder, questions at your level (700) than someone at the 600 level - you're both still getting the same percentage correct (roughly) but the more difficult questions you're answering earn you a higher score.

It's actually really important to understand this, because people who don't understand this think that their study goal is to learn how to get everything right. You're never going to get everything right, because the test will just keep giving you something harder until you get it wrong. :)

In fact, you're going to get a lot of questions wrong, no matter how good you get. Your goal is to answer the questions that you can, while recognizing when the test gives you something you can't do (and letting that one go). (And the test will ALWAYS give you something you can't do - as I said, it will just keep upping the difficulty until it finds your limit. :)

Your study goal, then, is to become (a) more efficient on the problems you already can do (eg, able to answer the questions 15 seconds faster than you used to), (b) more effective on the problems that are just out of your reach (the ones you almost got right), and (c) able to recognize when something is still out of your reach so you can let go without spending too much time (and therefore negatively affecting your performance on questions you actually can do).

Great job, by the way - keep up the good work!

[rshroff]

Dear Stacey,

Thanks a lot for your reply! That makes much more sense now!

[rshroff]

Hi Stacey,

One more question - I wanted to try a CAT exam from the GMAT Prep software. However, I haven't attempted the questions from OG 12 or the official guides for verbal and quant. Do you know if there is a overlap between the questions on the CATs from mba.com and the ones in the 3 official guides?

Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

OG questions DO appear on the GMATPrep exams. Because you haven't studied those questions yet, it's okay to go ahead and take the GMATPrep exam - your score won't be biased in any way because you haven't seen the questions before.

Later on, after you do some questions from OG, just 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 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.

[mitul1982]

Dear Stacey,

I just took the free MGAMT CAT test. I scored a 680. Below is the breakup of the sections.

Quant: 47, 81% - 15 Incorrect
Verbal: 37. 81% - 19 Incorrect
FINAL SCORE: 680, 90%

In Math and Verbal, just once i got a string of 4 questions wrong.

Do be honest, I have had a tough time with the GMAT in the past. I really would like to know what does a score of 680 on the MGMAT really means?

I know it is difficult for you to answer this question, but i would really like to know that if i had performed similarly on the actual GMAT with a slight difference here and there, How much do you think i would score?

If you atleast provide a range, I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT.

THanks,

[StaceyKoprince]

The standard deviation on our tests is about 50 points, so if you took the real test right after you took that practice test, you'd have a 67% chance of scoring in the 630 to 730 range. Obviously, there are a lot of other factors involved in this - including whether you're someone who tends to get really nervous on official tests, which can negatively affect your score.

Your scores (quant and verbal) are also balanced, which is great - schools like more balanced scores, rather than one really high score and one much lower score.

You don't mention what your goal score is, but if your goal score is around 680, then you are ready or almost ready to take the test. Ideally, it would be nice to score in that range on both our exam and GMATPrep (which has a standard deviation of 30 points) to know, from two independent sources, that you're ready.