Strange MGMAT CAT Scores (3 days from Real Thing)

[james.jt.wu]

Note: Stacey - Per your email I have moved our email exchanges to the forum to make it easier for you and your staff to post on :)

Hello,

I am about 3 days from my GMAT and got some questions on how to best use my time between now and Saturday.

My last MGMAT CAT was taken under full test conditions (with no pausing on Quant which I was guilty of in my past exams)

Here are the results:

Overall: 780
Quant: 51
Verb: 45

I am fairly pleased with the results, and I am going to take the GMAT Prep #1 tomorrow morning to see how I do on the "real thing." However, I think my score might've been miscalculated, but more on that shortly.


First, some observations from this test:

Quant
No 500-600 Questions wrong
3 600-700 Questions wrong
2 out of 5 700-800 Questions wrong
Remaining questions all correct
~90% of my questions are in 600-700 range I have a very high accuracy rate in this difficulty level across all topic areas

A few bad habits still - a few questions over 3:00 M, which I made up by guessing really hard questions I know I couldn't get
A slight push at the end - not too bad though since I guessed questions I didn't consider worthwhile to do in terms of payoff / time
Weakness consistent with what I had before - overlapping sets, hard stats, and hard geometries

Question for the Staff
1.) It seems that I am actually scoring higher than my last, slighted-cheated test (770, Q50 and V45) by getting alot more 600-700 questions right and alot less 700-800 questions. Last test I got significantly more 700-800 questions but alot more questions wrong. Is this accurate? Feels like the trade-off between 700-800 questions and 600-700 questions should be higher... my score just seems too high.

2.) How does the MGMAT Quant compare to the real thing in general? (I've heard MGMAT's much harder... which would be good news)

Verbal
1 500-600 question wrong (careless)
4 600-700 questions wrong
3 out of 7 700-800 questions wrong
Like Quant, ~90% of questions are in 600-700 level
No particular area felt like a weakness
Finished with 8 mins left (whoops)

Question for Staff
1.) Similar to quant... I am getting significantly less 700-800 questions, but I am scoring the same by getting more 600-700 questions right. This trade off seems very weird is this accurate? My score feels too high.

2.) Verbal feels MUCH easier than GMAC questions, especially the SCs, which are generally shorter with easier to spot splits. What is the general consensus on MGMAT verbal vs the real thing?


Now part 2 of this long post... what should I do between now and Saturday? Here are some left-over tasks from my gameplan... can you help me prioritize:

1.) Review all MGMAT CAT questions and update log (this takes alot of time since I essentially redo any question I had a slight doubt in... regardless of correct vs incorrect)

2.) Do targetted problem sets at my weak area; review my OG 12 Tracker Error Log and re-do questions I flagged for my weakness areas (again, this take a while... I already did a once-through but when I glanced back at some of the questions I still had doubts in the 700-800 level questions)

3.) Complete new questions in Green and Purple Quant and Verbal GMAC guides (I'm about 20% way through... I started from the high # questions) with random sets of 20... perhaps just do it up through 50% of the book (so complete 600-700 and 700-800 level questions)

4.) GMAT Focus - 4 sets
These I will do for sure since I need to get comfortable with the timing and rhythm, as my last practice test was the first "true" practice test I did:
GMAT Prep #1 - tomorrow
GMAT Prep #2 - thursday
Scout the test center
Lastly... any "don't-do's" I should be ware of in the next 5 days?

To recap my monstrous email, I want to know i.) is my MGMAT score inflated (780 just begs me to ask this question) and ii.) what is the best way to prepare myself in the next 5 days, based on the tasks I have outlined above?

Thank you so much for your help!

[james.jt.wu]

Just to provide some more data points regarding my concern that my score is not calculated right, as per my original email below... I did an assessment report on my last exam compared to my first. I am very concerned the calculation is inaccurate... check it out if you don't mind :)

First Exam (taken 7/4, with pauses on quant so kind of cheated) - Overall Score 720, avg correct difficulty around 690-720 in both Quant and Verb but with alot of variance (except CR is at low 600), around 60% accuracy rate
Quant: 48
Verbal: 40

Last Exam (taken 8/9, official test conditions) - Overall Score 780, avg correct diffculty around 660-680, with very little variance, around 85% accurate rate
Quant: 51
Verba: 45

The picture is very clear - from my first test to the last test, I have sacrificed approximately 40 points in difficulty level across the board to gain 25% increase in accuracy rate, and this in turn bumped my score from 720 to 780.

I thought one of the guiding principles is that we should mainly worry about the difficulty level not overall accuracy of the questions? That is, GMAT rewards those who get fewer high- difficulty questions right over those who get more low-difficulty questions right. Is there something going on with MGMAT's calculation algorithm? Should I bring this to tech support's attention?

Thanks for the help! Hope this is just me being paranoid :)

[wschaeff]

How many MGMAT CATs have you taken? If this was your 5th or 6th test and you had been scoring high in math on all previous tests, I've heard you can use up all of the "hard" questions so your score may not be a great indicator of actual ability.

As far as MGMAT Verbal difficulty, I'd rate it as on par with the real exam - maybe slightly more difficult. I found MGMAT RC to be longer and dryer than GMAT passages and the answers were less clear. The MGMAT CR was slightly more difficult for me. I think the real GMAT questions were a bit more straightforward than those of MGMAT. SC was the hardest part of verbal for me - and I found both equally challenging.

It's too late for you to change this now, but I think you should have taken the GMAT prep exams sooner. They are a better reflection of the real test because they use real questions. But I'm not sure you'll get much out of taking the GMAT Prep only a few days before the real thing.

Best of Luck!

[james.jt.wu]

I appreciate your insights. This was my 6th exam so your theory may be true. However, my concern is not so much that I'm running out of hard question, is that despite the seemingly easier questions the scoring didn't seem to have calibrated correctly. The score should've gone down but I'm sitting at a score of 780.

My last 5 practice tests ranged from 720 to 770, with Quant ranging from 49 to 50 and verbal ranging from 43 to 45.

I agree I didn't follow the best practices with regards to practice tests. :(

Quick question for you - did you finish all three official GMAT books (OG12 as well as the green and purple supplements?) I finished the former but not the latter. Trying to assess if it's important I finish those.

Thanks for your help my friend. Best of luck on you bschool essays! (I will be following suit hopefully in one week :) )

How many MGMAT CATs have you taken? If this was your 5th or 6th test and you had been scoring high in math on all previous tests, I've heard you can use up all of the "hard" questions so your score may not be a great indicator of actual ability.

As far as MGMAT Verbal difficulty, I'd rate it as on par with the real exam - maybe slightly more difficult. I found MGMAT RC to be longer and dryer than GMAT passages and the answers were less clear. The MGMAT CR was slightly more difficult for me. I think the real GMAT questions were a bit more straightforward than those of MGMAT. SC was the hardest part of verbal for me - and I found both equally challenging.

It's too late for you to change this now, but I think you should have taken the GMAT prep exams sooner. They are a better reflection of the real test because they use real questions. But I'm not sure you'll get much out of taking the GMAT Prep only a few days before the real thing.

Best of Luck!

[StaceyKoprince]

The latest test absolutely maxed out on quant and verbal, so I'm thinking there might have been some inflation going on - check the last 5 to 10 questions of each section. They should be mostly 700-800 questions; if not, then you might have "run out" of the highest level questions, which would inflate your score.

Ah, and yes, I see from your later data - yep, you used up the highest level questions and the test isn't allowed to give you ones that you've already seen. That's why you saw so many 600-700 Qs (though it's still great that you got so many right!). But don't expect that on the real test - you'll see more higher-level ones on the real test. (Though our quant section is somewhat harder than the real test, so...)

(And, no, the score does not go down even though you're mostly answering 6-7 level questions. As far as the algorithm is concerned, it finds you the closest available question to whatever level you have "earned" at that point, and then it gives you points to add to your prior level even though the only question it could find was lower in level. Non-ideal, yes, but it doesn't penalize you for having to give you lower-level questions even though you've earned higher ones.

Verbal, most people feel is either similar to or somewhat easier than the real test. Despite the inflated test score, the fact that you're doing so well on 6-7 levels is a very good sign.

Next 5 days: don't do a bunch of new stuff. You know what you know; now is the time to practice it. Go into review mode now. Base your review on your strengths and weaknesses:

For your weaknesses, you want to get the lower-level questions right in normal time, but make educated guesses on the higher-level ones and move on. Review accordingly. For your weaknesses that also aren't that commonly tested, forget them.

For your strengths, you want to get the lower-level questions right in less time than normal, and try your best within the expected timeframe to get the higher-level ones right. Again, review accordingly.

Know your pacing plan and practice it. (can use gmat focus or gmatprep)

DO NOT burn yourself out. Do a little LESS every day as you get closer to the test. Look up the e-book The GMAT Uncovered in your MGMAT student center; it's got a "do and don't" list that I wrote, so it contains everything I'd tell you myself!

GOOD LUCK!!!

[laklucky]

How much did you score on the real test? How do you compare your experience with MGMAT CATs with the real test? I have the exam in 3 days and I am still wondering if I am adequately prepared. Please share your insights.

[StaceyKoprince]

My guess is that the previous students haven't been back to notice your question.

Just an FYI that we calculate various stats related to our students and their official test scores. The SD from last practice test to official test score is about 50 points. Any given person has a 2/3 chance of scoring within 50 points of their final practice test score and a 1/3 chance of scoring outside of that range.

We don't calculate specific scenarios statistically, but I can tell you from talking to many students that certain things tend to cause people to score more than 50 points below their last practice test score on the official test:
- not taking practice tests under official conditions, and taking them in such a way that their practice test scores were likely inflated (eg, skipping essays, pausing on the test, taking longer breaks than allowed, and so on)
- serious timing problems
- significant nerves or lack of stamina (not being able to concentrate or read properly, not sleeping the night before, etc)