Understanding Verbal Scores

[ch339]

I recently completed Manhattan CATs 2, 3, and 4.

CAT 2 (670, 43Q, 38V, 3.1 IR, no AWA)
CAT 3 (720, 44Q, 45V, no AWA/IR)
CAT 4 (700, 45Q, 40V, 3.73 IR, full test)

I suppose my quant is steadily creeping up again, but I am concerned about fluctuations in my verbal score. During CAT 2, I knew I was too tired to focus properly, so I don't *think* the 38V is a big deal. However, I'm concerned about the 5-point difference between CATs 3 and 4. I didn't expect a 5-point drop.

Mental fatigue may have been a factor due to completing my first full exam after a while. I also stopped a few times during CAT 3 to just chill. The words were swimming on the page, so I knew I needed a break. I didn't feel that way this time around and don't think it's a good idea to get into the habit of taking for granted that I'll have extra time. For comparison, I finished 19 minutes early on CAT 4 (no real breaks, may have waited a few seconds to start some questions) and 10 minutes early on CAT 3 (2-3 breaks several minutes long). I did not rush through either verbal section.

On CAT 3, I started off with the first 6 verbal questions right and ended with the last 14 right (-7, all 700-800). On CAT 4, I started with the first 8 and only the last 1 right. For this test, had a string of correct responses from 31 to 38 and was "99%" from 35 to 38. I got 39 wrong (700-800), which dropped me to "93%," and 40 wrong (600-700), which dropped me to "89%." Although I got the last question right, I was only able to climb back to "90%." Why would my percentile be so sensitive to 1 missed 700+ question after a string of 8 correct responses and so near to the end of the section? And to the one 600+ question I got wrong? That seems like a huge swing, considering I was "99%" for 19 questions (40V). By contrast, I was "99%" for 17 questions (45V) on CAT 3, although a greater percentage of those questions were consecutive and toward the end of the test.

I know that MGMAT is only an approximation, but if I had gotten the last 2 questions right, would my estimated percentile for verbal be around 95th instead?

I guess I really just want to know how much room I have for error. Am I screwed if I miss a few questions at the end, despite consistently good performance prior to that? Eight missed questions is about 80% accuracy on verbal, but that doesn't seem to be enough for a 45. Do you know whether people can get 45 with 8 missed questions on your CATs or on the official GMAT?

Thank you.

[StaceyKoprince]

The difference between 40 and 45 verbal isn't as big as it looks - it's only 9 percentile points. You have to have a GREAT day to hit 45 - that's the 99th percentile. Mess up the timing a bit, make a few more mistakes due to fatigue or rushing, and your score can easily drop down to the lower 40s.

Oh, wait!! You took mental breaks during CAT 3, the one on which you got the 45? Okay. I hate to tell you, but your 45 could be an artificial score. You won't get that kind of mental break on the real thing, and it can make a BIG difference! From now on, all practice tests must be under official conditions.

Re: not rushing, I beg to differ. :) On verbal, if you aren't scoring 45+ and you're finishing more than about 6 minutes early, then you rushed at some point. Did you keep track of your answer choice elimination on *every* problem? Did you go back and check the proof text in the passage on every specific RC problem? If you're that fast, you can even plug your SC answer back into the question stem to see whether it all looks okay. You're going for a 45. Be systematic. Be anal. Check everything!

(Note to others reading this: not everyone can afford to be THAT anal - but someone scoring a 40 AND finishing 19 minutes early can slow down and check more.)

When you're at 99th percentile, you aren't given much room for error - a couple of questions wrong in a row at the end can knock you down a peg or two. Also, a lower-level question pulls your score down more than a higher-level one (which is what happens when you get multiple wrong in a row). Finally, the algorithm is choosing the next question not just based on difficulty level but also a bunch of other factors it has to manage - so it's actually allowed to pick from among a range of difficulties to allow it to balance those other factors (eg, whether you still need another SC modifier question vs. a CR find the assumption). There's a bit of serendipity involved there.

If you hadn't missed 39 or 40, your score would have stayed up at 99th. If you still missed 39 but not 40, then I can guess that your score probably would've been around 95 or so...but you also would have been offered a different question for 41, so then the question becomes whether you would have gotten that one right. If you had gotten 40 but missed 41, maybe you'd have finished at about 41. If you'd gotten both, maybe you'd have finished about 42.

(Note: they don't currently give a score of 43. 42 is 96th percentile, only 3 percentile points below a 45 / 99th.)

Overall, I think you're going to do very well - just make sure that you're not rushing so much that you miss problems you really could answer correctly!

[ch339]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you for your response. I did take mental breaks but did not stop time. I did do just quant/verbal, so that probably made a difference wrt fatigue, if not timing. I will check to see whether I find I have similar pacing on my test with the GMAC software tomorrow after taking all sections.

I usually just keep track of EXCEPT questions and trickier CR (and "weaken" questions) on paper. I always read my final SC answer as part of the question stem. I always go back to the text, unless it is an obvious main idea question. If I am stuck between 2 main ideas with a subtle distinction, however, I re-read the relevant lines. I don't know how I finish so early. When I took your free CAT last year, I finished 19.5 minutes early before any studying and scored a 41 the first time (pre-recalibration). After a few weeks of studying (almost 4 months later), I finished CAT 1 about 18 minutes early and scored 38 (post-recalibration).

TODAY:

I just took GMATPrep 2 (skipped AWA, so adjust score accordingly). I received 760 (48Q, 47V, 7 IR).

For quant, I forced myself to guess on questions I had a clue about but on which I knew I would waste time. I was -3 DS (2 guesses) and -5 PS (1 guess). I also got 4-6 and 30-31 wrong (31, guess). These were my only strings of wrong answers, although 13, 15 and 18 (15, 18 guesses) were all wrong.

I finished quant a few minutes early. I was concerned in the second half of the section because I noticed I was ahead of time and thought I had messed up. Even so, I still let go of question 31, for example, which I knew had something to do with prime factors. I just couldn't figure out a way to consistently check the answers, so I guessed. I didn't want to fall behind but realized I was ahead. A decent number of questions were also easier than expected. I don't expect this to be the case on test day.

For verbal, you were definitely right about the timing. Some reading passages were more difficult than on my practice tests, and there were some tough SC. I finished less early than usual (~9 min.) but again anticipate this won't be the case on the real thing. I was -3 (-1 RC, -2 CR).

Integrated Reasoning is my worst section, but these questions were definitely manageable. I only "skipped" one and got four wrong (2 MSR, 1 large table, 1 small table). I ended up finishing on time (~30 seconds left). I have read accounts that IR is easier on the real thing. Do you know whether the question difficulty on a GMATPrep downloaded last August/September is still in line with the current test?

Overall, this test felt relatively easy, which is worrisome, especially since I know some people's official scores are a considerable drop from their GMATPrep 2 performance.

EDIT: I'm also not sure how to get to 50/51 on quant. I had a few scores in that range a few months ago when I was planning for a June test date. However, that was never on Manhattan GMAT or GMATPrep CATs. After months of non-GMATing, I was rushing to finish quant on MGMAT CATs 2-4 and guessed on many questions due to time constraints. I did not seem to have this problem on GMATPrep 2.

Also, how many missed questions can I have on average for a 50+?
What do you estimate my "true score" to be right now? Closer to 48 or to 43?

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, you are just generally a fast worker on verbal - that's fine, but start logging ANY careless mistakes. At your level, and at the speed you're working, you should have very few. Whenever you make a careless mistake, figure out precisely why you made it and what new habit you could institute that would reduce the chances of repeating that specific type of error in future.
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Our own IR is generally harder than the real thing, but not GMATPrep IR. Also, GMATPrep 2 uses the same IR questions as GMATPrep 1. Did you do IR on GMATPrep 1? If so, this set should've felt easier since you've seen them before. :)

You don't need to get to 50/51 on quant*. Read this (and follow the two links inside to Jeremy's articles):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

(*Well, unless you want to teach for us. :)

If you can hit Q47/48 plus the high verbal scores you're hitting, you'll be fine for admissions (at least, as far as the GMAT is concerned). Even if you "only" get V40, you'd still hit 700+.

I'd guess that your overall "true" range right now is in the 720 to 740 range, assuming that you had NOT seen those IR questions on the previous test. If you had, more like 700 to 720. (This is a ROUGH guess, though!)

The test isn't scored based on percentage correct, so I don't have a "number wrong" value to give you for a certain score. In general, most people answer about 60% of the questions correctly in a section (regardless of scoring level). When you get to very top scores (eg 50 on quant or 40+ on verbal), you may be answering 70% or 80% correctly...but that's just not how the test is scored overall. The real takeaway is: you can still have a number of questions wrong and get a great score. :)