Why is the score trend getting higher on the GMAT

[StaceyKoprince]

I scored Q45 and yet that was only 74% and my V41 was 92%.

Actually, it has always been the case that the quant and verbal scales are simply different. (I don't know why they made the scales different in the first place, but they did.)

Yes, cheating does factor in, although the GMAC folks are pretty good at making it really difficult to cheat and at catching cheaters. Some guy may have a photographic memory somewhere, but they don't let you just keep taking the test over and over again - they would have banned him by now for too-frequent test-taking. (Yes, they actually do this; I know plenty of teachers who have been banned, not for any dishonest activity, but simply for trying to take the test too frequently. They basically send you a letter saying that they will not let you register again until you explain to them why you need to take it again.)

The bigger issue is much more mundane: many more international students, people for whom English is a 2nd language, are taking the test now than were ten years ago. Someone speaking English as a 2nd language is going to have much more of a disadvantage on verbal than quant. In addition, US math instruction is simply not as good as math instruction is in lots of other countries; the average-level quant skills of someone coming from certain other countries will be higher than the average-level quant skills of a US student. As more students from these other countries start taking the test, the overall ability level of the quant pool rises.

how hard is it to improve from 710 to 740?

The higher you go, the harder it is to improve. That's at the high end of the scoring range, so it's a lot harder to earn that 30 points than it is to go from, say, 510 to 540.

I am going to take a good guesses on about 30% of the questions from 1-27 to conserve time to average about 1.6 minutes per question. Then, I am going to focus on getting the last 9 questions correct with the extra time that I have since they all count towards my score. Do you find this to be a winning strategy?

No. Sorry. :) It is not true that the last 9 questions all count towards your score - not necessarily. It's also not necessarily true that the first 9 questions all count, or that the earlier questions count more than the later questions, or any of that stuff that you may have heard. People like to think that there's a way to "game" the test, but there really isn't.

Your best strategy is to work steadily through the test, giving adequate time to each question but not spending extra time unless (a) that extra time is definitely worth it, AND (b) that extra time isn't more than about 30 seconds.

By "definitely worth it," I mean: I know exactly what to do, I know I'm going to get this problem right, it's just a little longer than usual for some reason, so it's going to take me an extra 15 to 30 seconds. I'm NOT using the extra time to "figure out" what's going on or how to do it - I already know exactly how to do it. It's just going to take extra time because it's longer than usual - more to read, more steps to do, whatever.

If I need more than 30 extra seconds, then I'm better off just picking something right now and moving on.

If you find yourself behind on time by more than 2-3 minutes (overall, in the section), make a random guess on the next very hard question that you see. If you find yourself ahead on time by more than 2-3 minutes, start making yourself write your work out more fully, or double-check your work or whatever, but slow yourself down.

[RonPurewal]

\To Ron and Stacy, how hard is it to improve from 710 to 740?

generally, the higher your score already is, the harder it is to gain the same number of points.
so, moving up from 710 to 740 is more difficult than moving up from, say, 680 to 710, but at the same time easier than moving up from 740 to 770.

i know that's a vague answer, but anything more specific than that is way too personal to answer without extensive knowledge of your study plan and test results (which we don't have).

Here is my strategy. I am going to take a good guesses on about 30% of the questions from 1-27 to conserve time to average about 1.6 minutes per question. Then, I am going to focus on getting the last 9 questions correct with the extra time that I have since they all count towards my score. Do you find this to be a winning strategy?

i don't think that's such a great idea, because it's based on a faulty premise: namely, you assume that if you just "focus" on the last nine questions, then you will somehow be able to get all of them correct.
that's extremely unlikely -- after all, the exam is still adaptive at the end, so those nine questions will still continue to increase in difficulty as would any other nine questions.
in general, any sort of strategy that relies on assuming you're going to get particular questions correct is not really a viable strategy, since such assumptions are dubious at best.

also, even if you are already scoring 710, you probably have to guess on 30% of the questions already!

in general, regardless of your skill level, we have universally found that the best idea is still to practice consistent time management all through the test.

still, feel free to experiment with gmat prep (the official practice tests)!
if you come up with an innovative strategy such as this, then you should just put it to the test: try it out on the official software and see what sort of results it yields.
if it produces consistently better results for you than does consistent time management, then go ahead and try it on the real test.

[RonPurewal]

@ stacey --

Actually, it has always been the case that the quant and verbal scales are simply different. (I don't know why they made the scales different in the first place, but they did.)

the vastly differing percentiles are an artifact of the huge number of south and east asian candidates, for whom english is not the first (nor, in some cases, the second or third) language.
almost all of these candidates are extremely strong in quantitative skills, but their verbal skills are inevitably weak.
because these foreign test takers constitute such a large chunk of the test-taking population, they drag down the quantitative percentiles (and drag up the verbal percentiles!) accordingly.

as the gmat has been around for over 50 years, it's a certainty that it was once taken almost exclusively by native speakers of english, and that, at the time, the percentiles for math and verbal were probably somewhat similar (as is the case for the SAT taken by high school students, whose first language is overwhelmingly english).

[StaceyKoprince]

Actually, in my quote above, I wasn't talking about the percentiles. I was talking about the scaled scores. The scaled scores have been different (that is, the same scaled score corresponds to a different percentile on quant vs. verbal) for at least 20 years. That's well before the non-native-English speaker trend began to take off.
:)

[JinJJa]

Ron and Stacey, I am enjoying the banter between you two. =)

Any specific advice on my situation (going from 710 Q45 V41 to 740)? I want to develop a strategic plan to improve my score and I am not sure how I should approach it.

I have already taken a MGMAT class, exhausted all its materials, spent 12 hours on MGMAT private tutoring, exhausted all OG materials (way too easy), and practiced GMAT Prep until it ran out of new questions (I put the wrong questions into PPT slide and understood each and every question). I am the GMAT marathon man. =D

I jumped from 620 (Q39 V36) to 650 (Q46 V34) to 710 (Q45 V41).

I know I am whining but I really feel I deserve better than 710 for all my efforts (thanks to GMAT cheaters =P). FYI, one BW article commented that at least one Chinese GMAT cheater found half the quant questions from a Chinese GMAT cheating site....UNREAL. No wonder the real quant questions are WAY harder than OG or the old GMAT tests. At least for me, I thought the real GMAT questions were much harder than even the GMAT Prep.

I really feel I have at least another 30 points in me. One thing I will definitely improve is my time management as I definitely ran out of time on my verbal section and still scored 41. I was able to finish my quant with 3 minutes left but I still think I spent way too much time on few questions at the expense of others. Can improving time management alone get me from 710 to 740? Or is this just wishful thinking?

[StaceyKoprince]

First of all, amazing progress. You've really come a long way.

Second, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think you need to think about whether taking the test a 4th time is the best use of your limited and precious time, especially with a 710 on record. It might be - I don't know - but I haven't heard a compelling case that this is the BEST way to spend your time. Think CR; prove it to me. :)

When are you planning to apply? How do the other components of your app look? A 710 is already very strong; are there other components of your app that aren't equivalently strong? It may be better to spend your time on those areas.

How's your GPA? If it isn't great, you could take an accounting or finance class, get an A, and add that to your app. (You HAVE to get an A. While you're at it, you can also strike up a friendly relationship with the teacher, so that s/he can write a recommendation when the time comes.)

Do you have any leadership positions at work? Any awards, promotions, things that make you stand out from the pack? Can you earn those things in the next 6 months (or before whenever you're planning to apply)? Can you ask to take on a training project, or a more visible role with clients? Maybe you can start a mentor / mentee program? Can you get certified for something (if that's applicable to your area of work)?

What about extracurriculars? Do you volunteer or get involved in your local community in some way? Do you have a significant hobby? Can you show a leadership role in any of these things? Can you develop one in the next 6 months?

Who are you planning to ask for recommendations? Do they have enough concrete data to promote the qualities that you want them to highlight? If, for example, you want to highlight your team management skills, maybe you need to ask for more opportunities to manage a team, and have periodic conversations with your eventual recommender about how things are going, how to get better, etc. Then, the person writing the recommendation will have very specific, recent things to say about your leadership and team management abilities.

At this point, honestly, I'd schedule a free consultation with a couple of admissions consultants (most of them offer a free first consult). Show them everything you've got and ask them what they think are the weakest areas of your app. Then prioritize those things. If that's the GMAT, great - but if there are other things that really need to be made better, then spending a bunch of time on the GMAT is really not in your best interest.

[JinJJa]

Thanks for your detailed response.

I have already applied to and have been accepted to a top 15 school. So why would I take GMAT again?

1)I want to work for M/B/B and they take a close look at the GMAT scores. My quant, in particular, is subpar by M/B/B standards. My score of 710, although good against general GMAT takers, is nothing special at a top 15 school. In fact, my GMAT score is exactly average at my school. I want my GMAT score to stand out, and I think 740+ will do that for me.

2)Even at 710, I still feel I have not yet achieved my full potential score. There is that nagging feeling in my head that I could do better and I would regret it if I don't give it at least once more try. It is a personal challenge issue.

In essence, 710 is good, but not "great" (not to me anyways). And after I poured my heart and soul into this stupid test, it really bothers me I haven't achieved a "great" score.

So going back to my original question, do you think improving time management itself can raise my score from 710 to 740? Or is that just wishful thinking since I have already hit that point if diminishing returns?

Thanks again.

First of all, amazing progress. You've really come a long way.

Second, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think you need to think about whether taking the test a 4th time is the best use of your limited and precious time, especially with a 710 on record. It might be - I don't know - but I haven't heard a compelling case that this is the BEST way to spend your time. Think CR; prove it to me. :)

When are you planning to apply? How do the other components of your app look? A 710 is already very strong; are there other components of your app that aren't equivalently strong? It may be better to spend your time on those areas.

How's your GPA? If it isn't great, you could take an accounting or finance class, get an A, and add that to your app. (You HAVE to get an A. While you're at it, you can also strike up a friendly relationship with the teacher, so that s/he can write a recommendation when the time comes.)

Do you have any leadership positions at work? Any awards, promotions, things that make you stand out from the pack? Can you earn those things in the next 6 months (or before whenever you're planning to apply)? Can you ask to take on a training project, or a more visible role with clients? Maybe you can start a mentor / mentee program? Can you get certified for something (if that's applicable to your area of work)?

What about extracurriculars? Do you volunteer or get involved in your local community in some way? Do you have a significant hobby? Can you show a leadership role in any of these things? Can you develop one in the next 6 months?

Who are you planning to ask for recommendations? Do they have enough concrete data to promote the qualities that you want them to highlight? If, for example, you want to highlight your team management skills, maybe you need to ask for more opportunities to manage a team, and have periodic conversations with your eventual recommender about how things are going, how to get better, etc. Then, the person writing the recommendation will have very specific, recent things to say about your leadership and team management abilities.

At this point, honestly, I'd schedule a free consultation with a couple of admissions consultants (most of them offer a free first consult). Show them everything you've got and ask them what they think are the weakest areas of your app. Then prioritize those things. If that's the GMAT, great - but if there are other things that really need to be made better, then spending a bunch of time on the GMAT is really not in your best interest.

[StaceyKoprince]

Statistically speaking, changing absolutely nothing *could* get you to a 740. Or a 680. The standard deviation of the test is 30 points, so a 740 is already in your "range."

So, sure, it's possible. And if you ran out of time on verbal, then, yes, improving your time management would help.

You mention specifically thinking your quant is too low, though - but you didn't indicate timing problems with quant. If you actually are having time management issues with quant, then yes, improving time management can help you get that up. But if your quant issues don't have so much to do with time management...