approx score in real gmat

[tanyatomar]

Hi,
Following are my scores of Prep CATs i have given. PLease do let me know by looking at these scores what can be my real GMAT score. i have my real exam on 28th march:

MGMAT CAT 1 online: 690
GMAT Prep CAT 1: 620
GMAT Prep CAT 2 : 660
Kaplan Cat1: 570
MGMAT CAT 2: 650
Powerprep CAT 1 : 670

please someone help me identify that what real GMAT score these practice test scores indicate. i am having a strong feeling i ll end up scoring 650-670 on real exam :( :( ...

[LazyNK]

Hi Tanya,
I took my GMAT today. And I met my overall score target (99 percentile), but not the individual target in Quant (50 which is 92 percentile) . It was surprising for me, as not only in all my practice tests, I was scoring in the range of 97-99 percentile in Quant, but also my feeling for my quant section performance today is that there shouldn't have been too many incorrect answers . It is not possible to figure out exactly what scoring method (overall percentile clculation) of GMAT is. But, looking at my score , I am inclined to believe the following:

1.) The quant questions may be slightly easier in GMAT (but only very slightly) , compared to Man Cat. But, the penalty for any wrong answer (in terms of percentile drop) could be higher on GMAT, than in Man CAT . Again, this is only my feeling based on how I feel my quant went, though one doesn't get to see the statistics of correct-incorrect on GMAT.

2.) Verbal questions - mostly of the same difficulty level as Man Cat. But here also, I believe, the penalty of wrong answers could be higher in GMAT than what it is on Man Cat.

But it is only my gut feeling based on how I perceive my GMAT and scores as they turned out today.
-NK

[StaceyKoprince]

Our practice tests have a standard deviation of about 50 points. The real test has a standard deviation of about 30 points. GMATPrep I would guess is about the same as the real test or a bit higher (30-40 points).

So, yes, your scores look like they're in the mid-to-higher 600 range right now, BUT I have some questions for you.

1) Did you take these practice tests under 100% official conditions, including essays and length of breaks?

2) Why did one test drop to 570? If we know what happened, then we can take steps to try to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Was that drop due to one section or both? Why? Timing? Fatigue? Other problems?


3) What's your goal score? I'm guessing it's higher than 650-670 because you put frowns after that. In general, don't expect your score to go *up* on the real test - not much. Whatever you're scoring now is about what you should expect to score on test day, assuming you don't mess something up (timing, etc) and assuming that you were taking your practice tests under realistic conditions (not skipping the essays, not giving yourself extra-long breaks, etc.).

[hema.hariharan]

Hi,

I am giving my GMAT in just a couple of days (April 16). Here are my scores in MGMAT so far. (Quant, Verbal, Overall)

MGMAT 1 : 49,36,700
MGMAT 2 : 50,42,750
MGMAT 3 : 48,36,690
MGMAT 4 : 51,45,780
MGMAT 5 : 51,39,730
MGMAT 6 : 50,45,770

The only other test I gave was GMATPrep in the beginning before I began prep, and I scored 710 on that.

I've been reading in quite a few places that the penalty for wrong answers on the GMAT is higher than it is on MGMAT. I was wondering if you have any statistics based on other students' MGMAT performance and their actual GMAT score? I realize that this won't actually contribute to a higher score or anything, but seeing some numbers might ease the nerves. :)

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Sorry I'm just getting to this now - I was out all last week. I hope you did well on your test!

In general, the standard deviation on our test is about 50 points from last practice test to official test. That's a pretty wide variation (the real test is about 30 points, though, so we're proud that we've gotten that close to the real test!) - and one of the major factors I've found anecdotally to matter is whether you took the practice tests under 100% official conditions.

People who skip essays, take longer breaks than allowed, use the pause button, etc., are more likely to see score drops on Real Test Day (because now they can't use any of those artificial advantages). People who take the tests under totally official conditions are more likely to see real test scores that are fairly close to practice scores.

Other things that can cause score drops:
- messing up the timing badly
- tiring out / burning yourself out in the last few days (so that your brain "crashes" during the real test)
- serious nerves / anxiety (causing physical reactions - racing heart, can't breathe, etc)

I'm noticing in your scores that your quant was pretty steady (48 to 51) but your verbal varied more widely (39 to 45 on the last 2 tests alone). For anyone else in a similar situation, ideally, you want to try to figure out why any wide swings are happening. If you know why, then you can try to figure out how to keep yourself towards the higher end of the score swing on Real Test Day.

Re: penalty for wrong answers, there isn't a uniform penalty for these kinds of tests. It depends entirely on what your score is to that point in the test, what the difficulty level of the question is, what else has been happening (eg, strings of wrong answers have the effect of "accelerating" the penalty), etc. We try to mimic as much as we can, but the real algorithm is not published so nobody knows for sure what the exact numbers are like on the real test.

[hema.hariharan]

Hi Stacey!

I scored 740 (Q50, V40) - quite happy with the score. I agree that simulating real test conditions while taking the practice tests is a huge factor. I consciously avoided burning myself out the last few days before the test and I think that helped a lot as well.

I do feel I could've done better, but isn't that always the case? :)

[StaceyKoprince]

That's fantastic - congratulations! Your hard work paid off. (Okay, yes, I admit that I usually feel like I could've done a little better, too - we're just perfectionists. :)

If you have time to write a post in our GMAT Test Day folder, please do so - I'm sure your fellow students would love to know what you felt helped you the most in getting to such a great score!