Variance of scores MGMAT

[ruben]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you for the great help you give on this website. I am sure you heard this hundreds time but my scores in CATs are always incosistent, even between test of the same time. I got 640 in the first MGMAT CAT(Q 40 AND v 34) cat and 560 in the second MGMAT CAT (Q 33 v33). Same story with other tests. What are the actors that tend to affect the score so heavily, given that the types of questions tend to reapeat in each test?

Thanks!!!

Ruben

[StaceyKoprince]

The variance factors are the same factors that determine how you do on a test in general. In fact, the official test has a standard deviation of 30 points, which is on the large side, for many of these (and other) reasons.

- mix of specific questions you receive as they relate to your strengths and weaknesses
- how well you stuck to your pacing strategy
- whether you got into any trouble and how you dealt with it (eg, spending too much time on some early questions and having to rush later on)
- whether you were especially tired, or especially energetic, or especially nervous, etc.
- whether you took the test at a time of day when your brain is more awake / aware / "on" - or less so
- and so on

Those are the major ones I can think of off of the top of my head, but there are tons of big and small things that can come into play.

Looks like your verbal was fairly consistent on the two tests you cite but something changed with math - part of the work of improving is going through the tests and assessment reports and figuring out what happened on each test to lead to that specific score. If you are in one of our courses or working with a private tutor, make sure to get his or her advice on the issue.

[JAMGAJR]

Today I had a really bad experience.....

I got MGMAT 6 and got only a 690.................q51 v34 (with 20 wrong in verbal.........only 3 correct out of 12 in RC.............very very difficult questions).

I got 750 in MGMAT5 (4weeks ago), 760 in Gmatprep1 (5 weeks ago) and 780 in GMatprep 1(last week).

I will reset the mGMAT bank and start the tests again.

I am really worried...................is my level dropping? I can not really accept that i came from 750 level to the 650-700 again.

The MGmat 6 had so difficult questions that in some of them i saw 3 very close options.

[thetecho]

Very bad day for me too.....

I got MGMAT 6 and got only a 650.................q51 v30 (with 21 wrong in verbal.........only 3 correct out of 12 in RC.....)

But i did not find the Rc 's difficult at all while reading them. but 9 were wrong. Instead I found the CR Difficult.

I am really disppointed. I ahve been taking exams from the last 5 weeks

Verbal results are decreasing ( MGMCAT Test 2-5) 32, 34, 32, 31, 30
Maths results were (MGMCAT Test 2-5) 43, 49, 51, 51, 51

Looks like no improvemnt in last two months :cry:

I am planning to take next month but looks like i need to postpone my dates.


Tutors, Any suggestion!!!

[StaceyKoprince]

The standard deviation on MGMAT tests is 50 points. The SD on the official test is 30 points. GMATPrep's SD hasn't been published, but it's going to be worse than the official test (that is, higher than 30 points) - but let's assume it's also better than our tests, since it's made by the people who make the real test, and call it 40 points.

JAMGAJR - This means that there is not really a statistically significant difference between a 750 and a 700 (on our tests). I know you got a 690, not a 700, but close enough. Looks like your math was fine and something happened with verbal but it's only ONE test! Don't worry about it too much.

FYI: DON'T reset the test bank. If you completely reset it, then the algorithm doesn't know you've ever taken the test before and will give you questions you've already seen with the same frequency as questions you haven't seen. If you just continue with Test 7+ the algorithm is allowed to give you questions you've already seen, but will choose questions you haven't seen before whenever it has that option.

thetecho: Your math is excellent (51 is the highest score you can get - I know the score range officially goes up to 60, but the official test only actually assigns up to 51 for some reason). Your verbal hasn't improved, but that's not too surprising if you have been focusing on taking tests every week.

It's ideal to take tests about every 3 weeks and to do a significant amount of study in between based on the strengths and weaknesses you identify on the previous test you took. Just taking tests over and over again (and, presumably, checking the ones you got wrong) will only help you a little. Use the assessment reports to figure out your strengths and weaknesses across major question type (SC, CR, RC), grammar categories, minor question types (for CR and RC), timing, and difficulty level. Study EVERY question, whether you got it right or wrong, and make sure you can articulate not just why the right answer is right but why each of the four wrong answers is wrong - this is critical for verbal. Also figure out why you got any questions wrong that you missed. Did you not know a rule? Go study it. Did you fall into a trap? Why did you fall into it? How will you avoid falling into the same trap in the future? Etc.

[Guest]

Stacy,

Thanks for the suggestions to improve score! I have already completed the six tests and i did not have the option to get the next full test.
BTW you mentioned "If you just continue with Test 7+ the algorithm", what does it mean?

I guess i did reset the exam and i can see my old tests as well. The new tests are appearing with test 1A,....

Will the questions be same as i saw during the Six full lengh tests?

Kindly let me know.

Thanks,

[thetecho]

Stacy,

Thanks for the suggestions to improve score! I have already completed the six tests and i did not have the option to get the next full test.
BTW you mentioned "If you just continue with Test 7+ the algorithm", what does it mean?

I guess i did reset the exam and i can see my old tests as well. The new tests are appearing with test 1A,....

Will the questions be same as i saw during the Six full lengh tests?

Kindly let me know.

Thanks,

[StaceyKoprince]

Nope, if you are seeing 1A, etc, it is NOT reset. You're still using the same account - that's what you want. You may see some questions repeated because the algorithm is now allowed to give you questions you've seen before. But you likely won't see as many repeats as you would if you created a new account (that's really the only way to "reset" the test, or go back to zero).

7+ just meant exam #7 or higher. I really would have put a comma after 7+, because "the algorithm" is part of a new clause ("the algorithm is allowed to give you questions you haven't seen before") - but 7+ looks funny with a comma after it, doesn't it? Sorry for the confusion. :)

[Thetecho]

Stacey,

Thanks for your suggestions regarding not taking the test every week.

I took my CAT 2A today (since first 6 tests were over). 700 (Q 43 V 41). I really screwed in Quant but i am not worried about quant.

I did 14 incorrect in verbal
7 wrong in RC
4 wrong in SC
3 wrong in CR

I was so disappointed today with my Maths part that i could not attempt 10 quetions , I completed the verbal reluctantly with 10 min remaining on clock

I realized that 2 or 1 RC was repeated and few CR too

Now here are my questions

Quesry 1) Do you think that 14 wrong in real exam will lead to a score of 41 in verbal? I took GMAT prep few weeks back and did 14 W in verbal but my verbal score was 29 only and ended up with 650 (M 49 V 28-39).

My obervations in GMAT prep for Verbal
3 wrong in First 10
3 wrong in next 10
Total 14 wrong in verbal
Score V 29

Manhattan
14 wrong in verbal

4 wrong in first 10
4 wrong in next 10
4 wrong in next 10
2 wrong in last 11
Verbal Score 41


When i share this with one of my freind( who has already scored 740 in Real GMAT with V 40) , he was surprised to hear that 14 wrong in verbal in GMAT prep lead into a score of 29, as he said he used to get 38-39 range for 13-14 mistakes. He suggested me to do not try to make any wrong in first 10.

My challenge is i am not able to judge whether i have improved or not. I really want to get a verbal score of 40 in real exam. Thats why I have not taken a date for exam and i am keep delaying my plans to take exam.

Query 2)
IF I DO NOT want to see any question(that i have already seen) in next Tests (e.g. CAt 3 A), do i need to reset anything ? or is my current setting are fine ? I can see Computer Adaptive Exam 2A , 1A in the screen. Do i need to make any changes? Please suggest!

Please suggest any plan to check the performance..

Thanks


PS: I realized that in some of the blogs here, you mentioned that first 5-10 questions are very important is just a myth. Is this correct?

[StaceyKoprince]

First, excellent job on the test - though it might be a bit inflated if you recognized some questions.

The score is not based on your percentage correct. You can get 14 wrong and have a very wide range of scores. The scoring is based upon the difficulty level of the questions you're answering.

Also, it is absolutely a myth that you need to answer the beginning some-number-of-questions right. Every question on the test factors into your score the same amount as every other question. I know a lot of people believe the myth but it is NOT right and, if you follow it, you most likely will get a lower score than you otherwise could. Most of the time, it leads you to run out of time at the end and this is the WORST thing that can happen b/c the single thing that can most kill your score is a string of questions wrong in a row. It's not a big deal to get any one question wrong on the test, even an easy one, but a string of questions wrong in a row is a BIG problem.

Unfortunately, you cannot do anything to ensure that you won't see question repeats. Once you have taken 6 tests, the algorithm is allowed to give you repeats (it will still try to give you new questions whenever possible, but if it needs to give you a certain question type and topic at a certain difficulty level and the only one available is one you've already done, it will give you the one you've already done). The more tests you take from now on, the more likely you are to see repeats.

Run the analysis reports to see how you are doing across the different question types and content areas. Do not only pay attention to how many you're getting right. Look at the pacing, look at the difficulty level of the questions, etc. For instance, you mentioned how many you got wrong of the different question types in verbal, but you may actually be doing better in RC than SC, say, if the RC questions you got wrong were all at the 700-800 level and the SC questions were at the 600-700 level. You have to look at the aggregate info - all of the data is in the reports. If you're not sure how to run them or read them, look at the instructions (the link right below the reports link).

If you start to see too many repeats, you may have to buy tests from another source. For others reading this, use this as a warning: don't use up all of your tests early on. You should be studying for at least 2 weeks, ideally 3, between tests.

[Thetecho]

Thanks for you reply!

I would like to share some observations on my test Power Prep Today

Got 700(Q 48 V 38) : somehow i have a feeling that Power Prep Software is wrong.

Quant Wrong (Total 4) : Q No - 4,9,21,30
Verbal Wrong (Total 6): Q No: 4,9,11,13,15,20

I am sure 4 wrong in Quant can not lead to 48, it shd be 50.
Also 6 wrong in Verbal shd be at least 40.

Any suggestions/Comments why power prep is shoing such a low score. is this represents my ability to conquer a 700+ ?

[StaceyKoprince]

4 or 6 wrong can lead to lots of different scores. You can't determine what the score "should" be just by looking at the number wrong. The test score is based upon the difficulty level of the questions - so it depends on the levels of those 4 or 6 questions.

[kris]

Hi stacey,

Just now completed my fourth MGMAT. I am really surprised to see the verbal score 38 on review screen. Previous scores were 32, 33, 34, in the order of the tests.Though I would satisify with verbal score of 38 in the actual GMAT exam, i would like to know whether i have really improved my verbal score. Or Algorithm is genereous to give that score.

On comparision with 3rd test, in 4th test, avg difficultly of right answers in critical reasoning was increased by 30 points, in sc 60 ponits. In RC, avg was decreased by 60 points.

In my 3rd test i didn't pay attention to the clock in the end. I could only mark till the 40th and left last two. Was i penalised in the 3rd test for leaving the last questions.

thanks,
kris

[StaceyKoprince]

You're penalized on any test for any questions you leave blank. And if those scores you cited are all from MGMAT tests then, yes, you improved from test to test - nice job! The algorithm is the same every time.