GMAT Strategy

Hi,

Yesterday I have taken the GMAT Prep 1. My score distribution as follows:

Verbal Correct 26 Wrong 15 Scaled Score 22
Quantitative Correct 25 Wrong 12 Scaled score 42

I can't understand, why the scaled score of verbal section is too low with 15 wrong question, while at the same time Quant score 42 with 12 question wrong.

In Verbal section, Question no. 13.14.15 were marked wrong in a row.

Is it lowering down the score?

Please help, which approach or strategy should I take to avoid mistake in a row of 2 or 3 question at a time.

Thanks in advance

We've all noticed here that GMATprep is a bit tougher on verbal mistakes: you can still do something like 7 or so mistakes and get a 50 in quant, while getting a 50 in verbal can only be done if you miss one or two questions tops.

I personally do not know why the algorithm works like this, but I will tell you something: it's not the scaled score that counts, but the percentile ranking. For instance, everything over 44 or 45 in verbal is 99% percentile (that is to say, you did better than 99% of test takers), while only a 51 is 99% on quant (remember - 51 is the highest scaled score you can get).

And to answer your question: yes, getting a string of wrong answers means that you get a severe penalty. This is why it is important to finish the test in time: if you get only to question 32 in the quant section, then you definitely have a string of 5 wrong answers at the end which will hurt your score a lot.

Thanks DanaJ for your reply.

But, one thing which is miserable about GMAT prep verbal scoring is that when a person gets verbal scale score 44 or 45, he or she may have done 6 to 7 mistakes in verbal section. On the same track if he gets 15 wrong answer in Verbal he should get minimum scaled score 29 keeping a rhythm with scaled score 44.

If it is taken that each question in verbal section carries one to two scaled score credit, then getting 15 wrong answer in verbal section how scaled score 22 comes, if we compare with scaled score 44 ( with 6 wrong).

Moreover, as the number of wrong attempt increases, the distribution of wrong answers in the first 15 question will increase automatically. Hence, in that case, a string of 2 or 3 wrong answers at a time we can find out in review screen. That's why person with score 46 gets 1 wrong answer in a row at a time, preson with score 36 gets 2 wrong answer at a time and so on.....

Hence,with 15 wrong answer and 3 question wrong at a time should give scaled score near about 29 or 30 instead of 22.

Please put forward a light on this....

As DanaJ said, Verbal is scored VERY differently from Quant so you can't compare scaled scores from Q to V.

I don't really know exactly how the algorithm scores incorrect answers for each section but I do know that if you are scoring in the 40s in Verbal the scoring is harsh -- even 1 incorrect answer will reduce your scaled score by AT LEAST 1 usually more! I also know that getting a 50/51 in verbal means you only got at most 1 question worng... I can't say what happens with 15 incorrect in verbal, but given how harsh the algorithm is in the 40s, I am not surprised that it is harsh in the 20s and 30s.

What I can tell you FOR SURE (because I went through the same process of questioning the scoring algorithm and trying to understand it) is that the score you got on GMAT Prep is accurate. While trying to understand the scoring algorithm can help in understanding how to take the test, you are better served spending your time figuring out how to reduce your incorrect answers rather than figuring out how to beat the algorithm. All you need to know about the algorithm is that mutliple incorrect answers in a row are punished harshly and are to be avoided.

I would guess that 15 incorrect yielding a 22 means that you had numerous consecutive incorrect responses. But again, focus on fixing the errors and the score will take care of itself.

Thanks for your reply zuleron